“Feminist: a person who believes in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes.” — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
My initial plan for this letter was to just run Beyoncé lyrics.
However, I was gently told this was a “letter from the editor,” and “Beyoncé isn’t our editor,” and “Can you turn that down so we can talk about what’s going in this paper? Please stop singing. You sound nothing like her.”
Fine. I’ll be original, but Beyoncé gets to help.
The first time I thought about the whole girls-and-boys-aren’t-the-same-sex thing was first grade. My dream — that I was pretty vocal about as a 6-year-old — was to be the first female U.S. president. I told my parents I would never vote for Hillary Clinton because I didn’t want her to “beat me to it.”
What can I say? I had a big Ego.
My parents and teachers were into it; at 6 years old, I was Schoolin’ Life, telling everybody I wanted to be the leader of the free world. Feminism had been successfully instilled in the younger generation. Take that, stereotypes!
That is, until the boy I had a crush on told me I could only be president If I Were A Boy, which was confusing because everybody else was telling me I could be whatever I wanted when I grew up. Didn’t that include president?
That Beautiful Liar.
Thankfully, one misogynistic comment in 2001 didn’t really trip me up. I moved on to second grade, where I learned multiplication tables and hung out with the other Single Ladies in my class. (Who needed crushes? We had serious hopscotch tournaments at recess to plan, thanks very much.) I graduated high school, came to college, got some internships and eventually this job.
You could say sexism was the Best Thing I Never Had.
I consider myself very fortunate when it comes to how little discrimination has played a part in my personal and professional lives. As a reporter, I’m taken seriously. As a leader, I feel respected on campus and by our staff. As a student, I’m not seen as anything less than my male counterparts.
But isn’t that messed up? I feel fortunate that as a woman people respect me and take me seriously. That shouldn’t be good fortune — that should be the norm.
So, where do we go from here? I'm hesitant to give advice since I haven't lived that long, so I'll let Queen Bey take this one:
"We have to teach our boys the rules of equality and respect, so that as they grow up, gender equality becomes a natural way of life. And we have to teach our girls that they can reach as high as humanly possible."
Moreover, we have to teach our girls those same rules and encourage our boys to reach just as high. Feminism is about the equality of the sexes. You know, without any Partition(s).
XO,
Hannah Jeffrey
Editor-in-Chief