Currents Magazine Spring 2020: Everyday Feminism

CURRENTS everyday feminism

VOL. CXIV

SPRING 2020

TABLE OF

Contents 5 10

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13 20

Defining Feminism

Olivia Robinson: Learning From Literature

Feminism in the United States: A Storied History

If It Isn’t Intersectional, It Isn’t Feminism Cyndia Clegg: Breaking Barriers on Campus

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24 25 30 31 34 35 37

Unapologetically Her: Defying Expectations of Motherhood Elizabeth Chung: Leading With Love

The Other Side: Can Men Be Feminists?

Connie Horton: Rising up in a Room Full of Men Unsung Heroes Around the World

Brandon Easley: Striking out Sexism Beyond the Catcall: Women Share Personal Experiences

Feminism Speaks Fashion

39 43 46 47 51 55 57 61

Who Runs the Abortion Debate? Girls.

He Said, She Said

Sara Young Jackson: Igniting Change for Women in Leadership “Why Isn’t My Voice Valued in a Church I Love?”

Feminism in the Digital Age

A Snapshot of the Wage Gap

And That’s on Period.

Sydney Sauter: Women Supporting Women

LETTER FROM

theEditor

I am privileged and lucky, and yet even I have been afraid to walk alone at night; even I have been told that I am a bad feminist for wearing makeup and loving pink; and even I have been accused of earning something not because of my skills but because of my appearance.

There are countless expectations for what it means to be a woman and to be a feminist, but human experience transcends all limitations.

Growing up, my parents and grandparents taught me that every human being deserves respect, regardless of their identity.

Pepperdine and the world have come a long way, but there is still so much that needs to be done.

That’s why when I applied for my dream position of editor-in-chief of Currents, there was no doubt what my theme would be. Exploring gender equality and feminism was the only option. I chose to focus on everyday interactions because I believe that the most effective way to break down barriers is by changing the way we perceive and treat others.

I may have chosen the theme of the magazine, but it is the hard work, talent and unique perspectives of my team that made my vision a reality. To the writers, thank you for giving a voice to members of our community. To the editors, thank you for ensuring each story is balanced and beautiful. To the designers, photographers and artists, thank you for illustrating the content with creativity and intention. To my adviser, thank you for believing in me and giving me so much of your time. And to my family, thank you for supporting me

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in everything that I do.

Creating a magazine about such a sensitive subject is challenging, and doing so in the midst of a pandemic is even more challenging. The content on these pages will not be as diverse, inclusive or comprehensive as we had hoped. But, through this journey, I have learned that it is better to have tried imperfectly than to never have tried at all. We cannot progress toward equality if we are not willing to take a risk and engage in uncomfortable dialogue.

Words are powerful, and every story matters — especially the ones that are far too often left untold. From students’ experiences with sexual harassment to their views on intersectionality, each of these stories humanizes these seemingly divisive issues, hopefully empowering readers to contribute to a conversation that is more relevant now than ever before.

To those who say gender inequality does not exist, I want to share real, raw experiences with you. To those who advocate for gender equality but avoid the label of feminist, I want to deconstruct that stigma.

Change is possible only when we stop viewing feminism as a women’s issue. This is a human issue, and the fight for gender equality will fail unless its advocates also fight for every other form of equality.

Change is possible only when everyone is invited to the conversation. So I invite you — whoever you are, wherever you are, just as you are — to join me in the stride toward equality. Let this be the first step of many.

Makena Huey, Editor-in-Chief

STAFF & CONTRIBUTORS Alex Neis assistant editor

Allison Lee assistant editor

Logan Wood lead designer

Milan Loiacono photo editor Melissa Locke design assistant

Natalie Rulon creative director

Vernie Covarrubias section assistant

Adviser Christina Littlefield, associate professor of journalism and religion

Cover Art by Caitlin Roark Modeled by Braden Ritchey, Cindy Kim, Jonathan Tapan, McKayla Moy, Maria Fernanda Chavez Mendoza, Mary Buffaloe and Katia Lehnhoff Llarena

Other Contributors Ally Armstrong Elizabeth Brummer Gianni Cocchella Marisa Dragos Aliya Edwards Camryn Gordon Maria Belen Iturralde

Ali Levens Bryant Loney Quinn Mathys Kaelin Mendez Madison Nichols Caitlin Roark Olivia Smith Channa Steinmetz

Lindsey Sullivan Savannah Welch Brianna Willis Bethany Wilson Karl Winter Kayiu Wong Grace Wood 4

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defining feminism [ dih-fahy-ning fem-uh-niz-uh m ]

by Vernie Covarrubias art by Caitlin Roark Despite securing women the right to vote, advancing the civil rights movement and being the moving force behind equal pay, the word ‘feminism’ tends to leave a bad taste in the mouths of many.

“It took a while for me to actually be comfortable with saying that I was [a feminist] just because of all of the negative connotations that it had with it,” Mariah Fujita Montes, freshman integrated marketing communication major, said.

The idea that feminists hate men, believe that women are superior to men and are incessantly angry are frequent stereotypes Fujita Montes said

she attempts to dispel.

The basic definition of feminism is the belief in the “political, economic, and social equality of the sexes,” according to Merriam-Webster.

In a Currents survey of 221 students, 66% of students said they identify as a feminist.

Of the women who responded, 78% said they identified as a feminist, while 48% of men said they did.

Given multiple definitions and the ability to select more than one, nearly 80% of students defined a feminist as someone who believes that all genders are equal, while 63% said it is someone who seeks to empower women. Only 17 —

less than 8% — said a feminist believes that women are superior to men.

So, why do people hesitate to call themselves feminists, and what does it really mean to be one?

The answer: It looks different for everyone.

Everyday feminism “[Feminism is] the radical idea that women are full human beings,” Women’s Studies Professor Lorie Goodman said with a smirk.

Goodman said she uses the term ‘radical’ with only partial seriousness, but she still finds it surprising to see wom-

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en treated as “second-class citizens.”

“The functions [women] perform in culture and family and society are as significant and important as male contributions,” Goodman said. “We should utilize the potential in every human being, not just the male ones.”

“We should utilize the potential in every human being, not just the male ones.”

—Lorie Goodman Being a feminist is not limited to attending marches or creating big, institutional changes. Feminism is more prevalent and more impactful when practiced through small, everyday interactions.

“Not everyone’s an activist, and I think that’s totally OK,” junior creative writing major Mary Buffaloe said.

For English Professor Katie Frye, feminism means living out her views of treating everyone equally. She said she uses her roles as a mother and

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a professor to inspire others to do the same.

“I am a woman in the world,” Frye said. “So I want a better world for my daughter, and for my sons and for my students.”

Communication Professor Bert Ballard, former director and facilitator of Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity (SEED), said he believes that society has made strides toward equality, but they are yet to be enough. The Currents survey found that 79% of students do not think both males and females are treated equally today.

“Until women feel as though they can walk into any space and demand the same kind of respect and the same kind of pay; until women do not feel like they have to choose between family and career; until they feel safe in the system to talk about ways they’ve been victimized; until we don’t need a Me Too movement, I would say feminism needs to continue to raise that awareness and to fight against those injustices,” Ballard said.

Misconceptions At the end of the feminist portion of her literary theory course, Goodman said students often come up to her to tell her how their understanding of the movement has changed.

“I’ve had students say, ‘Wow, you know, that’s a really different notion of feminism [than I had]. I always thought feminists were people who

hated men,’” Goodman said.

Feminism is not about undercutting men but about gender equality for all. Goodman said she believes that most of the misconceptions stem from people who think women are denying female biological roles as part of the movement.

“I think that’s not accurate at all,” Goodman said. “It’s much more about culture and attitudes than it is about biology.”

Political Science Professor Candice Ortbals said many people often confuse feminism with wanting the progress of women over that of men.

“A lot of times people don’t want to think that you’re giving sort of a bump up to a certain group and that somehow, maybe that imbalances that equal playing field,” Ortbals said.

As a feminist, Buffaloe said she doesn’t believe that women are above men, but she opposes the patriarchy that she believes society’s social systems operate under. Sometimes, others perceive her as “loud and angry.”

“I am a loud woman,” Buffaloe said. “I am an angry woman. Sometimes, I have had to sacrifice those parts of myself to appear more socially acceptable to other people.”

Though she recognizes the stereotypes associated with feminism, Buffaloe said she ultimately believes that she should not have to change who she is to appease others.

“I just wish [feminism] had a better reputation,” Buffaloe said. “But, it’s not the job of feminists to change that rep-

utation. It’s the job of society to make a space for feminism as something that is respected and not just annoying.”

Gender roles Junior sociology major Nalani Kaai grew up in a single-parent household with her mother, who tirelessly worked multiple jobs to provide a better education for her children.

Kaai said she first understood the importance of feminism in her life when her boss spoke disrespectfully to her at work. Her boss blamed every mistake on how she grew up without a father figure and sug-

gested that she never received adequate discipline.

That moment taught her that people should not make assumptions about others because of their gender.

“There’s nothing wrong with being a strong, powerful woman and being able to provide for your family,” Kaai said.

Feminism advocates for the equality between genders, meaning gender roles are fluid.

In today’s American culture, men are expected to be strong and to suppress their emotions, Goodman said.

“We force men into fitting a particular category, just as we force women to fit into a

particular category,” Goodman said. “And that’s destructive for both ends of that spectrum.”

Buffaloe said she believes that feminism dispels gender roles altogether.

“That’s also a part of feminism: fighting for men’s ability to be themselves in the same way that [we fight] for women’s ability and all people to be themselves,” Buffaloe said.

Intersectionality Intersectionality is the overlapping of different forms of discrimination and their effects. Intersectional feminism aims to highlight the different

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factors that are considered in one’s experience of being a woman, including race, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, nationality and disability.

“If [feminism] doesn’t cross all borders of people, then you’re not any different,” Fujita Montes said. “If it only affects one person, then you’re not doing anything. You’re not doing it right.”

Fujita Montes said she was referring to Black Lives Matter not being invited to participate in the Women’s March this year, as the LAist reported.

“I feel like that’s a really good example of how much work within feminism needs to be done,” Fujita Montes said.

Intersectional feminism aims to advocate for equality and does not exclude anyone.

The role of faith For some, religion plays a role in how they define feminism.

Frye said she is a person of faith who tries to walk in the Spirit every day, modeling her life after Jesus.

“I think Jesus was a feminist,” Frye said. “To me, this is not a radical term. [Feminism] is just wanting everyone to be treated fairly and equally.”

Frye said she believes that “loving your neighbor as yourself ” is a Christian teaching that suggests one should love one’s neighbor, regardless of who one’s neighbor happens to be in terms of gender or race. “ You can think of feminism

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as just [loving your neighbor as yourself] but also as a way to combat misperceptions [about feminism],” Frye said. “I think if we all remember that, then most of these issues would be able to work themselves out.”

To Frye, feminism is not radical.

“It’s not ever something

that I think I just woke up and consciously chose,” Frye said.

“It just always seemed like if you’re truly trying to pursue Christ, this is just sort of where you land and just becomes something that’s very important to you.”

Makena Huey contributed reporting to this story.

Olivia Robinson: learning from literature

by Ali Levens photo by Milan Loiacono Two years ago, a Pepperdine sophomore sat nestled in the crooks of Payson Library, nose buried deep in “Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism” — bell hooks’ feminist theory. The author’s words have the reader on an intellectual precipice, grasping at hooks’ concepts and surrounding herself with the powerful rhetoric she had just consumed.

This was how Olivia Robinson, now a senior integrated marketing communication major and Black Student Association (BSA) co-president, immersed herself in the feminist discussion.

“Feminism, at the end of the day, comes from a place of love for ourselves and love for each other,” Robinson said.

Growing up, the Palmdale, California native’s family exposed her to these principles but did not refer to them as feminism.

She discovered a new, more inclusive side of the movement through hooks, who integrated the Black community into the white-women-led discussion. The unapologetic nature of hooks’ writing ultimately inspired Robinson to think more critically about feminism. “[hooks] was shaping something that was growing in me,” Robinson said. “How do you have these conversations in spaces that you may or may not have been invited into and speak on the things that are impacting you and your people or people you care about?”

Looking at hooks’ standpoint inspired Robinson to add another layer of depth to conversations about women’s rights, including the TEDx Talk she gave at Pepperdine. “[I’m] able to understand things that I hadn’t thought about before or things that I had thought about from a limited perspective,” Robinson said.

For Robinson, the meaning of feminism is constantly evolving, especially because her own generation is building upon the previous

generation of women, whose sacrifices have opened doors for current feminists.

“It’s really interesting, beautiful and necessary to force pursuing social justice,” Robinson said. “I see myself as still growing in its ideology.

I’m still coming to understand its fallacies and its shortcomings but also embracing what it is in and of itself.”

Robinson said she believes that feminism benefits and includes all genders.

“I think what’s important, too, is that men themselves are being uplifted by the feminist movement,” Robinson said. “It really is about equity and equality.”

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Feminism in the United States: 1848

1865—70

1869

Seneca Falls: Female abolitionists lead the first women’s rights convention in the U.S., marking the beginning of women’s suffrage and first-wave feminism.

New Amendments: The 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments make slavery illegal, promise equal protection under the law and give Black men the right to vote.

Suffrage Movement Divides: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony refuse to support the 15th Amendment because it excludes women, leading to a split in the movement.

1989

1979

1972

Intersectionality: Kimberlé Crenshaw coins this term to explain how marginalized groups experience compounded discrimination. Thirdwave feminism adopts the term.

Womanism: Alice Walker introduces the term ‘womanist’ in reference to feminist ideologies that highlight the economic, racial and gender issues Black women endure.

Equal Rights Amendment: Congress passes the 27th Amendment to guarantee women legal equality. After 10 years, it fails ratification.

1996

2006

2017

Mujerista Movement: Latina women oppose discrimination against their race, sex and class.

Me Too Movement: Activist Tarana Burke raises awareness for survivors of sexual violence. Actress Alyssa Milano later popularizes the #MeToo hashtag in 2017, part of fourth-wave feminism.

Women’s March on Washington: One day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, protestors raise awareness about women’s issues.

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A Storied History

story and art by Madeline Duvall

1920

1941

1954

19th Amendment: Women receive the right to vote in all states.

Women In the Workforce: The U.S. entry into World War II allows 5 million women to enter the job market.

Civil Rights Movement: African Americans unite to fight against racial discrimination, empowering women to seek legal equality. This leads to second-wave feminism.

1964

1963

1960

Civil Rights Act: Title VII outlaws discrimination based on race, sex, religion, color and national origin.

“The Feminine Mystique:” Betty Friedan exposes women’s need for fulfillment outside of the home.

Oral Contraception: The FDA approves the first form of oral contraception for women in the U.S.

2018

2020

Time’s Up: Hollywood celebrities call out sexual discrimination and harassment in the workplace. The legal defense fund has raised millions to help survivors.

Feminism Today: The Women’s March struggles over divides with Black Lives Matter and anti-abortion rights activists.

A record number of female candidates run for president of the United States.

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If It Isn’t Intersectional,

It Isn’t Feminism

by Makena Huey with special reporting by Brianna Willis and Maria Belen Iturralde art by Caitlin Roark 13

She was the only African American in her high school class of 63 students. Her friends often invited her to social gatherings to protect them because she looked scary; she was always placed in the back of the dance team; the administration chose a white student for homecoming queen, even though she unanimously won the vote; her counselors advised her against applying to many universities.

Because of her race, gender and socioeconomic status, McKayla Moy said there are countless endeavors she has been discouraged from trying.

The junior sociology major from Louisiana is not alone. In a world where the white male view is made normative, being both a person of color and a woman alters one’s lived experience.

“As a Black woman, there are many struggles that I have to face on a regular basis, so you have to have a lot of integrity and you have to be secure,” Moy said. “... It’s very important for me that I have this identity because there’s nothing else I can be or would want to be.”

There is no doubt that feminism has historically excluded women of color. Three experts and 14 students shared their insight into and experiences with intersectionality and feminism.

Origins of intersectionality Legal scholar Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw coined the term ‘intersectionality’ in

McKayla Moy 1989 to describe how individual characteristics such as race, gender and class interact with one another to compound discrimination.

“It’s the idea of wanting to see who you are and your likekind represented in its truest form without having to leave something out,” Intercultural Affairs Director Rebecca Campos said.

Intersectionality enables the women’s movement to prioritize the oppression that occurs when multiple systems collide.

“When racial injustice connects with sexism, women of color find themselves in unique structures that bind them in ways that white women do not experience because they don’t have the added layer of racial injustice,” said Roslyn Satchel, a communication professor

and human rights activist.

At its beginning, the feminist movement was intertwined with the abolitionist movement. When male delegates at the 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention in London refused to let female delegates participate, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton vowed to make a change. They launched the Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls eight years later. No women of color were in attendance.

Well-educated, middleand upper-class white women — many of whom believed that Black men should not earn the right to vote before white women — led the women’s suffrage movement. This created a racial divide in the fight for gender equality, ultimately prompting women of color to distinguish themselves from the self-aggrandizing movement, especially in the early 1970s.

Pushed to the margins of feminism Experts emphasized that even within a movement created to empower women and deconstruct hierarchies, women of color still feel unrepresented and alienated. One must separate the intent of feminism — inclusion — from the impact of feminism — exclusion.

“It’s an unfortunate thing when intersectionality starts to occur and you reproduce the privileges that you’re trying to escape from in the first place,” said Bert Ballard, communi-

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“If we fight to defeat racism, we are also fighting to defeat sexism.”

—Roslyn Satchel cation professor and former SEED trainer and facilitator.

However, this need for improvement does not necessitate a complete rejection of the entire movement, Satchel said.

“True feminists who are intersectional recognize that if we fight to defeat racism, we are also fighting to defeat sexism because they are related,” Satchel said. “... Ultimately, feminism as its final mandate is to end all oppressions.”

Every Black student interviewed agreed that feminism has historically excluded women of color.

“I’m a woman, yes, but I’m also Black,” said senior theatre major Peace Ikediuba, whose family is from Nigeria. “I think in conversations regarding women, Black women specifically are often forgotten.”

Sexism is not a woman issue or a Black woman issue.

Sexism is a human issue, senior political science major Heavin

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Hunter-Hernandez said.

Equality involves ensuring that people of color can comfortably navigate a space that isn’t created for them, whereas equity involves creating a space intended for everyone. Hunter-Hernandez said she believes that promoting diversity and inclusion is trendy — but only when it benefits those who are doing the promoting.

“Are you really inclusive at your core if only a set group of people at the top are the ones dictating who gets to be heard?”

Hunter-Hernandez said.

Moy said society still cares more about white women’s struggles than Black women’s struggles.

“The phrase ‘the most hated person in America is a Black woman’ can sometimes be very true because there are crimes against Black women almost every day and they are completely overlooked because of their skin color,” Moy said.

Cuban-American theologian Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz coined the term ‘mujerista’ to describe a type of liberation theology that emphasizes Latina women’s struggle to free themselves from everyday oppression.

Womanism and mujerismo developed from women of color experiencing gender inequality compounding with racial inequality and feeling as though their ethnicities were disregarded in favor of their gender, Campos explained.

“There is a need for a womanist movement, there is a need

Womanist and mujerista movements African American author Alice Walker coined the term ‘womanist’ in her 1979 short story “Coming Apart,” later defining it in 1983’s “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens” as “a black feminist or feminist of color … committed to survival and wholeness of entire people, male and female.”

Womanism acknowledged that the suffrage movement was built upon the achievements of the abolitionist movement, Satchel said.

Cindy Kim

for a mujerista movement, because there still is — even within this oppressed population of female — further oppression,” Campos said.

Unlike feminism, these two movements do not prioritize sexism over racism, and they seek to empower women not as individuals but as members of a larger community.

Lack of prominent Asian movement While there are Asian feminist writers, Asian women have not formed a well-known movement for women’s rights.

“The fact that I don’t know of any Asian feminist movements is a telltale sign of the fact that this is something in Asian cultures that is still so hush hush and taboo to even talk about,” senior communication major Cindy Kim said.

All four Asian students interviewed said they believe in the principles of feminism but do not identify as feminists, preferring to advocate for equality in their everyday interactions instead.

As a child, Kim never questioned her family’s patriarchal culture. But as she grew up and witnessed the different dynamics of other American families, she struggled to introduce the conversation of feminism to her parents, who are still deeply rooted in the South Korean culture from which they emigrated.

She said seeing all of her white friends go out of their way to support the movement

caused her to doubt whether she even believed in gender equality before realizing that she was less focused on her gender because she was more focused on her race.

“Maybe I’m still a feminist, but I have other issues I have to deal with before I can be a feminist,” Kim said.

Senior international business major Emily Tran often feels conflicted between fulfilling the Asian role of the eldest son and proving herself as a woman. She said because Asian women have had to prioritize combating racial inequality, they have not had the freedom to combat gender inequality.

“They’ve been excluded from feminism because we, in so many ways, are focused on so many other aspects of our lives that we need to improve,” Tran said. “… It’s almost a privilege to be able to fight for feminism.”

Cheng Zheng, a junior computer science and mathematics major from Wenzhou, China, said she believes that a feminist movement in China is impossible due to patriarchy and government control.

Living intersectionality While several students rarely consider intersectionality because it is such a natural part of their identity, Katia Lehnhoff Llarena, a senior integrated marketing communication major, said intersectionality has always been in the back of her mind — especially since she was born in Guatemala and moved to the U.S. during

Katia Lehnhoff Llarena high school.

“Living and growing is part of understanding all of these aspects of who you are with the hopes that you will find who you truly are as a whole, regardless of where you’re living or where you’re placed,” Lehnhoff said.

Hunter-Hernandez did not understand the effects of intersectionality until she studied abroad in Buenos Aires and compared her experience to that of her peers. As a Black woman, she said she considers herself part of “a double marginalized group,” which can make navigating everyday experiences difficult.

“I never know if I am being

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discriminated against for being a woman or if I am being discriminated against for being Black,” Hunter-Hernandez said.

Olivia Robinson, senior IMC major and Black Student Association co-president, cited the wage gap as a quintessential example of intersectionality at play; women earn less than men, but Black and Latina women earn even less.

“White women can understand that there is a difference between how men and women are treated,” Robinson said.

“But they also need to take into consideration how Black women, Latina women or other women are going to experience things at an even more severe

“I never know if I am being discriminated against for being a woman or ... for being Black.”

—Heavin HunterHernandez 17

rate than themselves.”

For many Black students who view their race and gender as equally important, the feminist movement has been a “slap in the face.”

“I’m going to be disregarded because I’m a woman and because that’s how society operates, but I’m also going to be disregarded to a higher degree because I’m a Black woman,” Ikediuba said. “... If we want to face the facts, women in general aren’t hurting as much as Black women specifically.”

Privilege — everyone has it Several Latina students said they view their race and gender as a privilege, especially in academic and professional spheres, because others want to hear their voices and unique perspectives.

“I have had more blessings being Latina and a woman because people want to include me more, and I’m really grateful for that,” said Maria Fernanda Chavez Mendoza, a sophomore IMC major who was born in Mexico and moved to California at age 5.

Even though colorism can still separate people of color from one another and distribute advantages, every student expressed pride for her ethnicity.

“It’s powerful to be a Black woman, it is strong to be a Black woman, and it is a rich experience, but also it’s a different experience than anyone else has,” Robinson said. “And so I feel privileged to be in this position

to be in a Black woman’s body and to exist in this world, in this realm, as someone divinely created as a Black woman.”

The ‘model minority’ stereotype renders being Asian a privilege. Asians are portrayed as intelligent and hardworking, often possessing high-paying jobs, Zheng and Kim said.

However, this perception also has its drawbacks.

“That really broke my heart because, in a sense, I felt like I was still part of a minority community but there was even a disparity within the minority community,” Kim said.

It is difficult to break down these stereotypes when the culture itself supports them, and Kim said she has found it dejecting to discuss her struggles as an Asian woman amid Black and Latina individuals, who are often portrayed more negatively.

Experiences with microaggressions Transitioning from the diversity of Long Beach, California, to Pepperdine was difficult, Chavez said. From one professor telling her she might know the visiting gang members to another speaking Spanish whenever addressing her, being the only person of color in a classroom can be uncomfortable.

“People at Pepperdine are trying to learn how to talk to people that are different, … and I’m trying to navigate and learn how to respond,” Chavez said.

Several students cited the recent immigration policies

Maria Fernanda Chavez Mendoza

and rhetoric about people of color under the administration of President Donald Trump as a source of racial discrimination.

For Valentina Crespo, a junior economics and international studies major from Bolivia, this has resulted in a constant state of uneasiness.

“I wasn’t always super aware of my skin color or being Latina and how people interact with that,” Crespo said. “After Trump was elected president, I definitely noticed a significant shift.”

Lehnhoff said people would treat her differently once they noticed her accent, respect her more when men accompanied her and belittle her when she shared ideas in the workplace.

“When I came to the United States, I did feel discriminated not only by being Hispanic but also by being a woman because people wouldn’t take me as seriously,” Lehnhoff said.

As a first-generation college student, Karina Valenzuela, a junior public relations major whose parents emigrated from Mexico, said she often feels too intimidated to speak up for herself when her male peers discredit her in class. Even her relatives tell her she should get married soon or pursue a more female-dominated career.

Robinson described microaggressions as a part of her daily experience and said oppression can be invisible and coexist with privilege.

“To be in a Black body is to be in an oppressed body,” Rob-

inson said. “... There’s no real privilege Olympics, so while people may have certain privileges, that doesn’t necessarily negate what they’re underprivileged for.”

“The majority has already determined who I am and what I am worth.”

—McKayla Moy Moy, whose socioeconomic status decreased throughout high school, said her peers judged her for what she did not have in addition to judging her for being a Black woman.

“No matter what I do, I’m always put in a category or in a box, and it’s not necessarily my fault,” Moy said. “And it’s just really annoying because I can’t really do anything about it because the majority has already determined who I am and what I am worth.”

Zheng said she has faced more discrimination in Asia as a woman than she has in the U.S. as an Asian. But for Kim, being Asian has always been more of a disadvantage. It was only when she and a white

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female student were denied entrance into a Hindu temple that she realized her gender is also a disadvantage.

“I started looking back in retrospect thinking about all of the other hardships that I’ve encountered and kind of categorizing it as, ‘Oh, was it because I was Asian or was it because I was a woman?’ and some of it ended up turning because I was a woman,” Kim said.

Pressure to speak Depending on the student, speaking up on behalf of their identity can either feel like an opportunity or a burden.

Crespo said she tries to be more vocal in her mostly male economics classes because she aspires to prove that women are equally capable. Valenzuela said she, unfortunately, cannot avoid representing her race and gender in class due to the lack of diversity on campus.

“Pepperdine makes you think about [intersectionality] because I guess there’s so few of us that you always have to be put in spaces where you have to represent each and every thing,” Valenzuela said.

People are often afraid to discuss the experiences of groups with which they do not identify. Campos emphasizes the need to be willing to independently seek information.

“Educate yourself and don’t expect that the person with the minoritized identity

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is your dictionary to just walk around and constantly educate you,” Campos said.

Robinson agreed and said those with privilege should not depend on those without it to continuously recall their own trauma for others to better understand.

“There is a point of exhaustion we get to in trying to educate the world while also survive and protect ourselves from the world,” Robinson said.

Both Hunter-Hernandez and Moy said they have often been used to promote diversity where there is none.

“I have been a token all my life,” Moy said. “A token is your one go-to to get you the pass into this particular lot, so I’ve been the token Black friend, I’ve been the token female, I’ve been the token everything.”

Blind spots Students and experts agreed that the beauty of intersectionality is that it enables human beings to fully see one another. A person can’t understand one aspect of identity without understanding the others.

“Something that’s in my blind spot someone else sees because they have different perspectives, because they come from a different background, because they have different experiences than I have,” Chavez said. “I think that just ultimately comes together and it makes something

a lot more strong, beautiful, and it just makes it really powerful in the end.”

Ignoring or invalidating the concept of intersectionality results in self-serving stereotypes and a denial of equality in communicative spaces, ultimately making movements against sexism and racism necessary, Ballard said.

“If you’re a true advocate for gender equality, you should be an advocate for all forms of equality,” Moy said. “... You can’t pick and choose what you speak out for if you are labeling yourself as a warrior for a particular social justice movement.”

“Something that’s in my blind spot someone else sees because they have different perspectives.”

—Maria Fernanda Chavez Mendoza

Cyndia Clegg:

breaking barriers on campus

by Kayiu Wong photo courtesy of Ron Hall It is hard to miss the many awards that fill the walls of Cyndia Clegg’s office. But perhaps one of the most striking is a 1999 certificate from Pepperdine naming her a distinguished professor of English.

“I was the only woman distinguished professor until about the last decade,” Clegg said.

Pepperdine grants the title to a select group of faculty members who are experts in their fields and outstanding teachers. Seaver College has only nine distinguished professors — three of whom are women: Clegg, Biology Professor Karen Martin and Psychology Professor Cindy Miller-Perrin.

Clegg is known internationally for her research in English, Renaissance history and early modern printing culture.

She began teaching at Pepperdine in 1977 and has achieved more than one ‘first’ as one of the first female faculty members at the university.

“The first year in my tenure-track position I taught pregnant, which nobody had ever done,” Clegg said. “There was no maternity leave. There was no provision for time off for family leave. I only took two weeks away from teaching.”

When asked if she received criticism for teaching while

pregnant, Clegg simply smiled and chuckled, adding, “Oh I’m sure I did. I just don’t pay any attention to it!”

Clegg’s strong-minded spirit and tenacious attitude are hallmarks of her character, especially as someone who has often been the only woman in decision-making rooms.

“I’ve never been someone who is silent,” Clegg said. “A lot of women feel that they won’t be respected if they express their opinion or if they raise an issue. I’ve just never felt that way.”

Clegg — who once witnessed a department chair refuse to hire a woman because she had children — said one of the biggest changes she has seen at Pepperdine is the increase of women in administrative roles.

Female representation starts with motivation, but she acknowledges that women often have to do more than men to succeed.

“Women have to get men to listen to them, so you have

to come prepared,” Clegg said.

“You have to be sometimes overprepared. I think I’ve had to be a better scholar than men.”

Clegg’s accomplishments are inspiring, but it’s the confidence and persistence she displays that will leave a legacy.

“For me, being a feminist is being a role model,” Clegg said.

“And I tried to do that for my daughter, and certainly I hope I do it for my other female faculty and for women students. I think it was probably important that I came to class pregnant, as weird as some people thought.”

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Unapologetically Her: defying expectations of motherhood

by Channa Steinmetz art by Elizabeth Brummer There are countless paths that women can venture down throughout a lifetime — motherhood, career, volunteering, traveling, learning, the list goes on. But despite this freedom, there comes a pressure to be checking off certain boxes.

Even though women make up almost half of the current workforce, 77% of Americans say that women face high pressure to be an involved parent (versus 49% of men), according to Pew Research Center.

A Currents survey of 221 students found that 67% of women and 59% of men said both their careers and parenthood were equally important to them. In opposition to social norms, more men said parenthood was more import-

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ant than career (16% to 4%), and more women placed career first (29% to 25%).

Women in the Pepperdine community continue to overcome societal expectations and follow the path that suits them best. As no one is defined by a single role, these women shared three words they would use to describe themselves, along with their stories and advice.

Kind, independent, caring “Pepperdine shouldn’t hire the wives of male faculty,” read an anonymous student evaluation for Cindy Miller-Perrin, distinguished professor of psychology.

“It was sexist inherently because they didn’t

“When I brought the baby to my office, I was criticized because I wasn’t professional,” Miller-Perrin said. “But when [my husband] brought Maddie to the office, he was praised as this wonderful father who spent time with his daughter — he’s a hero because he’s willing to share the load.”

Miller-Perrin said she and Perrin have an egalitarian relationship, both in terms of working and taking care of their children.

“But still — he would even say this — I do a little bit more,” she said, smiling.

Mother, dedicated, caring

hire the wife; they hired me,” Miller-Perrin said.

Miller-Perrin and her husband Robin Perrin, who teaches sociology, both started their Pepperdine careers in 1992, when two positions in the Social Science Division opened up. At the time, Miller-Perrin was one of two women in the division and the only woman with a young child.

They had their second baby a few years into their careers, when Pepperdine did not offer family leave.

Twenty-eight years later, the university offers a full semester of family leave, and Miller-Perrin said she tries to be proactive in her support of female faculty members and faculty with young children.

“It’s about changing attitudes about women and about marriage and about parenting — so that it’s not the woman’s problem,” Miller-Perrin said.

Throughout her time at Pepperdine, Miller-Perrin said she has experienced double standards that her husband has not, such as being judged for baby toys in her office or being questioned about who was watching her children.

It was only about a month before starting her freshman year at Pepperdine when now-junior business administration major Alexsia Aguilar found out she was seven months pregnant.

“I didn’t really have any signs beforehand, so it was a big shock,” Aguilar said. “When I found out, I was like, ‘What am I going to do?’”

With support from her family and her desire to attend university, Aguilar reapplied to Pepperdine for spring semester. She was accepted and has been raising her daughter, Malaina, while attending classes ever since.

“Even though I was having this blessing, I didn’t want that to keep me from going to my dream school,” Aguilar said. “I thought that I was going to go through school and have time to kind of figure out my life before I had a child — but I always wanted to be a mom.”

Although Aguilar said she would not trade being a mother for anything, there have been times when she felt like she could not do it. Yet, it was her daughter who kept her motivated.

“I just think of graduation — being able to walk across the stage and have my daughter say, ‘That’s my mom,’” Aguilar said. “I know that what I am doing is not only benefitting me, but it’s benefitting her.”

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Optimistic, caring, kind Krista Lucas is frequently asked how she is able to balance everything, being a biology professor, third-year Ph.D. student, mother of two and wife to Timothy Lucas, a mathematics professor.

“I hear it all the time actually,” Lucas laughed.

“Whereas with my husband, I don’t think he’s ever been asked that.”

Lucas said she loves being a mom of boys because it allows her to show them what women are capable of while teaching them that they can do or be whatever they aspire to.

With her students, Lucas said she often hears them say they are unsure of what they want to do after graduation.

“It’s OK to say, ‘Well, I don’t really know, but this is the next right thing for me.’”

This was advice that Lucas first received when she was a young mother. It encouraged her to follow her own timeline rather than societal expectations for women. “ You really can do it all,” Lucas said. “But you don’t have to feel the pressure to do it all at once.”

Delta Gamma, generous, fun A working woman since she graduated Pepperdine in 1998, accounting regulator Amy Doran said she has always been the bigger ‘breadwinner’ of the household — making her part of the 37% of women who out-earn their partners, according to Refinery29.

Doran found her way back to the university around 2009, when her husband Chris Doran, a religion professor, started teaching. At that same time, Doran began her role as the advisory team chair for Delta Gamma (DG), the same sorority she founded at Pepperdine during her college years. She served in this role until 2019, when she became a regional adviser for DG. “Those were my girls; those were [Chris Doran’s] girls — his students,” Doran said. “They are the ones that we have poured ourselves into, and

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there are relationships that we have been able to make because we don’t have kids. DG has been this huge piece of my soul.”

As the couple’s relationship matured, the two realized that having their own children was not something they wanted. Yet, Doran’s career, DG leadership and personal happiness do not stop others from pestering her about children.

“People will say, ‘Oh, but you don’t know how much [children] complete you,’” Doran said. “I am not incomplete. I am not lacking for love.”

As a woman who has overcome certain prejudices, Doran said individuals should not let others influence their path.

“Just work hard and be who you are,” Doran said. “I am happier being who I am than I am trying to be who somebody thinks I should be.”

leading with love

by Savannah Welch photo courtesy of Elizabeth Chung For junior international business major Elizabeth Chung, the ideology of feminism is much more than bringing a voice to women — it’s about creating harmony between all individuals, regardless of gender.

Chung said this is something she learned from her mother.

“She taught me a lot about leadership,” Chung said. “It’s not always about you being the first one to say something or, like, making sure your opinions are heard but you holding true to your values.”

Chung said compassionate leadership can sometimes pack the most punch, even though most leaders in the public eye take a more assertive or vocal approach. Her mom always displayed strength and interpersonal skills in the household, shaping her development as an individual.

To outsiders, Chung said, her dad appears to be the obvious leader. But when it comes to important family decisions, he always turns to her mom. Chung has modeled her mother’s leadership on campus, especially with her position within the nationally-recognized International Justice Mission (IJM) organization.

As president of Pepperdine’s IJM chapter, Chung said she has strengthened her leadership skills and self-acceptance.

“As I was leading e-board meetings or, like, general member meetings, I reflected a lot about my leadership,” Chung said. “As a woman, or as a girl, I just wanted to be able to show that I was an effective leader.”

This year, Pepperdine’s IJM chapter is focusing on advocacy, raising awareness on campus about human trafficking. Just one of 90 campus chapters in the U.S., the organization comes from a place of compassion and awareness — two traits Chung said she highly values.

When she was younger, Chung said she felt as though she had to adapt to society’s expec-

tations of what a woman should be, especially because her Korean culture expects girls to be more quiet and soft-spoken than their male counterparts. As she’s become older, however, she’s learned to appreciate her resilience and unique characteristics.

“Being outgoing and assertive — like, that’s fine,” Chung said. “I can totally embody those characteristics as well as the next person, whether that’s a man or a woman. ... I don’t need to change myself in order to meet those expectations.”

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OTHER SIDE: THE can men be feminists?

by Kaelin Mendez & Karl Winter art by Aliya Edwards If feminism is advocating for equality of rights and opportunity between genders, then it is easy to say that everyone should be a feminist.

Many men at Pepperdine and beyond agree, labeling themselves as feminists and hoping to contribute to a cultural change.

Nonetheless, some men believe that fourth-wave feminism has overstepped its boundaries.

“Fourth-wave feminism has sort of given a delusion that

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there should be almost like female superiority over some instances because of oppression — sort of like men should pay social reparations for all the harm in the past,” said Bryan Munguia, senior integrated marketing communication major. “I think men are scared or are confused that they don’t have a place in feminism because of how it’s presented today.”

Some male students think that feminism has run its course in America because

equality of opportunity is now a reality, while some still consider it a label with which they’d describe themselves.

Each said he believed that feminism plays a role in his life, from family relationships to dating.

Resistance to today’s feminism Several male students agree and identify with the core principles of feminism, but when it comes to the con-

temporary movement, they are not so sure.

“As far as the pure definition of ‘feminist’ is concerned, I would say, ‘ Yes, I totally am [a feminist],’” junior engineering major Will Soiland said. “As far as the kind of connotation feminism has taken today, I wouldn’t really publicly state it. … It’s kind of created a culture of labeling toxic masculinity and stereotyping and judging that upon most males.”

Senior biology major Leo Master is a critic of fourthwave feminism, which began around 2012. It is rooted in

intersectionality and includes the use of technology to combat sexual misconduct and support equal pay, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica. It follows the first three waves, which focused on legal inequality (late 19th and early 20th century), gender norms (1960s to 1980s) and responding to the perceived failures of the first two waves (1990s to 2000s). “[Feminists] are fighting for the perception of themselves in other people’s minds,” Master said. “ … Feminists nowadays [have] this inflexibility

of philosophy and inability to recognize that they are taking a subjective position that can be argued against.”

Though he acknowledged how emotionally charged the conversation surrounding feminism remains, Master said he believes that the movement attempts to force something that should be left to happen on its own.

“To mandate that we all have to think, act, feel and react the same way is not based on science, is not based on human behavior, is not based on anything historically that has

] “[Gender equality at isn’t something th ely needs to be activ fought for.”

—Leo Master

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ever worked with causing people to change,” Master said.

Men can be feminists Female professors who study gender issues attempt to dispel the confusion surrounding contemporary feminism and the misconception that feminists are man-haters.

“People are kind of scared of feminists,” Political Science Professor Candice Ortbals said.

“I like to reject that because I think a lot of women are perfectly affable people, but they still want to see success and they can notice discrimination and structural inequalities.”

English Professor Katie Frye said feminism is not exclusive to women; men can and should participate.

Several male students agreed that men ought to engage in advocacy in some capacity. “[Women] deserve a better pedestal in our society,” said Christian Abad, Student Government Association director of diversity and inclusion.

A Currents survey of 221 students found that 96% believed that men could be feminists. However, only 48% of the

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81 men in the survey identified as feminists, roughly 20% were unsure and 32% said they were not feminists.

Abad said some men in feminism are silent advocates, while others like himself are more outspoken.

Abad, a junior business administration major, and Justin Meza, a junior philosophy major, were both raised in households where their mother was the primary breadwinner.

Meza considers himself a silent advocate for feminism — one who acts against gender

discrimination but dislikes the extremes of fourth-wave feminism.

“They don’t want equality as much as they want women to just be pushed up higher,” Meza said. “… To me, it’s like more like a secondary kind of feminism.”

Equality of rights and opportunities Soiland said he believes that legal equality has already been achieved in the United States and feminism should now focus its efforts abroad.

“[Women] deserve a better pedestal in our society.”

—Christian Abad

“The fight of feminism today has become almost futile, in terms of how there’s actually a lot of other countries out in the world where women don’t even have close to the rights that women do in America,” Soiland said.

In the United States, women make up the majority of educated people entering the workforce and earning advanced degrees since 2019, and they are moving toward equal representation in government, business and higher education, according to Pew Research Center. Master said he believes that these trends prove equality of opportunity already exists and equity will be achieved naturally within the next three decades.

“Because of this equitable level based upon our development of society, women will now just naturally progress to a level of equity where men have socially stood,” Master said. “It isn’t something that needs to be actively fought for.”

Although women are more represented in positions of power now than they were before, they are still not represented equally. For example, the number of women in Congress increased from 19% to 24% in 2018.

This progress also does not change the fact that women made, on average, about 82 cents for every dollar men earned in 2018, according to Pew. “It is patently unjust and unfair to me that a woman — doing the same job as a man

with the same level of qualifications and the same level of time and a position — is paid less,” Communication Professor Bert Ballard said.

Junior psychology major Jonathan Tapan agreed that true gender equality is yet to come.

“Women are not getting the equal opportunity that men are getting, and that’s simply because of their gender,” Tapan said. “I personally think that women bring a lot to the table, and they are much more emotionally intelligent.”

In the Currents survey, about 74% of men agreed with Tapan, believing that gender inequality still exists.

Familial roles in feminism Men are supposed to be leaders in the house, some students said.

“He’s the man — he’s supposed to protect his wife and kids,” Soiland said.

However, English Professor Lorie Goodman, a self-proclaimed second-wave feminist, said society is currently redefining the phrase “He’s the man.”

“What does it mean to be a man in culture in the United States right now?” Goodman said. “The push to be strong, the push to be manly, to not experience emotions — we’re backing down from that.”

This shift may also be shaping men’s roles as husband and father; Soiland went on to say that although he believes that a man should be a leader of the home, “he shares that leader-

ship also with his wife.”

Junior political science major Jonathan Feher mirrored the sentiment of an equal partnership in marriage and further expressed his desire to teach his future children to do so as well.

“First and foremost, I would want to model equality in the relationship with my wife that my children could observe as they’re growing up,” Feher said.

Abad, whose father encouraged him and showed him strong values, said he would like to do the same for his future children. “[I would] teach my daughter what a lot of people teach their son to do: … Take up whatever you want, make sure you stand up for yourself, be confident,” Abad said. “I was taught that from my dad. I would teach my son the values of being empathetic, understanding, loving.”

Ballard emphasized his approach to motivating his own two daughters.

“I have tried to encourage my daughters to know that they can do anything, be anything, believe in themselves, … to never feel as though they have to take a backseat to anyone or anything,” Ballard said.

Chivalry vs. feminism Meza said due to feminism and the current political climate, when he takes a woman on a date, he is now faced with a question: “Should I pay for dinner?”

“In my ideal world, there

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would be no question that if we are going on a date, I’m paying for dinner,” Meza said.

To Master, feminism and chivalry counter each other. He said he believes that chivalry is meant to acknowledge the differences between sexes.

“Chivalry really is a culture of ... men realizing that as the more powerful party, it is their duty to accommodate and not degrade women,” Master said.

However, most male students agreed that feminism and chivalry are not mutually exclusive.

“When it comes to chivalry, it’s just the idea of being re-

spectful toward the person that you’re with and showing that you care,” Tapan said. “It’s not necessarily this gender thing.”

Feher agreed and said when he takes a woman on a date, it’s all about demonstrating respect.

“If you were to go on a date where there is more of a social norm to display extra chivalry … then I think it’s all about respecting her wishes,” Feher said.

Soiland said that if a woman wants to pay on a date, “that’s totally fine.”

Echoing Tapan, Abad thinks that opening doors and

“Should I pay for dinner?”

—Justin Meza

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engaging in other acts of kindness should not be gender-related.

“It’s good to be a good person,” Abad said. “Doing little stuff like that — don’t just do it to women, do it to everyone.”

For Braden Ritchey, junior religion and philosophy double major, chivalry is all about showing love to people. But if someone is unreceptive to it, he will not force it.

“I’m not going to say, ‘No, accept my love,’” Ritchey said.

Vernie Covarrubias, Makena Huey and Grace Wood contributed reporting to this story.

Connie Horton:

rising up in a room full of men

by Gianni Cocchella photo courtesy of Ron Hall When Pepperdine administrators face important decisions, Connie Horton is often one of the only female leaders in the room.

As vice president for Student Affairs since 2017, Horton oversees a variety of departments such as Housing and Residence Life, Student Activities and Campus Recreation. She is a key decision maker, and being one of the few female voices in upper administration has brought subtle challenges.

“It’s hard to explain them,” Horton said. “There are things, like, I’ll go into a meeting where I’m the only woman. Although I’ve been treated quite well, it is interesting, and I remember being struck by that pretty early on.”

Having been connected to the Pepperdine community since she was an undergraduate four decades ago, Horton has seen progress, but she would like to see more women in leadership roles.

“I appreciate my male colleagues,” Horton wrote in a follow-up email. “... I do long for the day when it is more like 50/50 in gender split in leadership.”

Horton believes that women must overcome not only external sexism but also internal sexism.

Men can be 50% qualified for a job and still feel confident, but

women can be 99% qualified for a job and still doubt themselves, she said.

“Women [need to] recognize when they are doubting themselves more than they need to and [not] ... doubt that they are qualified,” Horton said.

Horton, who was born in New Mexico and raised in Sacramento, said her mother was and continues to be her role model. Growing up, they both embraced the women’s movement of the ’60s and ’70s.

“There was this idea that women can do anything,” Horton said. “My mom was very big on this.”

Inspired by this, Horton earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Seaver College in 1982. She returned to the university in 2005 as director of the Counseling Center.

Throughout her time at Pepperdine, she has had many female mentors, including Nancy Magnusson

Durham, the former vice president of planning, information and technology.

Horton respected Durham’s guidance and admired her for being one of the few women leaders on campus. But she has seen female leaders at all levels.

“Just like we have some female leaders at the university level, we have some amazing [female] students who are doing great leadership,” Horton said.

“But I wonder [what] ... we, as an administration, faculty and student body, could do to encourage everyone to feel like they can live into their abilities and gifts.”

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UNSUNG HEROES AROUND THE WORLD

by Allison Lee art by Bethany Wilson

International Studies Professor Amanda Rizkallah was raised by two black sheep.

Her Lebanese family moved between the U.S., Lebanon and Saudi Arabia growing up.

Both her mother and father were the only one of their siblings to obtain a college degree and higher. She broke from her culture’s expectations by following in her parents’ footsteps.

“I’m raised by these two people who really valued education and really beat the odds in their own lives and came from difficult backgrounds of their own,” Rizkallah said. “So for me, I think the expectation was always that I would build on that.”

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Rizkallah’s parents grew up during movements for Arab independence in the ’50s and ’60s that included new efforts to educate women. Although upper-class women were earning undergraduate and graduate degrees, Rizkallah said the expectation still existed for women to get married and have children after their education.

For every culture around the world, feminism looks different.

Feminist factors While the status of women in the Middle East has been stereotyped to be one

of the worst in the world, Rizkallah said there are strong and well-established feminist movements in Middle Eastern countries. Different factors, such as the interpretation of Islam and the wealth of the country, shape feminism.

“It’s not obvious to the person looking from the outside that countries that have more oil tend to have worse kinds of situations for women in terms of legal protections but then also in terms of labor force participation and political participation,” Rizkallah said. “So countries that have more oil often have less of a need for women to work.”

Known for its wealth from oil and its stricter laws, Sau-

di Arabia is considered more suppressive than most countries in the Middle East.

Salma Jamjoon, sophomore integrated marketing communication major, has dual citizenship in the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. She said a vision for 2030 is causing Saudi Arabian laws to change, expanding economic avenues to tourism.

How the wealth of a country impacts women’s roles is not a Middle Eastern trait but a global one. When a country faces a scarcity of opportunities, women are not the first to be hired for jobs.

“Poverty makes a bigger difference than people realize,” Rizkallah said. “If you think about it in the Western world, when things were more difficult, the status of women was worse.”

Women have been at the forefront of revolutions and protests across the Middle East. Rizkallah said women have used these platforms to talk about domestic violence, custody and divorce laws, and family rights.

“Brave women journalists [are] reporting on events in the region and human rights violations,” Rizkallah said. “I think that a lot of the unsung heroes that are doing the hard work of talking about injustice or recording it are women in numbers that you may be surprised to see.”

Women in politics When women are involved in peace settlements and treaties, they last longer, and studies show that women care more about education and welfare than men.

However, the assumption that women are less likely to support war is unwarranted, Rizkallah said.

Political Science Professor Candice Ortbals, who has studied women’s involvement with terrorist groups, said women have the same presence in violent politics as they do in nonviolent politics.

“That usually surprises people because I think people have the notion that maybe men are more violent than them and wouldn’t have the same reasons to be violent,” Ortbals said.

From the perspective

of Islamic terrorist groups, Ortbals said women are not playing traditional roles. They have had a significant impact on recruitment for the Islamic State group and fundraising for al-Qaida.

“Women who previously might’ve felt like they were more restricted to the private sphere and couldn’t be in public activities related to terrorism can do a lot of things with the terrorist group,” Ortbals said.

In Southeast Asia, Ortbals said family connections were crucial in politics and thus made women qualified leaders. In Latin America, the concept of ‘madres’ as nurturing gave women the credibility to

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take care of countries in political power.

“Women in the public eye have to balance their public persona with also their private identity, and they’re going to be judged for whether they have the public leadership skills and also going to be judged on their femininity,” Ortbals said.

It is important to have both male and female perspectives in decision-making rooms without tokenizing women. When women are underrepresented, they will take on the behaviors and priorities of men, Rizkallah said regarding diplomacy. Diverse points of view come from women being comfortable to

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be themselves, which comes from having more women in the room.

Cultural roles and ties Junior psychology major Samirah Alam’s family is from Bangladesh, where women are taught to be sensitive and humble because of their expected role as mothers.

“When I think about my culture and my religion, all I can think about is all the restrictions I get as a woman,” Alam said. “But the nurturing side is what I really like — to be soft-minded and soft-spoken and to be peaceful — because those are the characteristics of women. But I feel like that should be characteristics of everyone.”

Alam’s grandmother was married off at 8 years old.

Her mom got married later, at 28. Alam’s mother did not have her own career and became dependent on her husband. She was a woman, and she was expected to be a wife.

“She wanted to fulfill some of her dreams through me because I feel like she did really want to have a career and make a name for herself,” Alam said.

Alam said she has struggled to honor her religion when it conflicts with her own values. She was taught to wear modest clothing rather than show off to men, but she wants to wear something for herself.

“She wanted to fulfill some of her dreams through me because I feel like she did really want to have a career and make a name for herself.”

—Samirah Alam “I still think I’m a good person, but I feel like Islam ties how you dress to your character, and I just don’t really believe in that,” Alam said.

Some view the wearing of the hijab and veiling of Muslim women as oppressive, causing controversy. Rizkallah said choosing the veil can empower women to make a decision for themselves and prevent their appearance from determining their worth.

“Political representation, economic opportunities, legal and illegal equality gets obscured when we just focus on this piece of cloth and that it makes women from the region distinctive or that it marks them in some way,” Rizkallah said. “I would just encourage people to look past that.”

striking out sexism

by Gianni Cocchella photo by Milan Loiacono Men can be feminists too.

Junior political science major Brandon Easley is a self-proclaimed feminist who believes that both women and men can advocate for women’s rights.

Originally from Minden, a small town outside Reno, Easley grew up surrounded by individuals who held more traditional views regarding women and their place in society.

“Feminism wasn’t really discussed,” Easley wrote in an email as he recounted his experience growing up in a fairly right-leaning part of Nevada.

Despite this, Easley greatly looked up to his mother, who exposed him to the ideals of feminism through her strong, independent character.

“As I grew up and learned more about feminism and what it encompassed, I realized there were many misconceptions regarding it,” Easley wrote.

One of the misconceptions Easley often heard was that feminists want women to have greater power than men, which he now knows is false.

“I think women were placed in this world the same as men, and [women] have the same duties and obligations to fulfill [as men],” Easley said in an in-person interview.

For Easley, feminism is the desire to see equality between the sexes at all levels. However, he recognizes that sexism still exists.

“A lot of [combatting sexism] is recognizing social things that we built up in our society that advantage men and disadvantage women,” Easley said.

During his sophomore year in Washington, D.C., Easley participated in a Women’s March, which further encouraged him to find ways to support women through social justice and

action. Marching during the rainy Saturday morning, he said he could feel the power of unity among both men and women who wanted to achieve a similar goal: gender equality.

“It’s super cool that men participate too because feminism shouldn’t be a movement that’s only for women,” Easley said. “If you want to achieve equality, it has to be done between both sexes.”

With intentions to become a family lawyer and help women who have experienced domestic violence, Easley added a women’s studies minor in fall 2019 to better understand the challenges and difficulties women have faced and continue to face.

“I think that often women’s [stories] get misconstrued, misinterpreted or ignored, and women’s studies provides the space to learn and value those stories,” Easley wrote.

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Beyond the Catcall women share personal experiences

by Channa Steinmetz She can feel her body tense up as she quickens her pace. She hates walking alone, especially at night. She makes a mental note not to smile at strangers in the dark because “that’s inviting.” Words as simple as “hey, baby,” “pretty girl” and “come here” feel like threats disguised as flattery. It is an experience that is expected.

A Currents survey found that 84% of 134 female students have been catcalled and 93% have felt unsafe because of their gender.

The magazine invited the women of Pepperdine University to share their stories. Here’s what they said.

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Feminism Speaks Fashion

by Camryn Gordon photo courtesy of Kendall Ross There is a distinct vibration of power present when one acknowledges the connection between feminism and fashion.

Fashion is the matriarch of society, deciding which voices will be heard, whereas feminism, an apparatus of power and confidence, is a superseding force fighting against societally implemented limitations.

Juniors Cameron Lowenfield, Kendall Ross and Rachel Melomey agreed there is an important misconception about feminist fashion: that it can only be transmitted through what someone is wearing.

Support for

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such movements is not based on what one wears but how one wears it.

For many, one way of showing support for women is through shirts stating, “The Future is Female” or “This is What a Feminist Looks Like.”

However, “people who are going to do things are still going to do them whether or not they’re wearing a T-shirt,”

Ross, a history major, said.

For these women, there is no definitive rule on what it means to dress like a feminist nor to be a feminist. The power of feminism, through the lens of fashion, is present when all people can express their individual and cultural identities.

The feminist fight In a world where looks define an individual, junior political science major Brandon Easley said he believes that society holds deeply inconsistent standards in terms of

Modeled by Kendall Ross

fashion. While men get away with wearing basketball shorts, women face the societal pressure to wear cute outfits every day.

Similarly, Ross thinks that the frivolity of fashion allows men to be credited for more than what they wear. She said society places the value of women almost entirely on their appearance, and the truest form of feminism is not having to deal with the opinions of others nor feel as though fashion is an exclusive industry.

Easley said the interception of feminism and fashion does not solely impact women. The confidence resulting from the feminist movement has subsequently influenced men, who are often questioned for their lack of masculinity when they care about their image.

“The biggest part of feminism in men’s fashion is not caring that you’re going to be judged by other men for what you wear,” Easley said.

When Ross, an avid knitter, launched her knitting Instagram account last summer, she didn’t intend on it snowballing into an empowering, female-owned small business.

“I just wanted to share [it] with people,” Ross said.

And she did. Her passion for knitting led to a popular knitting club convo dedicated to teaching others the importance of the craft.

“There’s so many things that [are] just kind of disregarded because they’re feminine, and knitting was such a big part of that,” Ross said.

However, Easley said it is impossible to find a dichotomy between fashion and feminism.

“What women choose to wear — how women choose to [and] decide to dress — is inherently feminist because it allows for self-expression,” Easley said.

Power of the pant While the feminist movement evolves, it is important to note the role of power in women’s fashion.

Take the pantsuit.

For women, the image of power has long been the idealized man in a suit, Ross said, and for women to gain respect, society told them they needed to adopt masculine fashion trends.

Pants and pantsuits are symbols of power and equality for women.

It was not until 1993 that women were socially permitted to wear pants on the Senate floor. This unofficial rule exemplifies how society constructs the value of women through fashion, making it more than just the clothes one wears.

Fashion is power. Fashion is personal.

Like many women, Ross said she had never felt so powerful as when she first put on a pantsuit.

“That’s not necessarily something that women are told that they can wear,” Ross said.

“You go to prom, you wear a dress; you get married, you wear a dress. And that kind of feminine avenue isn’t tied to power in the same way that suits are.”

Era of inclusivity The push for inclusive feminist fashion doesn’t stop there.

Melomey, a business administration major, said she believes that the growing popularity for businesses to increase representation fuels diversity and allows for more voices to be heard within the industry.

“It is becoming a lot more popular that people want to express the beauty of their culture through fashion,” Melomey said.

Vanessa Acosta is the founder of Los Angeles-based feminist clothing brand WASI. ‘Wasi,’ a word from the Bolivian dialect of Quechuan, translates to ‘family’ or ‘home.’

When building her business in 2016, Acosta intended WASI to become a community that could provide a safe and empowering space for people of color and allies to support one another.

Acosta emphasizes intersectionality within the feminist movement by creating products that embody her lived experience as a Bolivian-American woman. Acosta said she seeks to bring in the voices of people who are often excluded from the feminist conversation by including specific messages on her T-shirts.

“Having a ‘Brown Girl Magic’ and a ‘Black Magic’ T-shirt definitely helps women of color just take a deep breath and give a sigh of relief [knowing that] somebody out there is aware and conscious to include all,” Acosta said.

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WHO RUNS THE ABORTION DEBATE?

GIRLS GIRLS.

by Madison Nichols art by Ally Armstrong

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Abortion is a touchy topic.

The right to have an abortion is a life-changing decision for some, a governmental flaw for others and a religious or ethical debate for many. And yet within this intimate decision a woman may confront, overarching institutions dominate the conversation.

“Deciding to have a baby is really personal, and it’s very powerful when you realize you want to, and it’s powerful when you realize you don’t,” said Jennifer Baumgardner, women’s rights activist and former executive director of the Feminist Press. “For me, it’s hard to imagine having this decision be meaningfully adjudicated by anyone other than the individual who has to make that baby or not.”

This sensitive subject has been a deeply rooted controversy in American society even before the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 decision to legalize abortion in Roe v. Wade, and the conversation continues today.

Across these debates, many fem-

inists argue that most of the conversation and media attention has focused on what the courts or the churches have to say — not what the individuals facing this decision have to say.

Three feminists, three perspectives Junior political science major Millie Paraschiv is a passionate women’s rights activist.

She is adamant in opposing the men who have been making decisions she said they will never have to experience themselves.

“Many men are fearful, and they’re worried of women being able to get this power and have control of their bodies,” Paraschiv said. “But no man should be able to decide if a woman can get an abortion.”

In the spirit of “her body, her choice,” Paraschiv believes that there should be no restrictions on abortions.

“A woman should never have to justify herself in her decision to have an abortion,” Paraschiv said.

Sophomore biology major Madeline Colella also describes herself as a feminist, although she does not think her views align with the typical feminist perspective since she is against access to abortion.

“It’s not because I don’t want women to have a choice of what they want to do with their bodies,” she said.

“I just want more respect and excitement for life.”

With a Roman Catholic upbringing

and education, Colella said her beliefs come from a religious perspective about the “sacredness of conception” and of life.

While she supports more restrictions on abortion services, she wants to see improved access to family planning and adoption services.

“I would hope that they would keep the child; in my view, it is a gift from God,” Colella said. “But if they don’t understand that, it’s not my decision to make them keep the child.”

Then there are individuals like junior philosophy major Emma Thomasson, another feminist who stands in the middle of the conversation.

“I don’t know if I would make that decision [to have an abortion] for myself, but I would definitely want the right to,” Thomasson said.

Contrary to her Roman Catholic education, Thomasson said many of the patriarchal ideals written in the Bible have been woven into society.

“Because women were the ones who had the first great sin, people assume we’re the ones who made it bad for everyone, but at the moment, we’re the ones trying to fix everything,” Thomasson said.

Religion and politics: A combined discussion Baumgardner said the debate around when life begins is a religious question that plays out politically and consequently creates “major wedge issues” in state and federal campaigns.

Religious actors push many of these major wedge issues, such as in the Hobby Lobby ruling in 2014. Here, the Supreme

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Court declared that privately held, for-profit employers can object to providing birth control coverage for employees if those services conflict with the em-

“No one ever saw themselves as someone who would get an abortion.”

—Jennifer Baumgardner ployer’s deeply held religious beliefs.

Other anti-abortion rights strategies stem from medical contexts, such as Louisiana’s “Unsafe Abortion Protection Act.” The act requires abortion physicians to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.

In 2016, the Supreme Court struck down a similar Texas law, arguing that it was overly restricting access to abortion by closing down several clinics.

Louisiana activists, however, remain hopeful that today’s more conservative-leaning court will rule differently. The Supreme Court heard arguments in early March, according to NPR. Since Roe, Louisiana has implemented 89 restrictions on abortions, surpassing every other state, according to Guttmach-

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er Institute — a reproductive rights think tank.

“While it’s true that the law says in Roe v. Wade that states can’t outlaw abortion in the first trimester, what the court subsequently said is that states can, if they chose to, put in a lot of obstacles for women seeking an abortion,” Political Science Professor J. Chris Soper said. “Part of the reason for passing those laws is because they want the court to overturn them, the precedent.”

Most states have regulated abortions, with 43 placing time limits on how long a woman can wait to have an abortion, according to Guttmacher Institute. The most conservative states require waiting periods and mandatory counseling before women can get an abortion.

Since Jan. 1, 2019, 17 states, mostly in the South and Midwest, have passed laws restricting abortion access, leading 25 more urban states to introduce legislation to protect abortion rights, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

Another tactic anti-abortion rights activists use is to deny federal funding. The Trump administration won a case in February in which the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a “gag rule” that denies federal Title X family planning funds to clinics that make referrals for abortion, according to Reuters.

While Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill Johnson told Reuters the rule created “egregious barriers” for low-income access to healthcare, a U.S. Department of Justice representative cited a Health and

Human Services (HHS) rule that prohibits the use of “taxpayer money to ‘subsidize abortion’ through Title X.” Addressing the stigma Known for her influence on the third-wave feminist movement, Baumgardner has used her voice to spotlight female stories — stories that are less frequently discussed in the media. For example, her “I Had an Abortion” project revealed interesting preconceptions about unwanted pregnancies.

“No one ever saw themselves as someone who would get an abortion,” Baumgardner said. “... It can be a blow to your self-image because most of us associate getting pregnant and abortion with all these other elements of identity — our religion, relationships, parents — that are already complex, and the words pro-life and pro-choice do not begin to describe that complexity.”

Baumgardner also found that having the abortion was not what women were most upset about.

“The shame really was getting pregnant because younger women thought, ‘I had access to birth control, how did I let this happen?’” Baumgardner said.

“So, there is also a misunderstanding about how easy it is to get pregnant accidentally.”

A Roman Catholic lawyer’s perspective Douglas W. Kmiec, American legal scholar and former Pepperdine Caruso School of

Law professor, said the right to privacy principle in Roe was flawed from the beginning. He questioned whether it was appropriate for the court to rule on this issue at all.

“People on all sides of the political spectrum look at Roe v. Wade and say that it is deeply flawed [and] that in fact there is no textual history for finding a right of privacy that includes a right for terminating pregnancy,” Kmiec said.

Kmiec, a Roman Catholic Republican, said he believes that the government should respond to the abortion controversy by understanding a woman’s reasons for having an abortion and then implementing programs, like healthcare and family planning, that make raising the child financially and physically possible. This belief is one of the core reasons Kmiec endorsed pro-abortion rights Democrat Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election.

Despite the backlash he faced for his endorsement, including a denial of communion at church, according to the Washington Post, Kmiec said he stayed true to his ethics, faith and political position.

“In our constitutional system, no one faith has the author-

ity to impose its view on other faiths that would disagree or on people of no faith,” Kmiec said.

Kmiec said the church sometimes harms itself by getting involved with politics, becoming active in state legislatures or Congress.

“There is no consensus that has emerged in our culture, and for [the church] to insist that there be a position that favors [its] perspective violates the First Amendment,” Kmiec said.

Both Kmiec and Baumgardner said they believe this controversy is more personal than a courtroom ruling.

“I’m less interested in people’s passionate political views about abortion and access to birth control than their experiences,” Baumgardner said. “We can learn so much by listening to someone recount what has happened to them. We can potentially be changed by our human ability to be empathetic.”

In the next stages of this controversy — in the courtroom, in the church, or among fellow peers — it is time to take the debate and turn it into a conversation. But for this go-around, women have the floor.

Whether she is a disciple of “her body, her choice” like Paraschiv; sees pregnancy as

“In our constitutional system, no one faith has the authority to impose its views on other faiths that would disagree or on people of no faith.”

—Douglas W. Kmiec a gift from God like Colella; or does not know what she would choose in the moment but believes in access like Thomasson, all three women believe in giving the microphone back to women and letting their voices be heard.

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HE SAID,

She Said

by Alex Neis art by Milan Loiacono

Sticks and stones may break bones, but words have power too.

The way people speak and write on a day-to-day basis either breaks down or fuels gender stereotypes.

While language may appear to be merely symptomatic of broader systems and ideologies, English Professor Heather Thomson-Bunn thinks that if people can change the way they talk, they might be able to change the way they think too.

“The really interesting thing about language is that it’s a mirror of how we’re thinking, but it’s not just a reflection of how we think,” she said. “It actually can change and shape the way we think.”

Indoctrination into gender stereotypes may start even before a baby’s first word. That’s why Thomson-Bunn and others make intentional choices about

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what they say, the way they write and how they listen.

Language leads to change Some contend that while the intentions of careful phrasing may be good, words themselves hold no power to meaningfully change concrete problems.

“One of the critiques of ‘politically correct language’ is that, for example, calling a homeless person ‘under-housed’ doesn’t give them a place to live,” Thomson-Bunn said. “There’s a certain perspective in which just changing words doesn’t effect change.”

For Thomson-Bunn and many others, though, changing the way people talk about gender has the potential to affect more than what they deem acceptable and unacceptable to say. She said it can change people’s mindsets.

“I would argue, and I think most people in the field of language and gender would argue, that language is part of changing the way we’re thinking,” Thomson-Bunn said.

Thomson-Bunn teaches her students that language can be a tool to promote inclusivity and break down stereotypes.

masculine words by incorporating them into feminine contexts.

The term ‘girlboss’ came into popular usage following the release of American entrepreneur Sophia Amoruso’s memoir “#GIRLBOSS” in 2014, according to the BBC. Junior English major Samantha Nolan said this is one example of an effort to

Gendered titles In some cases, progress in gender equality has actually come first, with language trailing behind.

Thomson-Bunn said the way people talk about medical professionals exemplifies this process.

Since about half of current medical students are female, referring to a woman in the field as a ‘female doctor’ doesn’t make much sense. Many men in nursing still hear the qualification ‘male nurse,’ which suggests that, in nursing, the normative is still female.

Even as close as the Thornton Administrative Center, the titles for professionals continue to evolve. The word ‘chairman’ excluded the women who held leadership positions. Thomson-Bunn said as administration became more balanced in terms of gender, ‘chairman’ became less accurate.

Sometimes, words change to become more gender inclusive, while other times, feminists adapt and reclaim traditionally

“Language is part of changing the way we’re thinking.”

—Heather ThomsonBunn

use language to empower women that seems as problematic as it is helpful — especially because it might suggest that a woman cannot be a true boss.

“It’s a double-edged sword with those words because on one hand, you can see them as empowering and trying to take back those terms,” Nolan said.

“Then on the other hand, you could see them as patronizing.”

Gendered language starts young Sociology Professor Anna Penner said the effect of language on gendered perceptions can be traced all the way back to infancy.

“The words that we choose to describe little boys and little girls are different,” Penner said. “This is true for strangers but also for family members. ‘She’s so sweet’ versus ‘He’s so smart.’ These start indoctrinating us in ways that we don’t realize as kids.”

Penner said gender stereotypes also dictate how parents use language.

With boys, language tends to be more directive, whereas with girls, language tends to be more conversational.

“The expectation that we have is that boys are going to be unruly so we need to be direct and succinct with them and that girls can handle more emotional conversations,” Penner said.

For some children, family members used language to steer them toward or away from feminine characteristics.

“In Hispanic households, the patriarchy is really alive and well,” said Jose Alcazar, senior international studies and Hispanic studies double major.

“It’s like you have, for example,

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your dad or your uncles or your big brothers telling you that you have to act a certain way to be a true man.”

Alcazar recognized this impulse as one that has been handed down for generations, perpetuating the separation between male and female, between breadwinner and homemaker.

Outside of the home, young people are exposed to ridicule for straying outside of their gender norms at school and among peers, and Penner said the suggestion of femininity in young men seems to be the hardest blow.

“As you hit school age and certainly adolescence, a lot of the put-downs are couched in gendered ways, more so for boys,” Penner said. “Because the worst thing that we can do is tell our boys that they’re feminine in some way. Telling a girl that she’s masculine is not ideal, but it’s not as problematic.”

Insults tend to associate the target as a member of an outgroup, and as Thomson-Bunn pointed out, the words that stick with children the most — jabs and jeers from classmates — contribute to negative female stereotypes, even if their target is a young boy.

“There tends to be a desire to divide clearly from women and girls and also typically to assert heterosexual normativity,” Thomson-Bunn said. “So insults

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tend to either be related to femininity or homosexuality. Those are the ways of delineating who is and who isn’t a man ‘of the right kind.’”

Communication divides perpetuate stereotypes Even as adults, Penner said differing expectations about how men and women behave

Robin Lakoff, a linguistics professor at the University of California, Berkeley, studies trends that contribute to these gender expectations. Nolan studied her work in one of Thompson-Bunn’s classes and remembers how Lakoff identified trends in language use among men and women that could pressure individuals to follow stereotypes.

Nolan learned that women tend to use empty adjectives, phrase statements as questions and employ more descriptive vocabulary.

“When [women] talk with each other, they tend to build each other up and focus on building their relationships,” Nolan said. “Whereas usually when men talk, it’s a lot of the time to give information.”

Students were quick to clarify, though, that even Lakoff wouldn’t presume that all men or all women adhere to these linguistic tendencies.

“I know some men who are a lot more detached and abrasive with their language,” junior English major Mary Elizabeth Salley said. “I know a lot of guys who are very emotional and softer with their language. So I think it’s really unfair to just go ahead and state that guys tend to be less emotional, tend to be more aggressive in language, because I don’t think that’s always true.”

“The worst thing that we can do is tell our boys that they’re feminine.”

—Anna Penner

and interact with each other can lead to assumptions about how they might engage in conversation and affect the way their words are interpreted.

“We expect that boys are not going to be as conversant with their peers as girls are, that they’re going to be more active, that they do things alongside someone,” Penner said.

Sara Young Jackson:

igniting change for women in leadership

by Savannah Welch photo courtesy of Ron Hall The female voice is dynamic — it is powerful, it is vibrant, it is resilient.

Chancellor Sara Young Jackson’s perspective exemplifies the best qualities of female leadership that she instills in others.

Jackson, a lifelong member of the Pepperdine community, is not only the first female chancellor but also the first alum appointed to the position. Her father, M. Norvel Young, also served as chancellor in addition to being the third president of Pepperdine.

As chancellor, Jackson runs the university’s fundraising efforts, cultivating crucial donor relations. She is currently the only woman in senior administration.

Dedicated to empowering female leaders, Jackson founded Pepperdine’s Women in Leadership Institute — a mentorship organization that seeks to strengthen confidence in young women. It is part of the Center for Women in Leadership at the Graziadio Business School. She previously helped start the Boone Center for the Family and the Pepperdine Volunteer Center.

“What drew me to starting [the Institute] was ... a frustration — maybe an eye and a hunger to know what are some of

the keys for women moving up in leadership,” Jackson said. “I thought, ‘If I’m feeling the frustration, then others must be as well.’”

Jackson emphasized the need for women to contribute to workplace conversations and advocate for themselves. She sees the Women in Leadership Institute as a space for women to unite and unpack insecurities.

“We tend to work extra hard and be very conscientious to prove that we’re as capable as our men, our male colleagues,” Jackson said. “Sometimes we’re our own worst enemies because we don’t speak up.”

Jackson said empowering female students, faculty and staff at Pepperdine is more important now than ever before, as the university gradually becomes more inclusive.

“I think in the next five years, we’ll see a lot of progress,” Jackson said. “And we can already see at Pepperdine so many more women in leadership than there were. It’s come a long way, but we

have a long way to go.”

Jackson said half the battle is creating awareness and embracing change.

“I’m a strong believer that Pepperdine is … a much stronger institution as we have more equity in leadership because [women] have so much to offer,” Jackson said. “We have so much to bring to the table in terms of our perspective and our life experiences. Without us, it’s a weaker institution.”

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“Why Isn’t My Voice Valued in a Church I Love?”

by Lindsey Sullivan art by Olivia Smith and Aliya Edwards 47

Inside a small church in a foreign country, speaking a language unfamiliar to her own, Chaplain Sara Barton experienced the liberation of preaching to both men and women for the first time in the mid-’90s.

The church was located in the Lusoga-speaking region of Southeastern Uganda, where Barton was a missionary for over eight years.

The people there welcomed her as a preacher despite living within a patriarchal structure because their church had not been steeped in traditional doctrines dismissive of female leadership. Since returning to America, however, Barton has faced opposition.

While many have affirmed her call to ministry, Barton said she has experienced some negative psychological effects from being part of a denomination that historically prohibited women from using their gifts.

“There is rarely an hour that goes by in my life that my gender related to my vocation does not come to my mind, and I think that’s problematic,” Barton said. “I don’t think that one’s gender or other social identity marker should come to mind every hour of every day.”

Ever since she made the decision to preach, Barton said she has faced criticism, including accusations of narcissism.

“Very few people I know who are called to preaching in a healthy way want to hear their own voice,” Barton said. “They want to experience scripture and the power of the Holy Spirit to speak in our time through

this ancient text, which is a mysterious and awesome responsibility.”

Barton said one of the reasons she and other women face such psychological effects is because they internalize experiences of sexism in the church as personal issues rather than structural or systemic ones. As many Christian churches wrestle with what roles women can and should have in the church, some women feel divided between a world that says they can do anything and a church structure that evidences the opposite.

Cognitive dissonance Teacher Education Professor Carrie Wall, who was raised in the Churches of Christ, said cognitive dissonance is one psychological effect she has experienced as a result of growing up in a church that discouraged her from leading in public roles.

Cognitive dissonance is the psychological phenomenon that occurs when a person holds two or more conflicting beliefs.

“I began to feel like a second-class citizen,” Wall said.

“Why isn’t my voice valued in a church I love, among a group of people that I love — a group of people who have poured into my life and encouraged me in every other aspect of my life?

Why am I limited just because I am female?”

Several students echoed this sentiment of experiencing cognitive dissonance, including Cassidy Woodward, a junior integrated marketing communi-

cation major who also grew up in the Churches of Christ. She said women at her church are esteemed but not invited into leadership roles.

“If God created me, and I’m supposed to be all of these wonderful, amazing, strong things, then why is the one area that I’m not allowed to use my gifts in the church?” Woodward said.

This challenge is not strictly a Church of Christ issue, Barton said. It transcends denominational boundaries.

Junior biology major Ryan Dalforno grew up in a nondenominational church that believed in male-only leadership. He said he experienced cognitive dissonance when he entered college because it was the first time he questioned his beliefs about the theology of women in leadership.

“That way of thinking invaded my consciousness at a really, really young age in ways

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that I really regret now as somebody who has stepped away from that belief system,” Dalforno said.

Dalforno said biblical inerrancy, the idea that the Bible is without fault and should be interpreted literally, makes stepping away from the traditional mode of Christian thinking difficult. While he still feels the effects of the sexism he witnessed, Dalforno said he actively works to offset its psychological effects.

“It’s tough because so much of that [belief] is ingrained within my idea of what it means to be a good man,” Dalforno said.

“Not only did I have to redefine how I viewed women in the church, ... I had to shift my vision of being a man, in that I am not inherently better at being a Christian just because I happen to be the sex that I am.”

The theology behind women’s leadership Among many churches, the most compelling reasons against women’s leadership are

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scriptures traditionally interpreted to promote male-only leadership, such as 1 Corinthians 14:34, where the Apostle Paul writes, “Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak, but they are to be submissive.”

However, Kindy De Long, associate dean of Seaver College and a religion professor specializing in the New Testament, said she does not see a theological principle for male-only leadership in scripture, only a cultural one.

In reference to the passage in 1 Corinthians, De Long said Paul is speaking to a particular group of people in a specific period of time, when women in the church of Corinth were disrupting the order of the church.

“But does Paul mean that all women, in all places, at all times should be silent?” De Long said.

“I would say no, that this is a specific situation.”

When interpreting scripture, De Long said she looks for principles that are behind the message to apply to her theolo-

gy rather than the exact words themselves.

“I don’t think we disregard the scripture; it’s there for our instruction,” De Long said. “But we contemplate in community how we are going to live that out.”

De Long said starting with the passages in Paul’s letters leads to theological arguments that are often unresolved. Instead, she suggests that a much more productive way to study scripture is to look at it holistically, beginning with Genesis.

“I think what Genesis says, quite strongly, is that women are fully human, created in the image of God, and that you have kind of a mutual partnership between men and women,” De Long said. “And you can trace that then through the whole rest of scripture — [up to] the way that Jesus interacts with women.”

The shift toward inclusivity Sierra Perry, a first-year graduate student earning her

master’s in ministry, compared women’s leadership in churches to the Me Too movement in the sense that she has seen the importance of women acclaiming other women’s gifts.

“As soon as you decide that ministry is something you want to pursue as a woman, there’s a little bit of tension and friction,” Perry said.

Perry said that although she grew up with people who supported her calling, she decided to start speaking out for women who did not have the same support.

Wall said she has seen the Churches of Christ become more inclusive toward women’s leadership over the years. Her church, Conejo Valley Church of Christ, affirms women in all leadership roles and has even invited her to speak.

“It’s been a very healing time for me,” Wall said. “There were times after I led a prayer during the worship service when women would approach me with tears in their eyes, grateful to have the opportu-

nity to be led in prayer from a woman’s perspective.”

While Wall supports women’s leadership, she said she dislikes the ugliness she has witnessed from some women who claim that church leadership is an inherent right.

“First and foremost, we are called to honor God and obey Him,” Wall said. “I want that to be my primary focus instead of focusing on my own will, personal agenda or desire.”

Daniel Perez, a second-year graduate student earning his master’s in divinity, said he enjoys hearing women’s perspectives and witnessing the structural changes in church leadership that include women at Pepperdine and beyond.

“It’s just a special time [to be] in ministry and be in the church, and I’m just really happy to learn alongside [women] and not necessarily just teach them like it was historically in the church,” Perez said.

Wall, Barton, De Long and Perry all highlighted the sup-

port they have received within the Churches of Christ and from the Pepperdine community toward their ministerial pursuits.

Barton said having a community who believed in her and encouraged her made all the difference when she faced criticism.

“I never want to downplay the importance of people in community calling out your gifts and seeing those gifts in you,” Barton said. “So then you’re not left wondering, ‘Is it just me who thinks that I’m called to this?’ Other people have helped me discern this.”

Barton said she finds the confidence for her calling in God Himself and in her surrounding community.

“When I feel disconnected from God or from my community, that’s when I notice that I am the most insecure,” Barton said. “My security comes from the love of God for me and the place I have in a community that accepts and encourages me.”

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feminisminthedigitalage 21 posts

2012 1848 followers following

Feminism in the Digital Age how social media plays a role in activism following

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message

Feminism in the Digital Age

by Grace Wood art by Natalie Rulon In today’s digital age, it is nearly impossible to talk about feminism without also discussing the role social media plays in activism.

The last decade has seen many different feminist movements like #MeToo, #TimesUp and #YesAllWomen dominate the internet, especially on social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

These movements serve as a source of solidarity for both women and men who are survivors of sexual harassment and violence, and they have empowered many to go public with their stories. #MeToo has been tweeted more than 19 million times since 2017, when actress Alyssa Milano encouraged victims to share their stories on Twitter, according to the Pew Research Center.

“Women are coming forward, and they’re using ... social media as a way to say, ‘This has also happened to me, and it’s not OK and I want to lend my voice to others,’” said

Tanya Cooper, an assistant clinical professor of law and director of the Restoration and Justice Clinic at Pepperdine’s Caruso School of Law. Cooper said online feminist movements expose the statistics of sexual violence. One in five women will be raped at some point in their lives, and in eight out of 10 cases, sexual

Ruffina Silva-Garcia

“When you’re not willing to listen to an opinion that’s different from yours, you can’t grow.”

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assault victims know their attacker, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.

“We’re putting a more public face on this problem that you can’t ignore,” Cooper said.

“And it’s going to make it harder to sweep [it] under the rug or try to pretend that it never happened.”

Activism gone digital Junior accounting major Ruffina Silva-Garcia’s first exposure to the #MeToo movement occurred in 2017, when The New York Times first broke the story detailing the allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein.

“I didn’t want to be ignorant about something that was trending, so I did some research on [#MeToo] and found out what it was,” Silva-Garcia said. “And it was women em-

Bryan Munguia

“Public forum is so appealing, and it’s fun to just tear each other apart. ... It’s fighting fire with gasoline.”

powering other women just to speak up and letting them know they weren’t alone.”

Silva-Garcia said she often shares feminist posts on her social media accounts, but some of her posts, especially those related to her stance on abortion, are met with demands to keep her voice quiet.

“When you’re not willing to listen to an opinion that’s different from yours, you can’t grow,” Silva-Garcia said.

Communication Divisional Dean Sarah Stone Watt attributed this online antagonism to social media users feeling a sense of protection behind a screen.

“I’m seeing an increase in people’s awareness, but also … a decrease in willingness or ability to talk face-to-face about it because everybody’s afraid to say the wrong thing,” Stone Watt said.

Junior political science major Audrey Rhynerson uses Twitter to engage with social movements and said she recognizes the positive and negative aspects of interacting with activism in a digital space.

“Being able to listen and uplift messages from people around the world or around your community is really important and really powerful,” Rhynerson said. “Sometimes it’s hard because there are really negative people [online].”

Pushback against #MeToo A Currents survey of 221 students found mixed opinions on the #MeToo movement.

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Roughly 57% of women saw the movement as positive, but 33% felt unsure, and just shy of 10% viewed it negatively. About 48% of male respondents said they felt unsure about #MeToo, compared to almost 31% who viewed it positively and 21% who viewed it negatively.

Bryan Munguia, a senior integrated marketing communication major, said he thinks that while #MeToo began with good intentions, the traction it has gained is now bringing about more harm than good.

“Now, it’s a new extreme,” Munguia said. “Public forum is so appealing, and it’s fun to just tear each other apart. ... It’s fighting fire with gasoline.”

Munguia said he believes that #MeToo contributes greatly to the prominence of ‘cancel culture,’ in which social media users feel a sense of heightened responsibility to hold everyone — classmates, coworkers and celebrities — accountable for alleged wrongdoings.

“I define [cancel culture] as a mob mentality and groupthink, largely influenced by leftist politics or people believing that they’re being progressive or woke,” Munguia said.

“Their mission is to just obliterate the cyber personalities of different individuals for their own form of fulfillment.”

In 2018, 43% of American adults said they believed that the #MeToo movement has gone too far, according to an Ipsos/NPR poll of 1,006 people.

Today, the fear of being falsely accused of sexual as-

sault abounds, as the aftermath could have the potential to alter someone’s future. The same Ipsos/NPR poll reported that 33% of participants worried someone they care about might be wrongly accused of sexual assault due to the movement.

“False reporting happens; it’s also incredibly rare,” Cooper said. “By falsely accusing somebody, you can tarnish their reputation and their name and prevent them from getting jobs or positions of power and authority.”

Celebrities in cyberspace In the #MeToo era, celebrities can exert control over the narrative surrounding sexual misconduct. Rhynerson said in the digital age, the public has heightened expectations of how celebrities should respond to sexual assault allegations. “ You have a responsibility whenever you have that big of a platform to do the right thing,” Rhynerson said.

Miaomiao Gao, a junior IMC major and an international student from Zhengzhou, China, said the main social media platform used in China for social movements is Weibo, which she described as a combination of Instagram and Facebook.

“There’s a trend when something happens — when a girl gets bullied, or there is inequality between a man and a woman — the Chinese stars will

normally advocate [on Weibo] for feminism,” Gao said. “I will follow their post and try to consider the incident from their perspective, [or] from the victim’s perspective.”

Since coming to America, Gao said she notices a difference in how Americans engage with feminist movements, especially online. “[In China], not a lot of people will go on the streets to advocate feminism,” Gao said.

“In America, more people are doing it in real life, in practice.

People [in China] don’t want to take that major responsibility by saying it out loud because in China, if you’re advocating for stuff that’s very outstanding, very big, very different from others, the government probably will take some actions to mute you.”

Benefits of blogging Using traditional social media platforms or participating in public demonstrations are not the only ways to join the feminist conversation. Years after experiencing a traumatic sexual assault as a child, senior MBA student Mackenzie Mazen started her own blog, where she posted her narrative titled “Me Too.” “When you share things, you find that other people quite often relate to them,” Mazen said. “And then it makes it easier for you and also makes it easier for them because there’s this connectedness.”

Mazen said she found

Audrey Rhynerson

“You have a responsibility whenever you have that big of a platform to do the right thing.”

strength through going public with her story and has even been able to help others struggling with similar trauma.

“There’s nothing I can do to change the past, and so I’m very much in a growth mindset — how can I grow from this?”

Mazen said. “I think blogging was that outlet for me to kind of grow and be resilient.”

Stone Watt recognized that some individuals may be unsure of how to have conversations with feminists or survivors of sexual violence.

She advised college students to respect each other’s perspectives, recognizing that they may be drastically different.

Follow Currents Magazine on Instagram @currentsmagazine

54

A SNAPSHOT OF THE WAGE GAP

by Melissa Locke

2055 for white women 2130 for Black women 2224 for Latina women

*Scholars project women won’t reach equal pay until:

When Will Each State Reach Equality?

California and New York tie for the smallest wage gap of $0.12.

2071 2080

2104 2054

2055 2074 2159 2044

2068

2081

2101

2056

2072 2065 2086

2057

2042

2072 2044

2049

2086 2066

2066

2068

2056

2047

2066 2073

2073

2064

2057

2082 2106

2057

2094 2087 2088

2055

38 20

2092

Louisiana has the largest gap at $0.31.

NH: 2082 VT: 2048 MA: 2058 CT: 2061 RI: 2049 NJ: 2055 DE: 2051 DC: 2055 MD: 2042 WV: 2101 HI: 2051

The Wage Gap by Ethnicity (per a white man’s dollar)

$0.54 Latina

55

$0.57 Native American

$0.61

Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander

$0.62 Black

$0.79 White

$0.90 Asian

*Data for Asian women not available

The median pay for women adds up to an annual wage gap of over

$10,000. that’s: 833

100

34

SunLife bowls

months of Netflix subscriptions

Disneyland Park Hopper tickets

222

40

10

Hydro Flasks

AirPod Pros

VIP Coachella tickets

One misconception is that the wage gap is created by women choosing lower-paying jobs than men. But the wage gap is present for women with every level of education, in every industry and every occupation.

Women Earn:

57% 59%

of all undergraduate degrees of all master’s degrees

48% 47.5%

of all law degrees of all medical degrees

Women compose 10% of the short-term CEO candidate pool.

In the utilities sector, women make up 17.3% of executives and 18.5% of CEOs — the largest percentage of any sector.

Women Hold:

23.6%

of Congress seats

These are the highest percentages in history.

29.3%

of statewide elective positions

28.9%

of state legislature seats

Twenty-two states have never elected a female governor, including California, New York, Colorado and Florida.

Data gathered from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, National Women’s Law Center, National Partnership for Women and Families, Center for American Women and Politics, Center for American Progress and Pew Research Center.

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And that’s on

PERIOD.

by Allison Lee photos by Milan Loiacono art by Elizabeth Brummer

Women do not bleed from the same place they pee, contrary to some misconceptions.

Whether or not period talk comes up at lunch or in class, periods are happening. Women are bleeding — at least 54% of Seaver students, according to official statistics. And yet, there are people uncomfortable talking about it and misconceptions abound.

When junior business administration major Josiah Anderson was asked to describe a period, he resorted to illustrating the grammatical period at the end of a sentence. Junior biology major Chris Jenkins just said “uncomfortable.” Junior religion major Drew Fountain said his dad once asked his sis-

57

ter if she was working in the periodical section.

Cassidy Woodward, a junior integrated marketing communication major, said the women in her family are comfortable talking about periods.

She got her first period when she was staying with her grandparents while her parents were out of town.

“My grandma was so excited. It was like the happiest day of her life,” Woodward said.

“She calls my dad in California and goes, ‘Phillip, your daughter has become a woman today.’”

She wanted to throw Woodward a party with red velvet cake. She wanted Woodward to start a club for other girls who had their periods. Although Woodward did not have a party or start a club, her grandma did take her to James Avery to get a present to celebrate her ‘womanness.’

They picked out some earrings and

headed toward the cash register where a young man was working.

“She looks at him and she’s like, ‘Can you guess what these are for?’” Woodward said. “And he’s like, ‘Birthday?’

And she goes, ‘She started her period.’”

The science behind it Sports Medicine Professor Cooker Storm presumed general ignorance when she started to explain the menstrual cycle: “I’m going to imagine you’re my husband.”

When women hit puberty, the menstrual cycle begins with menarche, around age 13, and continues until menopause, around age 55.

The goal of the follicle, which is a sac in the ovaries, is to create a mature egg. Two weeks into the cycle, the egg gets ejected from the ovary and swept into the fallopian tube.

The egg is “viable for one day”

and sperm can live in the fallopian tube for three to five days, Storm said.

The uterine lining becomes a fluffy home for the egg during this time. When the lining is built up and the egg is released, the body releases the hormone progesterone, essentially a cheer team for the egg. When the egg is not fertilized, progesterone is cut off.

“This thickened endometrial lining is losing its blood supply, and it dies and then it gets sloughed off,” Storm said. “And that’s what the period is.”

While the sloughing off is happening, the cycle begins to repeat itself. Only one egg will be released from an alternating ovary every month.

From the boys When Storm teaches the menstrual cycle, she does an activity with the steps of the cycle on index cards. Her class is divided between women and men and instructed to put the cards in order.

“The guys always do better than the girls,” Storm said. “I honestly think it’s because girls ... think they know what’s happening and guys don’t have a clue, so they’re paying closer attention.”

Evan Henderson, senior psychology and philosophy double major, stuck out his hand in a fist when Keanna Byrnes, senior sports medicine major, told him to make a vagina. Byrnes unwrapped a tampon and inserted it into his fist. Byrnes later plopped the tampon into a

cup of water from the Caf, making it double in size.

“Are you serious?” Henderson asked with eyes wide and arms in the air. “That’s crazy.”

Henderson used to keep chocolates in his high school locker for his female friends.

They were more vocal about their periods than the friends he has in college, speaking candidly to how it took over their lives for a week.

“They could express themselves more,” Henderson said.

“Because they had this socially accepted time.”

Senior advertising major Jacob Hall gets uncomfortable when a chain reaction starts with girls bringing up period stories. He has heard his friends use their period as an excuse to miss class and other obligations.

“I don’t think there’s an excuse that a male could use ’cause I feel like periods are used as both a physical and emotional excuse,” Hall said.

Jose Alcazar, senior international studies management and Hispanic studies double major, said the discomfort discussing periods comes from not being able to relate. He believes that feminine products should not just be in women’s bathrooms.

“Feminism should be encompassing everybody ... so that’s including queer folks, or trans* friends, or transitioning friends or non-binary friends,” Alcazar said. “You

shouldn’t limit the accessibility of feminine products to a certain group.”

Menstrual products in contemporary times “My vagina’s a temple, and I will treat it that way,” freshman theatre production major Harper Tramm said.

Tramm uses a Saalt Cup, a brand of menstrual cups. She said using a cup is about becoming comfortable with herself, and she wants to convert everyone to using a cup.

“It’s better for the environment, and for your health and for your feminine power,” Tramm said. “There’s something about shoving your hand up your vagina that’s empowering.”

Tramm said there is a negative stigma surrounding tampons,

58

which can cause micro-abrasions and contain bleached chemicals; but silicone menstrual cups, which just hold the blood, are positive and happy.

Although there’s no science to back her claim, Tramm also said her cramps have disappeared.

Specific brands give a cup to a girl in a developing nation with every purchase. Cups last 10 years, and users boil them before and after their period for sanitation. Tramm takes her cup out in the shower once in the morning and once at night, as the Saalt Cup is able to stay in for 12 hours.

“You don’t have to worry about your period at all,” Tramm said.

Emma Inglehart, senior theatre technology major, once overestimated how long her

59

tampon would last during an Elkins class. She bled through and walked along the wall to get out. Now, she can leave her Diva cup in for 24 hours.

“It was more of just a way to make an anxiety go away and reduce stress about something that I shouldn’t have to be stressed about,” Inglehart said.

Inglehart said there’s a trial-and-error period to finding the right brand and fit. When she tried the Saalt Cup brand that Tramm uses, she found out her cervix was longer and spent an hour trying to get the Saalt Cup out.

Sydney DeMaria, junior theatre and music double major, discovered her menstrual disc through an Instagram ad.

She said the disc is less mainstream and has perks most people wouldn’t know about.

“It doesn’t have suction, which I’ve heard can be painful for some people. It alleviates cramps for some people,” DeMaria said. “You can have period sex with it — no mess.”

Discs can be left in for 12 hours, and DeMaria has never gotten to the point where it’s full.

As opposed to the cups, the disc is more of a bowl that folds in half, and thus, it’s messier.

DeMaria called it a tiny sombrero.

Period talk has come a long way. Some men still have shivers climb up and down their spine when they hear about it. Some grandmothers would scold women for the way they talk about it now. But if it’s a natural part of life, and a crucial one to creating new life, shouldn’t society be able to talk about it?

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60

Sydney Sauter: women supporting women

by Ali Levens photo by Milan Loiacono Sydney Sauter, a senior nutritional science major, grew up in a conservative household in the South. Surrounded by relatives and peers who discounted feminism, she fell into a dislike of the movement and what it stood for.

From a young age, Sauter said she learned from her single mother and like-minded peers in Oklahoma and Arkansas to belittle, compete with and tear down women, possibly stemming from her father cheating on her mother. She carried the belief that ‘the other woman’ was the enemy into her high school relationships.

She did not question this mindset until arriving in the Golden State.

Far from home for the first time, Sauter realized college was a golden opportunity to enhance her worldview.

61

“I had a full identity crisis my freshman year,” Sauter said. “Everything was just a big question, and that kind of opened my eyes to who I wanted to be.”

The road to identifying as a feminist was a winding journey that spanned her college career. She enrolled in a summer social justice class, began reading feminist theory and looked to her older sorority sisters for guidance, constantly challenging herself to rewire her brain from what her mother had ingrained in her.

“How much of my life has been me versus what I’ve been told to do without really recognizing it?” Sauter said. “That just totally flipped the switch. That’s when I was like, ‘ You know what? I really am a feminist.’”

As Sauter became comfortable with her identity, she explored feminist quotes on Pinterest. One that stuck with her is, “If you don’t stand for all women, you stand for none.”

Since adopting a feminist perspective, Sauter’s awareness of her behavior toward herself and others has bloomed into a passion for pursuing equality; she has changed her inner rhetoric and is now less combative toward other women.

“We are built to tear each other down,” Sauter said. “ You’ve got to learn to build up women, even if they disagree with you at times.”

Feminism stands for women whether or not they believe in its values. Sauter has learned that identifying as a woman or as feminine does not necessarily translate to identifying as a feminist. “ Your idea of what’s feminine is yours,” Sauter said.

MORE EQUALITY MORE LOVE MORE ACCEPTANCE MORE PRIDE MORE INCLUSIVITY MORE TRUTH MORE HUMANITY To learn more about students’ perspectives on and experiences with gender inequality, scan this QR code.

62 #

“We should be appreciated and respected for who we are and what we have to give, but if we have to fight for it, then we will.”

—Dolly Parton