Sh*t Feminists DON'T Say... Trust us, there's a lot.

Here is the link to our A4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPRFdFwRMGw

What have I learned from this project?  There many things that feminists don’t say. For A4, our group (Maddie, Shefali, Kate, Michael, and I) decided to create a video similar to the clever “Sh*t _____ Say” videos circulating YouTube, but with a twist – we covered feminists, and what they DON’T say. It was a great way to try something new: we filmed a video rather than wrote a paper, we got to work as a group, and we had a ton of fun along the way. 

            The main text in the course that we chose to cover was Erica Jong’s Fear of Flying. As a strongly feminist novel, we could combat many of her ideas by proclaiming the exact opposite (“You CAN fuck your way to freedom). But we didn’t stop there. We covered everything from pop culture references and jokes, to mocking other novels in the course, to even incorporating different theorists. The video was effective in that it really combined all of the aspects of the course into one project, and still made us think critically. After all, as the video was a combination of things that feminists DON’T say, we had to think in the exact opposite way of the course itself. Breaking down the foundations of our class (such as when we asked “What’s poststructuralism?”) was difficult because it went against everything we have learned. 

We added to the original in a variety of ways. Similar to Fear of Flying, we analyzed what exactly it means to be a feminist, and the ways that feminism can take root. By stating the opposite of what feminism actually is, we actually understood feminism even more. In my opinion, the satire found in our video is a great way of opposing non-feminists. We were able to get to the comfortable point where we knew enough about gender, feminism, and all things queer that we could create a project from the “other side” to reveal its ridiculousness. The video is hilarious and sarcastic, but still manages to remain important and define feminism through the ways that it is not. 

            The project worked well because we tried to divide the work up evenly, while still have a good time and remember that it was for a class. We worked together in organizing meetings, brainstorming quotes, and filming and acting. The great thing about group projects is that they force you to work with others, just as in the real world. This way, we could be more creative, bond, and have each member contribute something unique. This is something that doesn’t actually happen too often in college, and just the experience of working on a project together was valuable itself. Not going to lie though, the girls ALWAYS get to say the best lines because they are female. I mean, “I’m just opinionated because it’s that time of the month?” I wish I could say that. J