Gathering my courage, I sought out a speaker whose words had truly spoken to me; this person was Ileana Jimenez, a feminist educator currently teaching at LREI School in New York. She described how she first really got into feminism when she discovered her “feminist DNA.” In a conversation with her grandmother,Ms. Jimenez learned that she had loved school but had only been allowed to be educated for one year. Throughout her high school years, Ms. Jimenez began to find writings that she felt she could relate to, but these were all by men. In college, she began to find the women writers she would have the same reaction to, making her realize that this is what she wants to bring into the classroom if she were to teach.
Ms. Jimenez spoke about how feminism is intersectional: contemporary practice doesn’t only look at gender but also consider race, politics, sexual orientation, and really anything one person could classify/identify themselves as.
Ms. Jimenez brought part of her feminism class with her to the TEDxYouth@Hewitt conference. Six students, boys and girls, shared what shaped their feminist voice. Some of them talked about the abuse of women family members, the dehumanization of women by way of street harassment and girls’ sexualization in media, and celebrated women writers.
Ms. Jimenez seemed delighted to hear that her presentation had inspired me, and kindly sat down with me to answer a few questions:
RA: Could you tell me more about your class?
IJ:“The name of the class is Fierce and Fabulous: Feminists women artists, writers, actors. It is offered as a class in the English department, but is a hybrid class in which we look at literature, history, art, media, and activism. These components allow me to share not only feminism with my students but feminisms. There are a lot of faces of feminism…[this is really just] an appetizer course [that can lead you into more studying].
RA: I wondering about how you’ve changed your teaching style to adapt to teaching boys about feminism. How did that work out in the end; obviously there are boys in your class that are really into it, but how do you think the results are?
IJ: The results are amazing. I’m proud of my boys, who identify as feminists by the end of the course. I’ve been teaching this particular course for 3 years, and ever year I teach it, there are always some boys… You have to start out class by sharing stories with messages regarding gender. I start out by asking every student… to share their story of how they receive messages about gender, so that opens up the conversations about masculinity and femininity. The boys and girls begin to see each other differently, [they] have a space to talk about stories that may be embarrassing or shameful (ex. how boys aren’t supposed to wear certain colors and be conquering about their masculinity, or how girls feel stuck between [feeling the need] to be a virgin or really promiscuous. [the students] Start to share these personal stories that allow both groups to talk together in honest ways. [Basically, I] Start it out by sharing personal stories.
RA: How can I personally get involved in feminism movements?:
IJ: “That’s a whole conversation! [It] Depends on what you’re interested in. In my class…there are 2 units that may interest you. The first unit is about media, how to analyze the media, and looking at the sexualization of girls in the media… [I] brought my students to the Spark summit at Hunter college. The spark summit is launching a movement against the sexualization of girls in the media… seeing how their feminist analysis of the media is being put online. Feminism online is a strong component of how young feminists are having their voices heard.
Another issue…[is] sex trafficking. GEMS [Girls Educational & Mentoring Services]… they work to stop the commercial sexual exploitation of children. (see their film: very young girls).
[There are a] Whole other host of issues to get involved in. [It all] depends [on] if you are interested in feminism in terms of what is going on right here in NYC… like street harassment. Or even [topics such as] he environment.
You can visit Ileana Jimenez’s blog at www.feministteacher.com.