The Tufts Feminist Alliance (TFA) will launch a T-shirt campaign today to coincide with International Women's Day.
By donning matching T-shirts with the slogan "This Is What a Feminist Looks Like," TFA members and their supporters hope to raise on-campus awareness of their message.
Approximately 125 T-shirts have already been distributed and 500 stickers with the same phrase will be available today.
According to sophomores and TFA co-chairs Amanda Harris and Elizabeth Fusco, one of the purposes of the campaign is to dispel myths about feminists.
"We are working to reform the common misconception that all feminists are 'man-haters' and bra-burners, and to show people that realistically, almost anyone is a feminist if they believe in ... equality in rights and opportunity," Fusco and Harris said in a joint e-mail to the Daily.
Although the event will coincide with International Women's day, Harris said that it is not an official celebration of the holiday.
"We chose to do it on International Women's Day because of the significance of the day, but the campaign is separate from the day itself," she told the Daily.
An official celebration of the holiday, in which the TFA will also take part, will take place today in Sophia Gordon Hall. The event will be sponsored by the women's studies program.
Beyond the T-shirt campaign, the TFA also has other plans for the rest of March, which is Women's History Month.
The group has already put up some flyers, and more will be distributed during the rest of the month. "We just want it to be continuous so everybody is constantly aware of it," Harris said.
Fusco said that the TFA is also looking into bringing a speaker to campus, although no definite plans have been made yet.
The overarching goal of the efforts will be to combat stereotypes about feminism. Many students seem to agree that these prejudices exist.
"People probably do [have preconceptions]," senior Corey Miller said. "It's hard to say exactly what, but there's this image that feminism is very radical and revolutionary, that's often exaggerated. I think it's a pretty common prejudice."
Sophomore Kristine Babick agreed. "I would be less inclined to identify myself with feminists because most people, especially men, have preconceived notions about what they think feminists are. A lot of people think of them as being unreasonable and militant," she said.
She said that the T-shirt campaign can help dispel these conceptions. "I think a lot of girls are almost embarrassed to call themselves feminists, so if you put a face on that, you can help get rid of the stigma of feminism," she said.
Freshman Xavier Malina also said that the day-long T-shirt campaign could be effective, but added that it would only be the beginning of change.
"I think it would open the door to changing the stigma, [but] for it really to go away it would take time," he said.
