Feminist Activism Through the Use of Personal Stories
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At the International Leadership Association annual conference in Atlanta, I gave a talk as part of a panel called Social Media, the Blogosphere, and Inclusivity Activism in Online Spaces. My talk centered around feminist activism through personal stories on the YesAllWomen web site.
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Feminist Activism Through the Use of Personal Stories
- 1. Feminist Activism Through the Use of Personal Stories Dr. Daniel L. Roberts 910-690-5964 dr.danielroberts@icloud.com U.S. Army Chaplaincy
- 4. Story #1: Hailey Z’s rape story
- 5. Evaluations • Determined that there was a pattern of police inaction in rape cases.
- 6. Personal Agency • Expressed solidarity with the universal collective • Felt a strong sense of personal agency to be able to bring about change
- 7. Problematizing • Probable cause principle: pattern of police injustice
- 8. Story #2: Monica, no interest in motherhood
- 9. Evaluations • Women are under social pressure to have children • Women who do not want to have children • Shamed • Treated as if something was wrong with them
- 10. Personal agency • Monica uses "lets" to appeal to the collective of women to rise up against the "patriarchy"
- 11. Problematizing • The human race cannot survive unless all women have children • Women are the image of fertility and life
- 12. Story #3: Brittany and anorexia
- 13. Evaluations • Criticizes traditional assumptions about anorexia • Criticizes society for not letting people feel safe to be themselves
- 14. Personal Agency • Brittany: ”We", all humanity, must give people space to be themselves, and stop telling them how they should feel and behave with regards to their bodies.
- 15. Problematizing • Anorexia is a response to the beauty culture • Anorexia is a woman’s problem
- 16. Figurative Language • "Policing of women and men who don't eat for whatever reason" - Brittany feels that society acts as the arbiters of what is right and wrong for what people to do with their bodies.
- 17. Story #4: Maria, a high school feminist
- 18. Evaluations • Social forces: Angered that the boys in the classroom were so negative about the views in the book • School institution: limited in its view of what books could be read
- 19. Personal Agency • High degree of personal agency to choose book to read, to speak out against oppression • Expressed solidarity with all women around the world • The collective attention from other girls to grab onto her beliefs assisted in strengthening and solidified what she felt.
- 20. Problematizing • Criticized the assertion that gender equality exists • Feminism: “Achieving gender quality by advocating for the rights of the underprivileged gender"
- 21. Imagery
- 22. Conclusion • The narrative analysis method is useful for leadership studies because it focuses on participants’ perspectives. • There is a wide variety of perspectives that surface in social media, but are not discussed in other outlets. • My recommendation for inclusive leaders: create an environment that honors the perspectives of all team members
- 23. References • Bischoping, K., & Gazso, A. (2016). Analyzing talk in the social sciences: Narrative, conversation & discourse strategies. Los Angeles, CA: Sage. • Dery, M. (2015). Not your mommy. Retrieved from http://www.yesallwomen.club/opinion/not-your-mommy/. • Jeans, E. L., Knights, D., Martin, P. Y. (Eds.)(2011). Handbook of gender, work, and organization. UK: Wiley. • Mari (2015). Being a feminist in high school. Retrieved from http://www.yesallwomen.club/personal/being-a-feminist-in- high-school/.
- 24. References • Sims, B. (2015). Occupying space: A story about anorexia. Retrieved from http://www.yesallwomen.club/personal/occupying- space-a-story-about-anorexia/. • Zorrozua, H. (2015). My story: Hailey Z. Retrieved from http://www.yesallwomen.club/censored/my- story-hailey-z/.
Editor's Notes
- In this project, narrative analysis of personal stories produced themes of the storytellers’ evaluations of social forces and institutional structures, storytellers’ estimation of their own personal agency within SFIS, and storytellers’ problematizing of SFIS.
- Qualitative narrative analysis is a way to determine how people perceive their life experiences by examining the stories that they tell (Bischoping & Gazso, 2016). It is believed that people express deep meaning within stories through a number of devices, such as emplotment, imagery, metaphors, rhythm, and others (Bischoping & Gazso, 2016). This analysis was conducted from a constructionist perspective, which is concerned with how people interpret experiences and construct meaning from those experiences (Bischoping & Gazso, 2016)
- Hailey was raped by two boys she thought were close friends.
- Hailey reported the rape to the police, but they refused to do anything on the basis that there was no probable cause. The police arrived at this conclusion despite the fact that both boys had been in trouble before for rape and sexual assault.
- Prominently used "we" - "we need change", "together we can make a difference", expressing solidarity with the universal collective Using "I" when describing her passion and desire to "evoke change" suggests that she felt a strong sense of personal agency to be able to bring about change
- As mentioned before, police determined there was no probable cause even though both Daniel and Jesse had histories of sexual crimes. Jesse had been charged with sexual assault in high school and was not allowed to walk at graduation because of an incident in which he exposed himself. Daniel had been accused of rape by another girl two years earlier. When Hailey brought this informed the police of the boys' histories, the police still refused to do anything, citing lack of probable cause.
- Monica had no interest in motherhood. The main point of her article was that a woman's "faults" or "imperfections" do not define her. A final statement, "A woman is more than her body," puts the exclamation point on the whole article.
- Monica problematizes the idea that all women must choose to have children in order for the human race to survive. She also problematizes the idea that women are the image of fertility and life. This use of imagery is patriarchal and controlling. Monica asserts that society sees a woman who chooses to not have children as a selfish person. For some people, it is unfathomable that a woman would decide to not have children unless she was broken somehow. Monica claims that society thinks of her as less than a complete woman if she does not want to have children.
- Brittany was an anorexic, but not for the reasons often ascribed to people with the “disease.”
- Many people assume that anorexics think that they are too fat or that they have to avoid eating to be beautiful. These assumptions about anorexia caused Brittany to not want to talk about it because those are not the reasons that she is anorexic. She was afraid that people would think that what she actually feels is not real.
- Brittany problematizes traditional ideas about anorexia - that it is the result of the beauty culture or that women think they are fat when they are not. She also problematizes the idea that anorexia is only a woman's problem.
- Maria was a young feminist in high school. Over the summer, the school required students in a certain class to read a book from a specific list. She read a book about the oppression of women. She was not shy about her beliefs and often incited discussions in class.
- Maria was angered that the boys were so blind to women’s issues and unwilling to have reasonable discussions about these problems. Though she did not provide an explanation, Maria criticized the school by saying that the book list was “restrictive”
- Maria and her friend “publicized what it was like for women all around the world” Maria stated that she helped create a new norm in the classroom and refused to be bullied by the boys
- Boys asserted that feminism was not needed, women had already achieved equality, and that now it is men that need to be protected. These are not uncommon expressions for men with a patriarchal view (Jeanes, Knights, & Martin, 2011).
- The use of the Venus figure with all varieties of women written within the circle illustrates the writer’s solidarity with all types of women