Students from the women’s caucus of the Columbia University Democrats will attend a rally against rape at Union Square this Saturday—one of a few events increasing the visibility of campus feminism this week.
Alma’s List, a group of Barnard and Columbia students which formed two years ago, will join thousands of others to participate in New York City’s first SlutWalk protest.
“The message of SlutWalk is that no matter how you dress, even if you dress like a ‘slut,’ no matter how you act, how you flirt, that doesn’t give anyone the right to rape you,” said Janine Balekdjian, CC ’13 and president of CU Dems.
SlutWalk got started last April in Toronto, “when a police officer told women that in order not to get raped, they shouldn’t dress like sluts,” said Allison Grossman, BC ’12 and director of Alma’s List. “That obviously made people very angry, and they had a big march in Toronto.”
The Barnard-Columbia International Socialist Organization and the newly-formed Radical College Undergraduates Not Tolerating Sexism are also helping to organize students for the protest.
Balekdjian said she was happy to be working with the other groups, especially Radical C.U.N.T.S., because she feels there has been a lack of feminist groups on campus. Sarah Gitlin, CC ’13 and media director of CU Dems, agreed.
“I think, unfortunately, a lot of women our age believe that feminism was the struggle of our mothers and don’t realize how much work there still is to do,” Gitlin said.
Gitlin and Balekdjian seem to have made it their mission, however, to ensure that students do realize the importance of modern feminism. As members of Alma’s List, the two have started another project together: a magazine they are calling “Feminist Mystique,” a take on the title of Betty Friedan’s famous book.
More than 20 men and women attended the first meeting to talk about the magazine Wednesday night, and many volunteered to start working on articles.
Brendon Villalobos, CC ’15, signed up to write what the magazine hopes to make a recurring feature: a point/counterpoint on divisive issues within the feminist community. His piece will argue that it is impossible to be both a Republican and a feminist.
“I really hope to show that men can be an active part of the feminist movement,” Villalobos, CC ’15, said. “Instead of working against it, we can be part of the solution.”
But the number of students and groups working on feminist issues doesn’t mean that they share a specific viewpoint. Kate Christensen, BC ’14 and social director for the Columbia University College Republicans, was eager to contribute to the magazine.
“I’m a feminist because I believe in equality. I don’t see feminism and conservatism as mutually exclusive,” she said.
Still, Christensen said she takes issue with many aspects of the American feminist movement. “I think some women become absentee mothers under the banner of feminism. They’re still fighting, and I don’t think they need to be fighting.”
Grossman fundamentally disagreed. “I think saying the feminist movement is over is kidding yourself. I don’t think we’re ever done fighting,” she said.
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