Kay:

Hey, Hey Questers welcome back. It’s Tuesday, March 9th and this is episode 307. Today’s quote is by Gloria Steinem and she says, “A feminist is anyone who recognized the equality and full humanity of women and men.”

Shi:

She’s the co-founder of Ms. Magazine. She was a columnist for New York Magazine. She was a spokeswoman for the American Feminist Movement in the sixties and seventies. So, on that cutting edge of the second wave of the suffragist movement. This gives me a sense of relief when I think about feminism. It doesn’t have to be about this razor edge or this defensive stance. It’s about allowing our society to catch up to what I think most of us feel in our hearts, this equality and humanity that’s full and equal and equitable for people of both sexes and those who identify somewhere in between.

Kay:

I think there’s a tendency for the modern feminism movement to turn into: down with men…

Kay & Shi:

Up with women.

Kay:

It’s turned into this anger and angst toward males in general and that’s not what feminism really is about. What Gloria Steinem is telling us here is that a feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men. Now, obviously, there’s a little bit of an equity gap here between men and women, because women have been historically oppressed, but we’re working our way towards something different. It’s not about down with men, up with ladies. It’s about finding the place in the middle where equality really is what shines through.

Shi:

The feminist perspective has to be introduced in order for that gap to get filled and that’s the role that it’s played in social sciences and social activism and in our modern society and our cultural narrative over the last 100 years, and having this allowance, this recognition that we have to close the gap by calling it feminism because the default was masculinism or patriarchy for a long time. So, in order to balance that out, we’ve got to bring the perspective that lifts up the feminist perspective but that doesn’t mean push down the male perspective. It means to lift up. It means recognizing that equal playing field, that full humanity of both, and the full right to be of both.

Kay:

You don’t have to blow out one candle in order to light another. You can light the other and then both candles can be lit and have that flame. But it’s been an interesting evolution, feminism in general. Shila and I have been laughing just in studying this movement, especially with the suffragists. There were 50% of women who were against the right to vote. So, any time that we see some form of major social change come forward, we watch and see how there’s this other part of people who want the status quo to remain what it is. So, the push of feminism was so much more than just a bunch of ladies in white dresses. It was women who then also worked hand in hand with men, because at the time there were no women, even in legislation, to have these changes made on a structural level, but it took both parties to make it happen.

Shi:

It did, and hella shout out to all the men out there who are woke. The two dear men that were married to-

Kay:

So woke.

Shi:

Yeah, and to so many others that we interact with. If you’re listening now, we count you certainly in this definition of a feminist because we know that you’re here for mentorship and you don’t mind we’re ladies. That’s really what this quote is the echoes of, it’s that recognition and equality for, of equality and full humanity, that allowance to be a human, which means sometimes repulsive, which means sometimes stupid, which means sometimes bold, which means sometimes hard-lined or stubborn, all qualities that in the past have technically been male qualities, that allowance for that full humanity expression. The flip side of that, that men are allowed that full expression of humanity as well. To be sensitive, to be in tune with emotions, to be nurturing, to be willing to contribute to the household and the duties that come along with that. So, this allowance flows both ways, and that’s really what Gloria really gets us to with this quote. So, to remind you, Gloria Steinman tells us, “A feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men.”

Kay:

Alrighty, gang today’s quest is a Feminist Quest. Today we want you to treat each and every person you come across from the lens of a feminist. Remember, that’s really the lens of equality. A little bit of extra credit would be to share what this definition of feminism means to you with someone you love or shoot us a message on Instagram and let us know what the definition of feminism is to you. Are you ready?

Kay & Shi:

Let’s quest!