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Featured Artist Ayanah Moor interviewed the F-Word zine editorial group about…well, the f-word. The group on this day was Mary, Nikkia, Sarah, Eva, Lauren, Abby, Katie, Shmorkey, and Laney. Ayanah Moor: What’s the name of this group again? All: F-Word! AM: No, you guys aren’t called F-Word. As a group. You don’t have a crew name? Nikkia: Lovely ladies AM: Lovely ladies? N: I made that up just now AM: So it seems like, for whatever reason, feminism kind of has this bad reputation for some reason. I was wondering, do you feel like you guys have to educate your peers about feminism, now that you’re involved in this project? All: YES Lauren: Definitely. AM: So I guess we know that answer, yes, we have to educate them, but what has that process been like for you? Abby: It’s hard because a lot of teenagers don’t really care about things like that, like right now they just worry about school and looking cool and stuff like that, and it’s hard sometimes to get across the idea that there’s other things that matter, like that sexism is going on, I think a lot of people see it as we inform them. Schmorkey: I’ve tried talking to my family about it. I haven’t tried talking to my dad, he was busy golfing, but I talked to my mom about it, and she was actually really excited about the zine, she was like, “I want a special ed now!” And she was really enthusiastic about it, she thought the idea was great. I’ve talked about it with a few other people, and I actually was like, you should try to come to a meeting sometime, you would really enjoy it, and they were really excited about the idea, but I don’t know, maybe they didn’t know exactly what it was…I asked them and they said “The F-word meeting!” and I told you “It’s the feminism meeting.” They seem to be really confused about the issue, cuz they don’t know, they think it’s all about dykes, they think it’s just dykes. Man, you don’t have to be a dyke to come to this! Obviously. Eva: I also think it’s hard because you have to try to get everyone interested, so you have to relate to different kinds of people and experiences and classes and backgrounds, you know I think it’s hard to make something that fits, that appeals to everybody. AM: Do you feel that you have to define it in your own words because they already have this idea of what feminism is, and how do you define it? A: I think feminism means something different to every single person, I can’t just define it one way, cuz then that’s taking it away from everyone else. But to me, feminism is standing up for women’s rights, standing up for what you think will be best for women in the future and now, and having the right to choose and everything like that. Katie: a lot of the time I find myself explaining to guys who see feminism as this kind of cock block. Usually when I’m trying to explain what I think it is to them, I keep it on one level, the level that affects them directly, where in being a feminist, you’re not going to be very submissive with guys, and you’re not going to let them do whatever they want to you. It’s not like man hate and stuff like that, it’s just doing what you want and respecting your body. AM: it seems like you have to kind of apologize for wanting equality, which is really odd, which is all that feminism, I think, means historically, it’s just that we want equal treatment and access to opportunities. So since you referenced cock-blocking, which is very straightforward, I like that vernacular, do you know any guys who identify as feminists? E: I know a few All: Yeah A: I’m really happy whenever I see a guy that’s really interested in women’s rights or interested in supporting us, I feel really great, cuz there’s really not a lot of men out there who don’t give a shit about anything to do with feminism. I really don’t know very many men at all who even know what a feminist really is. E: It brings up the question of, can men be feminists? Can they support us? Do they really understand the oppression that we have to face every day? AM: It’s interesting because a friend of mine, a scholar, who I mentioned when I did my presentation, he very much identifies as a feminist, and he states that in his classes, and almost immediately, maybe the jocks, or some guys in his class, question his sexuality. And he’s a straight man with a family and children, but when he says I’m a feminist, there’s this question of what his relationship to other men might be. He’s just like, I believe in women having freedom and access and power, and that’s all that it means, so I can very much be a feminist…so the question is, why aren’t you one? And his name is Mark Anthony Neil. So I just wondered whether you’d ever kind of challenged your male friends to think about it in those terms. Because it’s not our issue, it’s a societal issue. A: Yeah, it’s really important I think for men to really get involved, cuz they can make a big change, because a lot of guys, guys are mainly the ones that don’t know much about women, so they don’t understand some things that we understand, so guys getting the word out there, feminism, out to other guys, it will make it easier for them to talk about it to other guys than for a girl to explain it. AM: So I have one more question. With this recent zine, and my interest in this cool pose, it makes me think as well of fashion, and sometimes fashion is regarded as being not the most empowering for women, in terms of being passive, wearing clothes, expressing your sexuality to sell a product. So I was wondering what you think about expressing feminism through cool pose. How do you do that? SCH: Well, sure, you can dress however you like and that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re trying to be manly, because you can still be womanly, feminine-looking…like if you’re wearing a t-shirt and jeans, that doesn’t have to be just boy’s clothes. N: I think it’s wearing whatever you’re comfortable in. I know that, I don’t mean to stereotype, but a complete and total prep can be a feminist, as long as she’s comfortable in it, and is not selling her body or whatever… Lauren: I think a lot of girls seem to be less comfortable in their clothing or in their bodies than guys are, both in the way where it’s physically not comfortable, they’ll just wear something because it looks good on them, or that other people say looks good on them or it makes their ass look smaller or bigger and it’ll be itchy or something but they’ll still wear it. (laughter) I hate it when things are itchy! Either that or they’ll wear something that’s uncomfortable, something that shows more of their skin for other people, whereas guys are wearing whatever they want and they don’t have to think about wearing things or putting makeup on. I think that makeup is empowering, but also, only girls wear it, to be pretty… E: I know a lot of other cultures paint their faces in different ways too, and I think it could be a grooming thing too. I don’t think it necessarily is about being powerful if you wear makeup. I know it’s an issue in feminism, like people say if you wear makeup you’re not a feminist. I feel like if you can feel comfortable both ways, then it’s not restricting. Lauren: But I don’t know why more guys don’t wear eyeliner. I think that guys look pretty in eyeliner too. They need to not worry about people thinking about how big their penis is. (more laughter) AM: Other feminism through cool pose feedback? K: Yeah. At least in my two poses, I had the soccer pose and the artist pose. With me, it’s kind of like, with the soccer one, sports are this kind of a show of masculinity. Guys going out there and showing their skills and stuff like that. I think it’s really terrible that there’s no women’s World Cup anymore. It really bothers me, just cuz people didn’t really want to watch it, and it didn’t get that much support in countries that are like, freaking out that their men only made it to the second round or something. So it’s kind of like about that with the soccer pose, and similar with the other pose, I wrote a page in the other zine about how graffiti is so male-dominated, and street art. It’s kind of just like, women doing things that are male-dominated, that’s feminism to me. So it’s kind of like reaching for this equality. A: I also like what you said about how you don’t have to have like, a drill in your hand to symbolize power, you can have, like, a plant, I like that. Lani: Like in my picture, I had cleaning supplies, and you can see that as like, “Oh, women, housecleaning,” but I chose that because I feel empowered working with all women and using all-natural supplies, and making good money, and supporting myself by doing that, and I feel empowered when I do it, so that’s why I chose that. AM: Ok, ladies. THANK YOU! Andy Warhol, photo Greg Gorman, 1983
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