Anna Goldman speaks about the start of the Feminist club and “Walk A Mile in Her Shoes”
What do you do here at SXU?
AG:M y name is Anna Goldman and I am the founder of the Feminist Club, and also the Director of Multi-Cultural event for SXC.
What sort of lessons should stick with us and be learned during Women’s History Month?
AG: Women’s history month should spotlight the many contributions of women to our society, past and present. The contributions can get lost, as women have been marginalized in history.
What prompted you to assemble the Feminist Club?
AG:I assembled the Feminist Club to educate our campus and community about feminism, and promote gender equality. Feminism has developed some negative connotations due, in my opinion to a lack of understanding of the term and its application. Simply put, a feminist is someone who believes men and women should be on equal footing. My goal is to create a space that is positive and welcoming and to identify and address some key issues that affect women on our campus.
What can Saint Xavier students who may be interested expect from it?
AG:Students should expect open and engaging dialogue about feminism and gender issues. Since this is a new club, I expect that we together will assess the specific areas of focus for the club and the events the club will engage in. It will be a collaborative process.
Where do you see it headed in the next couple of months?
AG:The group will be formed and we will have direction as to specific areas of focus and activities.
What kinds of events do you plan on organizing?
AG:I would like the decisions as to the activities of the club to be made by consensus by the group. They may include a speaker series, a book club, film viewing, or women-focus community engagement.
Is this your first time getting involved with Walk a Mile in her shoes–if not how were prior experiences?
AG:Yes this is my first time getting involved with Walk A Mile In Her Shoes.
How do you hope it will be received?
AG:We hope the event will be received well by faculty staff and students. We hope to have people participate in the walk and have people participate in cheering on the men who are brave enough to walk.
What it the most important thing you want students and faculty to take away from it?
AG:The most import thing is that sexualized violence against women is a pressing issue in our society, particularly on college campuses. All of us can and should take part in changing this culture of violence against women.
At the 87th Academy Awards, as actress Patrick Arquette was receiving her Oscar she used her speech as a platform to speak about women’s wage inequality. How do you feel about that in the year 2015 as it relates to maybe a personal experience?
AG:I do not have a personal experience with wage inequality. However, I do know that in 2013, women were paid 78 cents of every dollar men were paid. The fact that this pay gap occurs in nearly every occupation, such that women are preforming the same jobs as men for lower pay, highlights one of the potential benefits of having the Feminist Club as a place for dialogue about gender equality on campus.
Jasmin Weaver speaks about this months Black Hair-itage event
What prompted you all to host this event?
JW: Being that the majority of our organization is African American females, we wanted to host an event that catered to the Black female population on campus. Hair is a significant topic among the female African American community.
Black females have a variety of hair textures and styles. On college campus, it is not easy to keep our hair in its best state because a lot of us are away from our stylist and access to the proper products. We are hosting this event to give students resources in order to maintain the health and beauty of their hair.
What sorts of things do you hope the students will walk away with a better understanding of?
JW: We hope that students will walk away with a better understanding of the variety, beauty and art of African American hair.
What will the event consist of?
JW: The event will consist of informative activities concerning hair texture and management, as well as giveaways.
What part are you most excited about?
We are most excited about the opportunity to celebrate African American hair and beauty.
I don’t know if you have heard but recently a host from The Fashion Police got into some trouble when she made some inciting and rude comments about Zendaya Coleman’s hair. The young actress showed up to the Oscars with her hair dreaded and the host joked that it looked like she smelled like patchouli oil and marijuana.
The host has since apologized and been ‘forgiven’. Do you feel that her comments were derogatory or racist? How detrimental can comments like these be to a young woman or girl’s self-esteem and how important is it that she is able to freely embrace her hair?
JW: Yes, I believe those comments were very derogatory, offensive, and A terrible generalization. Dreadlocks are a sacred part of the Rastafarian religion, however they worn are by people of several other cultures and religions.
Comments like such contribute to the undermining of the Black woman. We live in an American society where our natural hair state does not fit in the common standards of beauty. Women of color have to individually make the choice of trying to fit these standards or embracing their own standard of beauty. Our objective of hosting Black Hairitage is to support and promote the latter option.
Zhana Johnson
Senior Features Editor
Photos courtesy: Jasmin Weaver, Anna Goldman, logo-kid.com
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