Lindsey Mann | Fiercely Feminine

Stephen DeVries

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“I am a feminist because…”

“God is a feminist. You can nitpick and play favorites with certain verses, but if you examine the Bible as a whole, you will find a resounding message of love and equality. In God’s eyes, male and female are equally loved and equally valued, and that’s what feminism is about: creating a culture where every person is appreciated and valued with God-given equity.”

Lindsey minored in Women’s Studies at U of A, but she’s long been comfortable using the F-word. She vividly remembers announcing to her second grade class, with arms wide open, “I am a feminist.” She is now going back to school to get a nursing degree, travel, help people and “do some good in the world.”

Seems like you were comfortable from early on using the F-word. Was your mom a self-described feminist?

I think my mom is hesitant to describe herself as feminist, but she is. She’s one of the main reasons why I am a feminist. My mom worked full time and has still been the most amazing mother of anyone that I know. She kind of showed me that you could have it all. She’s strong and makes more money than my dad. I had a really good role model of a strong, powerful woman. Whether she wants to admit it or not, she is a feminist.

How do faith and feminism fit together?

I look at the Women’s Movement and the Civil Right’s Movement as things that are very similar. The Civil Right’s Movement grew out of the church’s belief in equality, God’s belief in equality. For me, feminism is like that, too. The God that I know and believe in made us equal. I don’t read a message of subordination when I read the Bible. It just seems very natural to me. Of course, God’s a feminist. He made us all equal. Feminism isn’t about subordinating men anymore than the civil right’s movement is about putting whites beneath blacks.

Do you equate subordination with submission?

Not necessarily, but more often than not. I look at more than just that verse. If you want to nitpick, you can find justification for all kinds of things in the Bible. It’s like any work of literature. If you want to look at the Bible as a historical text, you have to work at the whole work and get the message instead of just one chapter, one line. You’re missing the point.

You took Women’s Studies classes in school. What were some of the most revolutionary things you learned?

I learned a lot, but a lot of it was kind of preaching to the choir, to reinforce what I already believed. I didn’t really need to be convinced as much as some of my classmates that thought they were getting an easy A. The main thing is what I learned about the other movements like the Civil Rights and the GLBT issues are now interwoven in the feminism movement. It’s not just about women, it’s about all oppressed people. That’s sort of more of a third wave thing, just the inclusion of other disenfranchised groups, under the umbrella of feminism. I think that’s a good inclusion. My favorite class was women in the visual arts, because I got to learn a lot about really great female artists. If you think about if someone says: “Name five great painters,” you won’t name one woman. Most people won’t because their work doesn’t sell as much, they’re not exhibited. You think about the books you read in high school, the classics. There’s so much in the arts. Women’s contributions have been overlooked.

In my last women’s studies class, we studied this new kind of feminist, though my teacher was not of that strain. Within some hard core feminist groups, the [third wave feminists are] considered ‘girlies.’ Like the spice girls. They were all girl power, but they had really cool boots.

What’s the right mix of feminista and fashionista?

I think it’s a really slippery slope. I care about looking presentable. There’s a lot of artistic value in fashion. I think an important part of feminism is being free to be who you are, and if that’s who you are, than that’s fabulous. Just like you should be able to free to be a housewife and be accepted. Or you could be a working mom. They don’t all wear Birkenstocks.