Recognizing a feminism with many faces

Last week, I ran into an acquaintance I hadn't seen in a while. After the formulaic pleasantries, he asked me if I was part of the Organization of Women Leaders. When I responded that while I received its e-mails, I did not regularly attend its events and didn't really consider myself part of the organization, he seemed surprised. Recalling discussions in our mutual precept in which my feminist views emerged, he asked, "But, aren't you a feminist?"

Yes, I told him, I do consider myself a feminist. "So, if you're a feminist, why aren't you part of OWL? Isn't that the group for feminists?" I responded that I didn't think I needed OWL to express my feminism. I explained that I am active in other groups on campus — for example, I am co-chair of Princeton's Take Back the Night — and it is through those activities that I express and act on my feminist views.

I recount this incident to illustrate how a significant portion of campus perceives OWL: OWL is the voice of feminism at Princeton; OWL is the outlet for feminist expression at Princeton. Since its inception, OWL leaders have been the sources of comment — in these very pages — on nearly every "women's issue" facing the University community.

But it is not just the Princeton community or the 'Prince' that perceives OWL in this way. OWL considers itself to be representative of feminism on campus, an organization for which — according to its website — "as long as at least one half of the undergraduate population is female, there will be an undeniable need . . . to address the issues and concerns facing Princeton women." According to the website's — and ostensibly the organization's — tagline, OWL is "changing the face of feminism at Princeton." To change the face of feminism at Princeton suggests that feminism has one face.

Anyone who has studied the roots and history of the feminist movement, both within the United States and internationally, can tell you that the movement has always been characterized by division and disagreement. From voting rights to reproductive rights to the Equal Rights Amendment, women who self-identify as feminists have been on both sides of nearly every debate. Since 1920, there has never been a female voting bloc.

Feminism at Princeton is no different. We learn nothing from the recent campus debate over OWL's USG endorsement if not that different Princeton women, all of whom consider themselves feminist, supported different USG candidates as the 'feminist' candidate. According to its endorsement e-mail, OWL believed that a male candidate promising in his campaign "to address the concerns raised in the USG Reports on Minorities and Women, and to push for solutions to these issues" was the 'feminist' candidate. Other women, as cited in the 'Prince' and overheard in conversations around campus, believed that having a woman serve in the highest undergraduate-elected office, the most visible and vocal undergraduate position, was the best way to advance the needs and voices of Princeton women. That this debate even took place is evidence enough that Princeton feminists disagree on how to better the position of Princeton women.

It is for this reason that the perception of OWL on campus — and OWL's self-perception — must change. Perhaps its greatest accomplishment, OWL has succeeded in increasing the campus visibility of women's issues and questions facing women at Princeton and in the world. Armed with great resources — in finances and membership — OWL has brought speakers and discussions to campus on a very regular basis; these events — and even the posters publicizing them — remind Princeton that women are part of the campus community and have concerns that are worthy of discussion. And one look at OWL's varied list of past speakers indicates that the organization clearly recognizes that women's concerns take different forms and different positions. However, the fact that OWL makes USG endorsements at all suggests that it has failed to recognize the variety of feminist perspectives on campus life that exist at Princeton.

Nina Langsam '03's USG victory yesterday provides some hope that the reign of a monolithic feminism will no longer dominate campus life. Had David Gail '03 secured the presidency, there would be reason for non-OWL feminists to fear the total domination of one feminist viewpoint — in the form of OWL and its USG pawn — in all of campus life and politics.

All campus feminists should celebrate the long-awaited return of a woman to the USG presidency. As OWL co-founder and co-president Nancy Ippolito said in an April 18, 2001, 'Prince' article when expressing her "excitement" that so many female candidates were elected to USG and class-government positions last spring, "No matter what the issue, a woman will bring a different perspective than even a man trying to bring a woman's view point." Congratulations, Nina. Julie Straus is a Wilson School major from Potomac, Md. She can be reached at straus@princeton.edu.