a lil introduction

My name is Jessica and I'm a junior at Southern Methodist University (SMU) majoring in Human Rights and Public Health and minoring in Women's and Gender Studies and Spanish on the pre-med track.

Fitting in can be difficult at SMU because it is somewhat of a bastion of white, southern conservatism; however, I will forever appreciate the fact that this school has offered me incredible opportunities: like a scholarship to cover my education and study abroad and funding to travel and do research. Which brings me to this blog! I will be spending the next five months in Lima, Peru taking gender studies classes as Pontifica Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP) and volunteering with a feminist NGO. In this blog I will be documenting my experiences as well as analyzing the dynamics of Peruvian feminism. In my project for Engaged Learning, I will explore what it means to be a woman and a feminist in Lima, Peru and how women’s constant state of being “observed” [see "About" section] affects the activism that we are able to practice. In undertaking this project I wish to learn more about multicultural feminism and become a more effective and knowledgeable advocate for women from different communities. I will explore 1) the role and nature of feminist/women's rights networks in Lima 2) the ways in which these networks reflect those existing throughout Latin America and 3) how these networks differ from those in the U.S.

I fell in love with feminism my freshman year. It made sense of my entire life. From the "make me a sandwich" jokes in high school to my dad's anger when I decided to get a buzz cut to constantly feeling crazy. Now I know that when I hear "make me a sandwich" and "woman" jokes, my discomfort is not an overreaction and I am allowed to call out sexism for what it is. I understand that my dad's anger was simply discomfort at my clear deviation from female gender norms. And the only reason why I've always felt a little insane is because I have been conditioned to believe that my perfectly normal emotional responses are "craziness" or "hysteria."

It should be acknowledged that feminism is also immensely complicated and these revelations did not happen overnight. For me, delving into feminism has meant delving into gender and power-based mental analyses of everything - and I do mean everything - that I engage with. From conversations to books to friends to movies, nothing is safe. Gone are the days of watching The Bachelor in peace. Feminism also helps me realize how much privilege is inherent in the fact that I consider having movies and TV shows ruined by feminism to be a real "problem" (but for real the inability to turn off mental analyses can be exhausting).

Feminism means being critical of myself and of the people around me. It means pointing out and explaining to people when they have said or done something with sexist, classist, racist or otherwise discriminatory implications - as well as admitting to myself that I have sexist, classist and racist biases. This is probably the most important, and difficult, part of feminism and activism: acknowledging your own biases and actively attempting to change them while at the same time attempting to explain these same concepts to other people. Hopefully this action collectively creates a better and more equitable global community.

For this first entry, I am going to list broad issues within feminism that personally affect me and the women in my life here in the States. Let me preface it by saying that the issues that affect me and the women in my life are in no way encompassing of issues that affect all women. Intersectionality, a term first coined by black feminist legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw, is a framework that must be applied to all social justice work. It is a framework that recognizes the multiple aspects of identity that enrich our lives and experiences and that compound and complicate oppressions and marginalizations. In simple terms, it means that when looking at womanhood we must understand that not all women have the same experiences simply by virtue of their identities as "women." Each individual's life is influenced by gender, race, class, sexuality, and so much more. No one identity is "defining"; rather, each identity interacts and melds with the others to create the unique experiences that you have. And so, in making this list, I must acknowledge the overarching systems of marginalization that affect me personally; i.e. my identity as a brown woman raised by a single mother who immigrated to the U.S. from India. This identity intermingles with my (considerable) privilege: though my mom is an immigrant, she is an comes from a wealthy family and our identity as Indian gives us "model minority" status; I have grown up upper-middle class; I am half-white; and I am attending a university that accepts more students from the top 1% than from the bottom 40% combined (i.e. a very wealthy institution).

And so, given all of this, here is a list of issues within feminism that I see affecting my life and the lives of the women around me:

• access to and affordability of birth control

• parents' negative perceptions of birth control serving as a barrier to access

• lack of open conversations about sex and sexual/reproductive health

• lack of comprehensive sex education in all schools

• access to and affordability of abortions

• discrimination against women in schools and in the workplace

• female sexual pleasure

• stigma around female masturbation

• many people do not know what the clitoris is or where it is located​

• school curriculums exclusively focusing on the accomplishments and work of white men (no role models for girls or people of color (POC) to look up to)

• frequency of sexual assault on college campuses combined with administrators who are more interested in money and reputation than on the safety and health of students who have experienced assault

• cat calling and street harassment

• feeling fearful of walking alone at night (or even when walking with an all-female group)

• men not taking "no" for an answer (example: romanticization of the story of the boy wooing the girl (even after she's said she's not interested) until she eventually falls for him)

• body shaming and unrealistic body expectations thanks to the media/Hollywood

• expectations regarding "feminine" presentation (must shave/wax/bleach/get laser treatment, wear makeup, have long hair, etc)

• college hookup culture

• women frequently branded as "crazy" or "clingy" for wanting communication after a hookup

• our president is a rapist

• the wage gap (78 cents/$ for white women, 64 cents/$ for black women and 54 cents/$ for hispanic women)