As well as partaking in festivities at the campus center, Tufts students yesterday were invited to attend the International Women's Day Celebration in Sophia-Gordon.
Yesterday also marked the start of a campaign organized by the Tufts Feminist Alliance to remake the stereotypical image of a "feminist."
Leaders of TFA explained that although their initiative was not an official celebration of the March 8 holiday, its launch date was intentionally set for International Women's Day.
The energy and organization of TFA should be applauded, as they are pushing the Tufts community to re-examine its preconceived notions.
A visible, simple method to illustrate the TFA's point, the T-shirts reminded the Tufts community of a broader notion of feminism that has little in common with the widely-held stereotypes of the militant or extreme feminist.
In a joint e-mail to the Daily, TFA co-chairs Amanda Harris and Elizabeth Fusco explained that the goal of their project is "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."
Now that the Tufts Feminist Alliance has started to answer the question "What is a feminist?" we encourage the organization and the whole campus to continue to talk about the important, truly international holiday.
International Women's Day is, after all, officially recognized in countries as diverse as Armenia, Italy, Russia, Azerbaijan, China, Belarus, Cuba, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, India, Macedonia, Brazil, Mongolia, Poland, Ukraine and Vietnam, and was first marked 97 years ago. Many Tufts students may not recognize the history or the widespread character of this celebration.
We encourage active feminists on campus to continue to push for the dissemination of more information about women's movements across the globe even as they attempt to effect change in our own society.
Confronting gender issues around the world means grappling with difficult topics such as moral subjectivity and respect for different cultural values. If female circumcision is accepted (even by women) as a coming-of-age ritual in some African tribes, should we still speak out against its dangers and implications? Is it acceptable to decry polygamy common in other societies?
These are not easy topics to discuss, but it is important that we, as global citizens, face them and educate ourselves about them.
Unfortunately, addressing and dispelling misconceptions about feminists and feminism here and internationally will take more than the TFA's well-executed T-shirt campaign.
If anyone can put on the slogan "This is what a feminist looks like," does this encourage a passive form of feminism? We hope that the end result of this event is not simply an extra T-shirt in the drawer of some students.
Though some Tufts students may have tossed their shirts aside yesterday after wearing them, we must not let that be the fate of the important idea that, at the end of the day, one would hope that we all consider ourselves feminists.
