At the end of October a list of 50 eye-opening Women’s Studies blogs was released and much to my surprise, Menstrual Poetry was on that list. Also to my surprise, it wasn’t just shoved at the bottom of the list with a description of something like ‘a woman who likes to spout her opinion a lot but has no idea what she’s talking about,’ which I honestly would have expected. The reason why I was so surprised is probably because I do not carry a Women’s Studies degree to wave around in the air whenever my identity as a young feminist is questioned or persecuted. In fact, I have never had any college education whatsoever and more to the point, while it has not been a topic on Menstrual Poetry, I have my GED, so I also do not have a complete high school education.
To be included in a list of Women’s Studies and feminist blogs that include staples within the feminist blogosphere like Feministe, Feministing and Shakesville, is a deeply humbling and really fucking awesome moment, especially considering that most, if not all of the people who have founded these blogs do possess a degree of some sort and have had the opportunity to learn and lend their voices within a woman, feminist, GLBTQ-friendly Women’s Studies class.
Which brings me to another point… I think another big reason why I was so surprised to be included in the list of 50 Eye-Opening Women’s Studies blogs, which was compiled to give people who want to “compliment [their] current education with a good dose of Women’s Studies” the resources to do so, is because there is a great deal of education privilege, especially in the US. Most of the time, if you tell someone that you did not attend college or if you studied at a community college, rather than a four-year university, you are looked down upon; people often think that you are stupid, lazy, or you don’t care about your future, which is not the case in the least. The simple truth of it all is that some people have the opportunity to attend a university due to a combination of various and important factors and some people just don’t and regardless of the fact that they did not have the opportunity to experience college, these people work just as hard, if not harder, to make the best of their lives and their futures living in society.
When it comes to the feminist blogosphere, there is an insane amount of education privilege; in fact, it is Women’s Studies and English degrees in overdrive. Just look at the about or bio sections of some of your favorite feminist, womanist and humanist blogs–chances are you’ll find out what kind of degrees your favorite writers hold within the first two sentences of their bio. These bloggers also go on to write books, which you’ll probably find the titles of within the first three to four sentences of their bio and as soon as their books come out, they are appearing on daytime talk shows and are fielding political commentary on MSNBC or being put on panels to create public and social controversy on FOX News. They go on book tours and do readings in local Borders and Barnes & Nobles, they conduct speaking events at colleges around the country and immediately, they are seen and accepted as the “new face” of feminism. They are then practically handed opportunities to write for wide-reaching, influential publications in print and online alike. Now, I am not saying that these people do not deserve the credit that they have, are and will receive; they have undoubtedly worked hard for their social standing in the feminist population, but I have noticed a great deal of education privilege in the most popular of feminist web spaces and it truly bothered me.
It was quite a few months ago, but I still remember a video where a contributor of Feministing was talking about books she had currently read and while critiquing a book of poetry that was not a book of ‘feminist poems,’ but just of poetry in general, she commented on how the author of the book “obviously did not have the opportunity to attend a Women’s Studies class,” which to me, meant that she thought and was saying that the author’s book apparently could not appeal to the feminist majority because she wasn’t feminist enough. I’m sorry, but that is complete and utter bullshit and by saying that, she basically informed the young feminists who visit Feministing that they are only good to the feminist population and to their communities and to their country with a degree in hand.
Just like any other group of people who unite as one in order to achieve anything, the feminist population is one that is made up of several different types of people and it really bothers me that the perspectives, the thoughts and the opinions of a certain percentage of that population are being taken seriously or seen at all merely because of the fact that they had more opportunities than the rest. If that wasn’t bad enough, it is those same feminists who have had these opportunities and who have written books and who have appeared on television and in publications and have guest posted for the Huffington Post and Alternet and other influential publications that are the same people who are also ignoring the rest of the feminist population and who truly believe that in order to be a good feminist or a real feminist you have to have a Women’s Studies degree in your possession. The way I see it, you do not need to attend a class for however many years you are in college to teach you how to be and think like a feminist–you just are, it’s a part of your personal belief system. Your opinions of society and culture and the political-driven world we live in are not necessarily something that is taught to you.
You do not need a Women’s Studies degree in order to prove that you are a feminist; your activism says and proves a lot more.
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