I think for me it was a slow process, starting from when I was in the womb...We were reading the Great Gatsby in high school English, and I came across this line: 'That's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.' I felt enraged, but none of my classmates even seemed to notice.
It was a rainy Take Back The Night rally my first year of college... I looked around at the women on every side, and thought about how strange it was that I'd ended up here, given my conservative Republican upbringing. I realized that if I don't identify as a feminist, no one really does.
One movie: Girls Town. Amazing.
A generation ago, feminists talked about their "click" moments: those split-second experiences that led them to join the women's movement. Today's young feminists come to the movement--which is looking less like a protest march and more like a blog--in myriad, often piecemeal, ways. It can be as simple as reading a book or attending an event or talking with one person or witnessing a horrendous act of sexism. (You told us about some of your amazing "clicks" here.)
Deciding to identify as a feminist often requires a lot of learning and unlearning these days; so many of us have been exposed to the well-oiled machine of the anti-feminist movement. According to Newsweek, feminism might be dead. Charlotte Allen tells us that we're stupid, via the Washington Post. Some older women within our own movement wonder if we even exist.
J. Courtney Sullivan and I are editing a new anthology for Seal Press on the topic, and we want your ideas. Send us a couple of paragraphs--in the style and voice that you'd use in a full-fledged essay--proposing what you would write, along with your name, email address, phone #, age, and ethnic background (we understand that this might seem a little reductive, but we are committed to including diverse authors). We'll look them all over, then get back to you once we've accounted for a range of moments, perspectives, and cultural backgrounds.
We hope it will be a historic document, a totally entertaining gift, a course adoption text, and, most of all, a collection that makes young women who already identify with the movement feel seen and heard, and welcomes all those just growing into the still unfolding story of feminism.
Send your ideas to: clickmoment@gmail.com
DEADLINE: October 15, 2008
Bonus: We've already got some great feminist writers on board that you may have heard of, including (in no particular order):
Courtney E. Martin and J. Courtney Sullivan (well, obviously)
Jessica Valenti
Miriam Perez
Samhita Mukhopadhyay
Curtis Sittenfield
Rebecca Traister
Anna Holmes
Rachel Simmons
Winter Miller
Deborah Siegel
Alissa Quart
Hannah Seligson
Latoya Petersen
Shelby Knox
Jennifer Baumgardner
Amy Richards
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This sounds like a great project!
One question: how long would the full-fledged essays be if they were selected for the book?
Sounds like a great project!
Does anyone know the origin of the term "click" for this? I know it's from an essay from the 70s, but I've never been able to find it.
Can males submit also? I realize that the book may want to come from a female perspective, but if you're looking for diversity, I think it would be a shame to overlook some male feminist voices.
Is ethnic background the only measure of diversity being used? What about sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, religion, other political identification, etc? Or is the assumption that those characteristics would be more apparent from the essay itself than ethnicity?
I have a mom, a sister and from time to time a girlfriend. My options are Feminist or asshole.
i always feel a little envious of people who are able to pinpoint a "click" moment in their lives. I can barely remember what i was thinking about last week, ha! Wish i had a good story to talk about what made me identify as feminist, but i honestly don't remember. I'm sure it was a lot of little things over the years.
Christy: One question: how long would the full-fledged essays be if they were selected for the book?
I was wondering about this, too: in the end, are you looking for lit mag-style "full-fledged" essays, i.e. 15-25 pages, or pieces more along the lines of brief(-ish) musings or snapshots, i.e. 3-5 pages? (Or something else entirely?)
Attagrrrl,
I have a copy of that essay at my house. If you check back after work hours, I'll look at who wrote it and post that info.
I became a feminist as a teenager when I realized that the history we are taught in school is almost entirely about men. No wonder it's called 'his' tory.
I realized that I had no idea of what the suffragettes had to go through to get the vote for women, or of what life was REALLY like for women before they did.
I couldn't believe it when I found out.
Now YOU can subscribe free to my e-mail series that goes behind the scenes in the lives of eight of the world's most famous women and discover the shocking truth!
Thrilling, dramatic, sequential short story episodes have readers raving about "The Privilege of Voting." Find out how two beautiful and powerful suffragettes, two presidential mistresses, First Lady Edith Wilson, First Daughter Alice Roosevelt, Author Edith Wharton and Dancer Isadora Duncan set the stage for women to FINALLY win the vote.
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Hehe, I clicked- and then went into denial. It's weird.
This is an amazing project, I love it. I will definitely be putting a little something together for consideration. Thank you.
I am a feminist because I love the equality feminism has brought.
Especially at present time and the fact that we as feminists don't have to bicker and fight with men anymore. We can enjoy the attention we get from men and be free to love and care for them and them do the same with us.
Men and Women need each other and with the equality that woman have today thanks to feminism, we can finally enjoy it and leave the bitterness for men aside that early feminists had.
Thanks for all of your enthusiasm!
To answer some of your questions:
1. Yes, men are welcome to submit!
2. We are hoping for all kinds of diversity, but we are only going to officially account for ethnic diversity and then hope that other forms emerge from the narratives themselves.
3. The final essays will probably be b/w 1-5,000 words and will be of a personal essay ilk. Think We Don't Need Another Wave.
This is hard to do, I'm trying not to cry.
When my mother was given a job and had to train younger men for the job meant to supervise her. click
When I realized that my church taught that women would do the shit work if men would approve it all. Men got paid, women volunteered. I then thought that god didn't love me all that much. And my church made it plain they relocated to avoid black people. I lost what faith I had and quit as soon as I was old enough to say, "No, I'm not going anymore".click
I lost my faith, and it continues to give me pain.
When I held a hand and paid for my friends' abortions and had to demand from a boyfriend that he share the cost of birth control and he was reluctant, click.
And so much more, so much more. Steered into jobs that didn't pay me well. Having more skills but paid less that the men in manual jobs. Told that people would think it was a better meal if if was served by a man, so that is what people would tip better for. A male bartender was a stud; a female bartender was available. click
Being told that after my younger brother was provided car after car after running them into the ground or wrecking them, that I didn't need a car because men would give you a ride.click
Being told by a prospective supervisor that he couldn't have me working for him because he found me attractive. Being turned down for a recommendation because my male competitor had children, and I didn't. I had a husband to take care of me, except I was more qualified for the job.click
My mother raised me well, I thank her every single day. My daddy too; his saw his second wife's struggles. If these women ran our country, we would be in better shape.
Big Click. I don't at all mean to disrespect younger women, I'm 48 years old and I've tried my best. I will try to continue to do some things, on your behalf.
Click.
First time poster, long time lurker.
I think I was always a feminist, but there were two episodes of realizing I was a feminist and that others were not:
1) In 4th grade, we were assigned to do an oral presentation. I chose Susan B. Anthony and the women's movement as my topic. I didn't think it was a big deal but it apparently blew away all my teachers (and it was an unusual subject).
2) I was in college in Kentucky during the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas hearings. I was alone arguing that Anita Hill couldn't "just quit her job." It was also the first time I was told I was going to hell for my political beliefs.
I love this website!
Going to Catholic school for most of my childhood, I knew nothing except what my life's little bubble entailed.
In high school, I went to a pro-life march in Washington DC with my campus ministry group.
The people I was with had hate in their hearts, and convinced me to buy a sweatshirt that said "Abortion is Homicide", which I displayed proudly almost every day for a few months. I can only imagine how many days I ruined by passing judgment on anyone, just by the comment on my clothes.
On that trip, I saw the faces of those who were Pro Choice, and in the pit of my stomach, knew I should be on the other side.
At the end of my senior year, I received a call from someone who claimed to be my boss from the corporate office, telling me my job was on the line, and if I didn't have phone sex with his friend, I would be fired. I didn't want to disappoint that fucker because the money was good.
I found my voice my second semester of college. For once, I spoke out about my rights, learned all about beauty, and to love myself for who I am. I also used the "F" word for the first time.
I did lose my faith in organized religion. I do think about going back to church, but if I choose to do so, it will be on my own terms, not based upon the history of white, male, privileged fucks who dictate life based upon what they feel is heteronormative.