Happy back-to-school yâall
Iâve attended and worked at a couple of super liberal universities. I avoid the gender studies departments for obvious reasons and I still had a lecture in which the female prof gave a brief overview of TERFs and proclaimed her hatred of JKR. Being openly critical of gender ideology, the porn industry, kinks, and âsex workâ are the kind of things that can ruin your future in academia. Not to mention the fact that any speech or actions that could be labelled transphobic (ie. defining woman as adult human female) can get you a suspension according to many universities anti-hate-speech policies.Â
So, hereâs a list of small and smallish (small in terms of overt TERFery, some may require more effort than others) radical feminist actions you can take as a university student:
(this is a liberal arts perspective so if youâre a stem gal this may not apply. but also if youâre in stem maybe you can actually acknowledge that women are oppressed as a sex class without getting kicked out of school. idk)
(Note for TRAs hate reading this: One of the core actions of radical feminism is creating female networks. This is not so that we can brainwash people into being anti-trans. This is because female solidarity is necessary for creating class consciousness and overturning patriarchy. It is harder to subjugate the female sex when we stand together.)
Take classes with female profs. Multiple sections of a class? Pick the one taught by a woman. Have to chose an elective? Only look at electives offered by women. When classes have low numbers they get cancelled. When classes are super popular, universities are forced to consider promoting the faculty that teach them
Make relationships with these female profs. Go to office hours. Chat after class. Ask them about their research. Building female networks is sooooo important!
Actually fill in your end of year course feedback forms. Profs often need these when applying for tenure or applying for a job at another university so it is very important (especially with young and/or new profs) that you fill out these forms and give specific examples of how great these women are. Go off about what you love about them! Give her a brilliant review because you know the idiot boy in that class who wonât shut up even though he knows nothing is going to give her only negative feedback because he thinks any woman who leaves the house is a feminazi b*tch.Â
(note: obviously donât go praising any prof - female or male - who is blatantly racist, homophobic, etc.)
(Also if you have shitty male profs write down all the horrible things they have done and said and put it in these forms because once a shitty man gets tenure they are virtually untouchable)
(also also, leave a good review on rate my profs or whatever other thing students use to figure out if they want to take classes. idc if you copy paste your feedback from the formal review. rave about the class to your friends. do what you can to get good enrolment for that prof for reasons above.)
Participate in class. Talk over the male students. Say what you mean and mean it. Call out the boys when they say dumb shit
Write about women. If you have the option to make a text written by a woman your primary text in an essay, do it. Pick the female-centred option if youâre writing an exam-essay with multiple prompts. (Profs often look at what works on their syllabus are being written about/engaged with as a marker of whether to keep those texts the next time they teach the class. If there are badass women on your syllabus, write about them to keep them on the syllabus) Use female-written secondary sources whenever possible.Â
(pro tip: many women in academia are more than happy to talk to you about their papers. expand your female networks by reaching out to article authors through email and asking them about their cool shit)
Get your essays published! Many departments have undergrad journals you can publish in. This will ensure more people read about the women you write about and will demonstrate to the department that people like learning about women
Consider trying to publish your undergrad essay with a legit peer-reviewed journal. If you can do it, your use of female-written secondary sources boosts the reputations of the women who wrote those secondary sources. Also this helps generally to increase scholarship about womenâs writing!
Present your papers at conferences! Many schools have their own undergraduate/departmental conferences that you can present at. Push yourself by submitting to outside conferences. Bring attention to womenâs works by presenting your papers. Take a space at a conference that would otherwise be reserved for mediocre men
Talk to your profs and/or your department and/or your university about mandating the inclusion of female works in classes if this isnât something they do already
Sit next to other women in your classes. Talk to them. Make friends. Form study groups. Proofread each otherâs essays. Give each other knowing looks when the boys are being dumb. Just interact with other women! Build those female networks!
Be generous with your compliments. A female classmate and I were talking to a prof after class and the classmate told me (out of the blue) that I always have such interesting things to say. I think about that whenever Iâm lacking confidence about my academic skills. Compliment the women in your classes for speaking up, for sharing their opinions, for challenging your classmates/profs, for doing cool presentations, etc.
Talk to other women about sexist things going on on campus. Make everyone aware of the sexist profs. Complain about how there are many more tenured men than tenured women. Go on rate my professor and be explicit about how the sexist profs are sexist
Be active on campus and in societies. If a society has an all male executive or is male-dominated, any women who join that society make it less intimidating for more women to join. Run for executive positions! Bring in more women!Â
(Pro tip: Many societiesâ elections are super gameable. You can be eligible to vote in a society election sometimes just by being a student at that university â even without having done anything with the society before. Other societies might just require that youâve taken a class in a particular department or attended a society event. (Check the societyâs governing documents.) Use those female networks youâve been building. If you can bring three or four random people to vote for you, that might be enough for you to win. Societies have trouble meeting quorum (the minimum number of people in attendance to do votes) so it is really super achievable to rig an election with a few friends. And donât feel bad about this. The system is rigged against women so you have every right to exploit loopholes!)
(Also feel free to go vote ânon-confidenceâ/âre-open electionâ if only shitty men are running. Too often people see that only candidates they donât like are running and so they give up. But you can actually stop them getting elected)
Your campus may have a LGBTQIA+alphabetsoup society. That society definitely needs more L and B women representation. It may be tedious to argue with the nb straight dudes who insist that itâs fine to use âq***râ in the societyâs posters and that attraction has nothing to do with genitals, but just imagine what could happen if we could make these sorts of societies actually safe spaces for same-sex attracted women and advocated for our concerns
Attend random societiesâ election meetings. Get women elected and peace out. (or actually get involved but Iâm trying to emphasize the lowest commitment option with this one)
Write for the campus newspaper. Write about what women are doing - womenâs sports, cool society activities, whatever. Review female movies, books, tv shows, local theatre productions. Write about sexism on campus. We need more female by-lines and more stories about women
Get involved with your campusâs sexual assault & r*pe hotline/sexual assault survivorâs centre/whatever similar organization your campus has if you can. This is hard work and definitely not for everyone (pls take care of yourself first, especially if you are a survivor)
(If your campus doesnât have an organization for supporting survivorâs of sexualized violence, start one! This is probably going to be a lot of hard work though, so donât do it alone)
Talk to your student council about providing free menstrual hygiene products on campus if your campus doesnât already do this. If your campus provides free condoms (which they probs do), use that as leverage (ie. âsex is optional, menstruation is not. so why do we have free condoms and no free pads?â)
If youâre an older student, get involved with younger students (orientation week and such activities are good for this). Show the freshman that you can be a successful and well-liked woman without shaving your legs, wearing heels, wearing make-up, etc. Mentor these young women. Offer to go for coffee or proofread essays.Â
Come to class looking like a human being. Be visibly make-up less, unshaven, unfeminine, etc. to show off the many different ways of being a woman
Talk to the custodial staff and learn their names. (I know there are men who work in this profession, but it is dominated by low-income women) Say hi in the hallways, ask them about their lives, show them theyâre appreciated
Be explicit with your language. When you are talking about sex-based oppression, say it. Donât say âsex workerâ when you mean survivor of human trafficking. This tip is obviously a bit tricky in terms of overt TERFyness, so use your best judgement
Thatâs all from me for now! Feel free to add your suggestions and remember that feminism is about action
