Feminist Discussion at Wheaton

I thought this discussion on Thursday October 22 by Paula Giddings and Bevery Guy-Sheftall was really interesting and covered a wide range of topics. By beginning with the questions about the book, we as an audience were able to see the thought process of two very prominent African American feminist scholars as they discussed such an important figure in feminist history. They were able to speak strongly about the relationship and connection they could feel with a figure like Ida B. Wells-Barnett as they experienced the same process of understanding the violence and hate directed toward activism through their activist participation with freedom rides and protesting lynching, respectively. It was extremely interesting to be able to understand through the story of Ida how racism began to be defined in a dualistic manner and had different meanings for different generations. For the generation living through the post-slavery world it would appear that African-Americans were indeed making huge strides, the activism would go through waves.

After taking the time to discuss the novel an even more interesting, in my opinion, segment commenced with a question and answer session with the two women. In this segment they were able to address issues such as what it means to be an academic and an activist, as well as a broader discussion on their definition of feminism in general. When defining feminism they were able to assert that they feel to be a feminist is not only to fight for equality of gender but to end the process of all -isms in a society. After when asked if they found it difficult to identify as both an activist and a scholar the answer was promptly no. In fact it was stated that activism was not just a place outside of the university and by joining the Women's Studies department it offered a place to integrate both the activist and feminist aspects of their lives. They also discussed the fact that the way that feminism was constructed has had a negative effect on the connotations it receives today and if it had been more inclusive to all genders and races since the beginning it would have resulted in a much more effective agent to fight against all oppressions, not that of specifically women.