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Call for Younger* Feminists

Jill

A professor at Mary Washington is conducting a research project, and is looking for women to take a survey about their beliefs and experiences. Women of all ages and belief systems are invited to participate, but they are particularly in need of younger feminist perspectives. If you’d like to help her out and take the survey, click here. It should take about 30 minutes — and I hope you’ll take it, since feminist voices are always important!

*”Younger” is being defined by the survey conductors as 18-25.

41 thoughts on Call for Younger* Feminists

  2. Ugh… yet another person telling me how old I’m getting to be. Do you plan on publishing a summary of the results or otherwise pointing to them?

  8. Took it (wow that was long). An ok survey, but pretty black-and-white questions in kind of a black-and-white format. Like “a woman should focus on her children, not her rights”… didn’t have to think about the questions much.

    And yes Em, definitely very hetero.

  9. Anybody else notice where they were going with that? Ask series of questions, then ask how strongly you consider yourself a feminist (several options). Ask another series of questions, then ask AGAIN if you’re a feminist (less options). Ask yet another series of questions, then ask a third time if you’re a feminist (yes/no only).

    I can’t be the only one that picked up on that.

  10. Perhaps I was missing something, but I kept getting an “email error” regardless of email or browser used.

    Anyone else get this?

  12. I’m also getting the email error and haven’t received an email either. I assume the error means that, but you never know…

  14. Anybody else notice where they were going with that? Ask series of questions, then ask how strongly you consider yourself a feminist (several options). Ask another series of questions, then ask AGAIN if you’re a feminist (less options). Ask yet another series of questions, then ask a third time if you’re a feminist (yes/no only).

    Yes, the questions were cut and dry, not to mention repetitive. My favorite part was the section “injustice” and “fairness.” How many different ways can you ask the same question on one page? Sheesh…

  15. Hmm. Took it. I would have appreciated more chances to explain one’s answers. And yeah, pretty hetero.

  16. Regarding the redundancy, to me it read a little like several people worked on it, each writing a different section.

    And not only were the questions about traditional gender roles not very nuanced, there didn’t seem to be many questions about actual feminist views at all, just about the popular stereotypes of feminism (“are you and your friends all angry at men?”).

  17. “are you and your friends all angry at men?”

    I know, that was so odd. I didn’t know what the right answer was. Uh, yes? No? Sometimes? What??

  18. Hmm okay not that I’m an expert but I studied stats & econ in college so I have conducted several surveys and…very poorly worded questions here!

    I mean anyone can see that there are a lot of flaws, but I’m assuming a psych major would have to take a class or two on survey methods, and I just don’t see how you could take such a class and NOT notice that you were breaking a lot of guidelines.

  19. Sam I saw that too.

    It really bugged me, to be honest. Some of them were so clearly leading questions, and the “feminist” questions were so cloearly the common misconception of Feminist As Family And Man Hating Wench…

    Blah. It just got under my skin.

    I believe in womyn’s ability to make good CHOICES. I don’t think that a womyn’s “rightful” place is in business alongside men; I believe that whatever a womyn CHOOSES for herself is her “rightful” place. If I want to be an at-home mother I should be allowed that CHOICE; if I want to be a CEO, I should be allowed that CHOICE as well. If I want to be a working corporate womyn who needs space in her office for expressing breastmilk I should be given that CHOICE too. This survey didn’t seem to take the reality of our social structure in America, general working class issues, and the hugeness of current feminist issues, into consideration….

  20. Yeah, I quit the survey less than halfway through. The questions were repetitive, poorly worded and contained way too many assumptions for me to be comfortable with.

    And Sam, I saw that too.

    I figured the survey was attempting to open my mind to identifying as a feminist. Except I already identify as a feminist, so that was pretty pointless.

    Like Aura Kitten, the questions got under my skin. Especially the one’s about finding fulfillment. If you want to be a construction worker or a stay at home parent or a lawyer or a teacher then go for it. Why should I determine what fulfills another person?
    Also, what kind of question is “are you and your friends all angry at men?” Geez. Man hating is different than patriarchy blaming-get it right. I dislike it when men and women are subdued by the patriarchy.
    I also agree that heterosexism was amongst the many assumptions.

  21. Damn, I suddenly feel old. Of course, I feel that way every time I jump a demographic group.

    So what DO those of us who grew up in the “Free To Be You and Me” era call ourselves? We aren’t old enough to be grouped in with the women who really kicked the movement back into gear in the 60s/70s, but aren’t really “Third Wavers” either (I don’t think). And more importantly, why do I care? 😉

    Is there any point in taking the survey or is just a real piece of junk? ‘Cause that’s kind of what it sounds like it is….

  23. Yeah, I’m not angry at men, I am angry at jerks. Some of whom are women, some of whom are men. I actually answered “yes” to one of those “do you feel more strongly” questions to say that I was unhappy with the “me and my friends hate men” line of questions.

  24. Agree with most of the above commentator’s issues with the survey design, but I decided to complete it hoping to have an opportunity at the end to assess the survey – which is standard procedure in surveys with a sociological bent. Very disappointed to be denied the opportunity to post comments such as:

    1. Do not include answer options with percentages – it gives an appearance of scientific specificity that interferes with any good it might possess as an “informal” study.

    2. Do not actively disinclude men or other genders from the “pro-feminist” questions.

    3. and so on and so forth . . .

  25. I quit halfway through. This survey would be booted out of my statistics textbook in a heartbeat for all the leading questions. It kept asking if I’ve been treated in a sexist and unjust way instead of giving specific instances of sexism and injustice against women. The questions and answers are all so vague that the same answers could mean very different things for different people.

    And yeah, why even ask my sexual orientation if it goes on to assume that there’s an “important man in my life.”

  26. Forget hetero bias. How about gender bias? Even though I confirmed that I was male, it proceeded to ask me questions premised on me being female. I got tired of strongly disagreeing with them and quit.

  27. I took it. I just fell into the age range (I’ll be 26 next month) so I figured I could help. I wasn’t crazy about the questions either, but I finished the survey.

  28. “are you and your friends all angry at men?”

    I know, that was so odd. I didn’t know what the right answer was. Uh, yes? No? Sometimes? What??

    That question bothered me very much as well. There were a lot that were so rigged. There was one that said something like “I blame all men for the oppression of women” and I’m like “Well, obviously as a whole, but then there are plenty of male feminists and men who are respectful of women’s rights. So to answer ‘no’ means that it isn’t men’s fault or just not all men, or that I don’t think women are oppressed??” So much of it was confusing. And half way through I got a weird error message that I couldn’t get past. So I quit. I was promised at the beginning that this survey would better help me understand women’s issues. Lies! All lies! This survey didn’t even help me understand this survey!

  30. A professor? Jesus.

    I wish that on surveys like these the options went something like “Agree,” “Don’t Know,” “Disagree,” and “Big Damn Category Mistake.”

  31. It’s worth going through just so you can leave comments — they let you do that in the first section. (It says to explain “if you chose ‘yes’,” but you can comment even if you chose ‘no’ or ‘no answer’.)

  32. I figured the survey was attempting to open my mind to identifying as a feminist. Except I already identify as a feminist, so that was pretty pointless

    I really think this was the point of the whole thing. The pages with lots of repetitive, silly questions probably didn’t matter – i think they were just to get your mind in a certain place so they could see how you’d identify yourself after thinking about them. i.e. after answering a page about gender roles, how many women define themselves as feminists? Does this amount change after answering a page of questions on discrimination? And so on.

  33. I’m going to take it now – I hope it’s worse than the survey I made in high school sociology, reading these questions. 😛

    18 and a half, reporting for duty.

  36. This thing is confusing the holy hell out of me.

    But I’m going to do it – for the demographics, they need more 18 year old straight white girls, I’m sure.

  37. I’m saying neither on every question that needs a “It depends…”

    Like.. would I move if my husband had to move because of his job?

    Depends – am I working? Do we have kids? Can I get a job in the new location? Is he a jackass?

  39. I wonder what their hypothesis is. The whole survey seems to be based on an idea that all feminists are whiners who see themselves as victims in every situation.

  40. You’re not the only youth, Kaitlyn 😛 I’m eighteen.

    I think one of the reasons it seems so heterocentric is because it’s not women in two women relationships oppressing the rights of one another, it’s generally assumed to be the man of the relationship. And for the female assumption, they probably only expected female respondents or not enough males to count… I hope I’m not giving them too much credit because that “Do you or your friends hate all men” question was bull.

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