My first semester at Saint Mary's forced me to take Intro to Gender and Women's Studies, or Feminism 101 as I jokingly called it. Before even attending the first class, I decided I was going to hate it. "I don't need a class on feminism"; "I am a feminist, but why do I need to study it? I think women are doing pretty well for themselves." I would say to my roommate through orientation and the first couple of weeks of school. I didn't care about first wave feminism– they pushed for the 20th amendment. I was bored of the second wave of feminism– it was the 1960s; they were all hippies. The third wave intrigued me, at least. It was something I had heard about a lot. How can women be feminists and still be feminine? How can women be professional in the work place and viewed as equals with their male peers without having to wear their power suit everyday?
I regret not taking that class more seriously. In my second semester, I feel I have grown a lot. I need feminism! I am a feminist! With Notre Dame baseball season on it's way and the boys traveling around Florida, Texas, and North Carolina to play games until the snow melts here in the Bend, I've been doing a lot of research about how to further myself in this game. I already know I am at a disadvantage at practice, simply because I am a freshman– I'm inexperienced; I don't know how the team works just yet. Still I feel as if I'm at a further disadvantage from that. My other half at practice is a boy at Notre Dame who's played baseball for 12 years. At practice, he's trusted with more responsibilities simply because he's played before.
I understand that. I am less experienced, therefore I am not as useful as he is. And this has made me realize I need to get smarter. Smarter and better than any of the other women managers, along with male managers. I also need to work harder. I want to create a career out of this. I need feminism because there's no one who's done this before. This is unchartered territory for women and someone needs to do it.
What do you need feminism for?
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