Glagola 1

Grace Glagola

Dr. Parker

Eng 113

22 October 2016

Glagolas Feminist Manifesto

After studying and reviewing feminist perspectives for an extended duration of time, I am

beginning to see my own interests and priorities come through with my own feminist beliefs. I

am an intersectional feminist who believes in equality for all genders, sexualities, and all races. I

include sexuality and race within my belief because I am aware of the added hardships and

injustices that are present to those who live their lives with their added subcategories. I am an

asexual, one of the least known sexualities, and I am fully aware of how erasure of what makes

you you can really bring you down and make you feel like youre just being tied in with the

rest of society and you dont really have a place in the world. In return, sometimes the best thing

for a large group of people to do is to stay united, but have groups within it to further support the

minorities in the world, which is exactly why I share the beliefs of an intersectional feminist.

There have been multiple influences that guided my feminist views to where they stand

today; some telling me to stay strong, (Beyonc, Rich) and others to stay true to myself (Utt and

Uwujaren). Beyonc, a world renowned singer and excellent feminist, sings about how society is

constantly trying to make us conform into something that we arent in her song Pretty Hurts.

She says, Tryna fix something, But you can't fix what you can't see, It's the soul that needs a

surgery (Beyonc). She sings about how people want perfection, but its our own mind that

taints our view of ourselves, and she reminds me that I am an amazing person just the way I am.

Regardless of physical features, my sexuality or mental disorders, I just have to stay strong and
 Glagola 2

kick the negative thoughts out of my mind. Additionally, Adrienne Rich talks about the

importance of owning up to our successes and being proud of who we are. In Claiming an

Education she says, Responsibility to yourself means refusing to let others do your thinking,

talking, and naming for you; it means learning to respect and use your own brains and instincts;

hence, grappling with hard work (Rich 3). By being true to myself, I am able to be strengthened

in the way that I will truly know myself and be able to stay in character as myself.

Further, Jamie Utt and Jarune Uwujaren, in Why Our Feminism Must Be

Intersectional, discuss the differences between feminists and how who we are should define us

further, and not just brush our differences under the rug, combining us with the rest of society.

This particular passage strikes me: We cannot separate multiple oppressions, for they are

experienced and enacted intersectionally (Utt and Uwujaren). While I am not nearly as

oppressed as a trans person or a woman of color, I often find myself in situations where I am told

that sex is something that everyone enjoys, and that I just have to try it. I know I dont like it; I

dont need to try it in order to figure it out. But they insist that if I tried it I would be normal.

And that is exactly why I need intersectional feminism, and why I am an intersectional feminist.

I am a dreamer. I have hopes and dreams of someday being a famous novelist or

screenplay writer with a story in my heart for the world to hear. I want to be married to a loving

husband with a family. I am destined to live like a firework, having a short life, but making

something beautiful with it. With these goals, it is fairly easy to bring in my feminist views into

what I create by having a strong, asexual, woman protagonist and/or antagonist. I can make my

readers or viewers accustomed to having the one who saves the day be a woman, where any

romantic element in the plot is merely a subplot, and nothing worthwhile to the overarching

storyline present. If Suzanne Collins can make the world fall in love with Katniss Everdeen, a
 Glagola 3

strong woman protagonist with an unnecessary love triangle, I can only imagine what I will be

able to do with my hero, or in my case, my heroine.

I was incredibly excited to start college, as it was my first opportunity to study what I

wanted to learn about, and not have to stress about having a math or science class every year. At

this moment of my life, I am for once at peace. I am happy and content with where I am with life

and where my life seems to be taking me for the future. And I believe it is because I am coming

to terms with who I am, and I have surrounded myself with likeminded people who love and

accept me for all that I am. My feminist identity helps me feel like I belong, especially at a

school where being heterosexual is the overwhelming norm. My specific view gives me hope

that someday everyone will be treated equally, regardless of gender, sexuality, and race, and that

no one will be oppressed. With who I am, I find it hard to believe that my feminist beliefs could

only be a small part of my life. Treating people equally is something that makes me who I am,

and I can only hope that someday everyone will share my beliefs and we will all be equal to one

another.

Works Cited

Beyonc. Pretty Hurts. BEYONC, Beyonc and Ammo, 2013.

Rich, Adrienne. "Claiming an Education." Convocation of Douglass College. Douglass College,

 Glagola 4

New Brunswick. 1977. Speech.

Uwujaren, Jarune, and Jamie Utt. "Why Our Feminism Must Be Intersectional."Everyday

Feminism. Everyday Feminism, 12 Aug. 2016. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.