CONFIDENCE IN DISGUISE

CONFIDENCE IN
DISGUISE

A Note from the editor
Sydney Haussler
Welcome to Confidence in Disguise!
This is a magazine completely based on FEMALE EMPOWERMENT.
The mission of this magazine is to help females feel more confident in
themselves and to realize their power. Media today can be extremely
harsh on women; editing every photo, only writing about appearances,
sexualizing their bodies, and undermining their abilities. This magazine is
an example of what the media needs to look like. All photos are unedited
and all articles are focused on important issues and empowering
topics. Please take the time to flip through, read a few articles, and FEEL
EMPOWERED!
Why “Confidence in Disguise,” you ask?
I chose the name Confidence in Disguise because I believe everyone
has their own version of confidence, but often times it’s masked and
hidden by things such as insecurities, a fear of being judged, feelings of
inferiority, and lack of empowerment and encouragement from others.
Everyone has their own way of showing their personal confidence; some
may flaunt it all day, every day, some may not have discovered their way of
flaunting it yet, and others may be flaunting their confidence without
even knowing it. Discovering confidence in yourself is a journey; if you
haven’t found yours yet, don’t worry; it’s just “in disguise” right now :)

“I am a Woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal
Woman, that’s
me.”
Maya Angelou

Photograph by Sydney Haussler

Feminism is for everyone
Erin Davoran
Feminists are angry, stupid, ugly, annoying and
sexist. Feminists want more rights than men, superiority,
free tampons, to kill men, to be dominated and special
treatment.
At least, that’s what the myths are (and the most
popular Google autocompletes).
The truth is, most feminists want equality –
political, social, and economic – of the sexes. Just like
each individual person is different, so is each feminist.
Sure, there are some who probably hate men and want to
have superiority, but just like #notallmen are sexist, not
all women – and not all feminists – are angry man haters.
Feminism isn’t a bad word, it is just perceived as such.
These common misconceptions are very widely
believed, unfortunately. I myself had a run-in with a man
while promoting the International Women’s Day Festival at
Ohio University hosted by our Women’s Center in March.
The festival was in no way anti-men; it was just about
celebrating women of all different cultures. The Women’s
Center welcomes both men and women and hosts events
and speakers about oppression, sexism, misogyny, and
other problems we face because on gender inequality. The
man claimed the Women’s Center and “gender feminism”
are sexist.
I wrote about the incident in an opinion column for
our school newspaper and received a lot of criticism of my
views. Part of my argument to the man and in the column
was that women cannot be sexist because sexism describes
a system of disadvantage based on a person’s sex. Women
can be prejudiced and discriminatory against men but not
actually sexist, as the system is disadvantageous to women.
The backlash I received for this column was
staggering. Strangers from all corners of the Internet who
I do not know and, more importantly, do not know me,
called me a Nazi, the 21st century KKK (the actual KKK
is still around – I wonder if they know that), a slut, a stupid
bitch who needs therapy, a Femifacist, delusional. People
emailed me telling me I had been brainwashed and all I
have learned in women and gender’s studies classes was
wrong.
Many commenters quoted dictionary definitions
of sexism such as Merriam-Webster’s which defines
sexism as, “unfair treatment of people because of their
sex; especially unfair treatment of women.” Most of
these people focused on the former part of the definition,
which leaves room for women to be sexist against men.
However, everything must be taken in context – in this
case, the context of our patriarchal society. If we lived in a
matriarchy, discrimination of men at the hands of women
would be sexism. Alas, ours is not a matriarchal society
but one where the men have the advantage.
If anything, the backlash I received for my column
was proof that feminism is necessary. We need feminists
to achieve equality. So who are feminists?
Feminists can be and should be everyone – men and
women. I’m a huge fan of Buzzfeed quizzes. One such
quiz asks, “Are you a feminist?” The lone question of the
quiz is, “Do you believe in the complete equality of men
and women?” If you answer yes, you are a feminist. It’s
that simple. However, the misconceptions still prevail.
Some people want to call themselves humanists
or egalitarianists due to feminism’s mistaken reputation
of promoting women over men. However, humanism and
egalitarianism are more systems of thought rather than
movements of advocacy for change like feminism is.
And if you read about these different systems of thought,
they really have very different missions and focuses than
feminism.

Feminism is also heavily involved in fighting other
inequalities and areas of oppression, such as racism and
ableism. There is a lot of intersectionality in inequality.
Feminists fight for everyone’s rights and always have.
Take early feminists like Susan B. Anthony, Ida B.
Wells, Alice Paul, and Frederick Douglass, for example.
They not only championed for women’s suffrage but also
for abolition in the time of slavery.
Alice Paul also co-wrote the Equal Rights
Amendment, a proposed constitutional amendment that
simply states, “Equality of rights under the law shall not
be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State
on account of sex.” The amendment was first proposed in
1923 and still has not been passed to this day. AKA, women
are not equal to men in the eyes of the Constitution.
Another common misconception is that we live in
a post-feminist society. Women can vote and have babies
and jobs and wear pants and drive cars, hooray! Yes, we
have more freedoms than we ever have, but we are far
from equal.
Not only are men and women not equal in the
Constitution, we are not equal in the workforce. Only 26 of
the Fortune 500 CEOs are female. That’s only 5.2 percent.
According to the White House, women who work
full time make, on average, only 77 percent of what their
male counterparts make. The wage gap widens for specific
ethnicities such as black women and Latina women. Now,
there is a big debate about whether that statistic is accurate,
but there are years of research and data that prove a wage
gap does exist, even if the exact percentage is disputed or
exaggerated.
Women are also not equal in government and
media. Only 19.4 percent of the 535 Congress members
are women. We make up half of the population but not
even one fifth of our government. We have never had a
female president. Women aren’t even on any paper money
(though that soon may change with the campaign Women
on 20s).
In the media, women are still very underrepresented.
Women comprised only 16 percent of the writers,
directors, producers, executive producers, editors, and
cinematographers of the top-grossing movies in 2013,
according to the Women’s Media Center. Specifically, only
9 percent of directors of the top 250 domestic-grossing
films were women. On TV, women played 43 percent of
the speaking roles in 2013 while women played only 28.4
percent of speaking roles in the top 100 films, according to
the WMC.
The New York Film Academy studied gender
inequality in the top 500 films from 2007-2012 and
found only 30.8 percent of speaking roles were women,
28.8 percent of women wore sexually revealing clothes
as opposed to 7 percent of men, and only 10.7 percent of
movies had a balanced cast with half the characters being
female.
Advertisements outrageously sexualize women
and alter their bodies to unrealistic proportions. According
to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and
Associated Disorders, “The body type portrayed in
advertising as the ideal is possessed naturally by only 5
percent of American females,” and “Women are much
more likely than men to develop an eating disorder. Only
an estimated 5 to 15 percent of people with anorexia or
bulimia are male.”
The most serious consequence of gender inequality
is sexual violence. According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest
National Network, 293,000 people ages 12 and older are
victims of sexual assault every year and 29 percent of
these victims are between the ages of 12-17. In 2003, 9 of
every 10 rape victim were female, according to the U.S.
Department of Justice. Sadly, 98 percent of rapists never
go to jail or prison, according to RAINN.
The Center for Disease Control’s 2010 National
Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey estimated
nearly 1 in 5 women and 1 in 71 men in the United States
have been raped at some time in their lives. The number of
victims grows for college-age women and men. I graduated
with 113 other girls from high school three years ago. By
the CDC’s estimate, more than 20 of us will be raped in
our lifetime. That’s more than 20 too many. Feminism is a
scary word to some people. Rape is scarier. Feminists fight
to end sexual violence. You should too.
We do not live a post-feminist society. Yes, we can
vote and wear pants but we are not equal. Feminism is still
needed. Let’s go back to those myths: Feminists are…
Angry: Feminists may be angry sometimes, but if
you think of all the inequalities I just named and many
more I didn’t, can you blame us? Stupid: Some people are
smarter than others but being a feminist does not mean you
are stupid. Ugly: Feminists all look differently and believe
that physical beauty should not equate to a woman’s worth.
Annoying: It may be annoying for feminists to bug people
about inequality all the time. Give us our rights and we’ll
go away (maybe). Sexist: Female feminists can’t be sexist.
See above argument for more.

Feminists want… More rights than men: Feminists
want equal rights as men – and for men to be equal to
women, not superiority. I am emotional and strong, sometimes
at the same time. Men are always expected to be
strong. I want it to be OK for them to be emotional too.
If I get married and have children some day, I want the
option to be a stay at home mom if I so choose, but I also
want my future husband to have that option as well. Free
tampons: Paying $7 a box for period products sucks. Free
tampons would be awesome; I’m not arguing that one. To
kill men: Feminists are not murderous bitches; I am very
fond of men and not fond at all of prison. To be dominated:
I would like equality, not domination of any kind. Special
treatment: I deserve special treatment in the form of free
tampons and ice cream monthly, thanks.
Being a feminist doesn’t mean you can’t be a stay
at home mom or date a man who opens a door for you
and pays for dinner. It means choosing who and what you
want to be and for encouraging men to open doors because
they respect women as people, not because of gendered expectations
of how men and women must behave. Women
are not weak, submissive damsels in distress. It’s polite
to open doors and pay for dinner, but is it OK if I return
the favor now and again? You can fill the expected gender
roles if that is how a respectful, relationship works with the
person you are with. But it also should not be the requirement.
Feminism doesn’t mean men can’t be masculine or
support a family financially, it just means they shouldn’t
be expected to because they are men.
Feminism doesn’t wish to suppress a man’s masculinity,
but rather free it from the strict confines of society’s
expectations of how a man must act to be a man. Feminism
doesn’t tell women not to wear makeup, it tells women
they don’t have to if they don’ t want to – a standard our
current society imposes.
Feminism urges for young children, both boys and
girls, to play with dolls and doctor kits in pink, blue, and
every other color of the rainbow. Feminism urges that a
child can grow up to be whatever profession he or she
chooses and works toward bridging the gendered gaps in
fields like the STEM areas which have resulted because of
gender expectations and sexism.
Feminism doesn’t slut shame and victim blame
women like society does by saying, “Don’t dress a certain
way and you won’t be sexually assaulted. Don’t walk
alone so you aren’t raped.” Feminists say, protest, parade,
petition, and scream, “Don’t rape.”
Feminism reaches beyond the borders of the United
States, because while American women face inequality,
we are often not the worst off. According to the World
Health Organization, more than 125 million living girls
and women have been cut in 29 countries in Africa and
the Middle East where Female Genital Mutilation occurs
regularly.
According to the International Labor Organization,
there are an estimated 2.4 million people lured into forced
labor all over the world. The United Nations estimates that
forced labor comprises 18 percent of human trafficking.
Sex exploitation comprises 79 percent, meaning more than
10.5 million people are victims of sex trafficking, globally.
Two thirds of these victims, more than 7 million helpless
souls, are women, according to the UN.
Feminism strives for people to be able to live as
they wish to live, to do what they wish to do and say what
they wish to say without being discriminated against because
of their gender. Feminism works to free people of
any race, religion, color or creed from oppressive situations
whether it simply be voting for legislation for equal
pay to petitioning the government to take more action
against sex trafficking to offering a survivor of domestic
abuse a safe haven, to calling out every day sexism like cat
calls and unwanted advances by men who have been raised
to believe they are stronger, smarter, and worth more than
women.
Calling yourself a feminist means you acknowledge
that inequality exists and believe that it should. Feminists
stand for equality; anything else is a myth.
Erin Davoran: Seton Graduate of
2012, rising Senior at Ohio University,
studying Journalism

“A Feminist is anyone
who recognizes the
equality and full
humanity of women
and men.”
Gloria Steinem

Photo taken by Hannah Fricke

LET YOUR
LIGHT
SHINE

You are imperfect.
Permanently and
inevitably flawed.
And you are
beautiful.
Amy Bloom

The Things I Wish I Knew
Nicci Stemler
“If there is one thing I
really want to stress, it’s
that women really need to
stop the negative
self-talk”

TOO FAT. CHUNKY. TOO TALL. TOO UGLY.
NOT GOOD ENOUGH. NEED TO BE THINNER.
NEED TO BE BETTER. DISGUSTING. FAILURE.
HUGE THIGHS. PALE. NOT POPULAR. NERD.
EMBARRASSMENT. FAT.
All these thoughts played on re-loop throughout my high
school years. I was your typical high school student. I
played sports year round, had lots of friends, a boyfriend,
and a loving family. My grades were excellent and I
took part in lots of extra-curricular activities. According to
what others saw, I was quite normal. Internally, though,
I was falling apart. I hated every ounce of my being.
I always thought I was Too fat. Chunky. Too tall. Too ugly.
Not good enough. I had a really bad habit of constantly
picking at my numerous flaws. I didn’t like myself. Better
yet, I hated myself. I didn’t have a perfect body either. I
Needed to be thinner. Needed to be better. How could
anyone like me? I needed to look amazing. I needed
to be the best. What a disgusting failure. Others would
like me more if I had a better body, right? Or if I did
better in school? That would make me happy, right?
Wrong. My sophomore year of high school I spiraled
down a terrible road. It made sense to me that if I changed
my body everything else would work out. I would just
lose some weight and life would be perfect. I would have
more friends, get better grades, and have a better body.
Yeah, I couldn’t go wrong with that plan. It had to work!
Little did I know, all my self-doubt and self-hate would
lead me towards a terrible eating disorder. My self-hate
escalated quicker than I could have ever imaged. Huge
thighs. Pale. Not popular. Nerd. Embarrassment. Fat.
What started out as a little
diet quickly turned into a
terrible mental illness that
left me clawing for dear life.
It was the worst time of my
life without a doubt. Instead
of becoming thin and
happy, I became sick and
miserable. I lost everything.
Those four years were the
hardest times of my life.
Looking back, I would do anything to get those
four years back. I missed a lot of school, lost a lot of
friends, and missed out on a lot of pivotal moments. I
never got to go to Prom. I ruined my chance at playing
college sports. And my grades dropped. All because
I wanted to be thin...all because thin would make me
“happy”. But let me tell you, I was anything but happy.
Luckily, I’ve been fully
recovered for two years
now. It took everything I
had to come out on the
other side, but thankfully
I did. Although my eating
disorder took four years of
my life away, I must admit
those four years taught me
a lot about myself. It took
me awhile, but I eventually
learned to love myself and my body. I learned that I am
beautiful, I am worth it, and I can do anything I set my
mind to. And I want every female to know that too. No
one deserves to go through what I did. All women are
beautiful, unique, talented, smart, loved, and worth it.
If there is one thing I really want to stress, it’s that women
really need to stop the negative self-talk. You are your worst
enemy. Stop feeding yourself lies that aren’t true. It may
not seem like a big deal, but negative thoughts spread
like rapid fire. They are poisonous and they will destroy
you. Get rid of the negative attitude towards your life and
body! Instead, try working towards positivity. Enjoy the
little things. Love your body—honestly, it’s okay to admit
you have an amazing body! Compliment yourself and
believe it! Have faith in yourself and have the courage to
step out of your comfort zone. I promise you won’t regret it.
And please, please, please know you aren’t your
appearance. You are so much more than that. Your
worth isn’t based off your height, weight, hair color, skin
tone, or wardrobe. Others love you for the person you are
on the inside. Practice self-love. It’s the best thing you
can do for yourself. And remember that you only have
one body and one life; don’t waste it hating yourself. Love
the body you have currently and treat it with respect. As
long as you are happy and healthy, that is all that matters.
“Learning to love yourself

While writing this article, I summed up the twelve things
I wish I could tell every woman.
1. You are absolutely beautiful just the way you are
and I seriously mean that. Each and every one of you is
beautiful and no one has the right to make you feel like
you’re not.
2. Accept yourself fully. Once you love yourself, the rest
will fall into place. Appreciate your body, your talents,
and most importantly your flaws. It might sound cheesy,
but your flaws make you unique and special. Embrace
them.
3. Love your body--it’s the only one you have. I always
tell myself, “Count your blessings, not your blemishes.”
God gave you your body as a gift. Treat it like a temple
and fully respect it.
4. God created you in His image. That alone should
make you feel loved, accepted, and beautiful. One of my
favorite quotes is “Be who you are meant to be and you
will set the world on fire.”—Saint Catherine of Sienna. So
if you’re ever feeling down about yourself, try discussing
it with God. I’m certain He’ll reassure you of your worth,
beauty, and plan in life.
5. Be confident. Be positive. Believe in yourself. Stop
comparing yourself to others. You are loved. You are
worth it. You are amazing.
6. Stop the self-hate. Re-route those negative thoughts
and learn to sort them out. Whenever you catch yourself
talking to yourself in a negative manner, replace those
thoughts will positive ones. And really, it’s okay to tell
yourself how awesome you are (:
7. You are good enough. You are smart. You are a
wonderful person. You can do whatever you put your
mind to. The only person holding yourself back is YOU.
Go after your dreams and achieve them. You can do it!
Don’t ever let self-doubt hold you back.
9. Do what makes you happy. The happier you are
emotionally the happier you’ll be with your body and
yourself. Find things that you enjoy doing and engage
in them frequently!
10. Be your own best friend. Don’t be so harsh on
yourself. Everyone makes mistakes. You wouldn’t yell at
your best friend and hate them if they got a D on a test,
would you? No, you wouldn’t. So why treat yourself that
way? Be a friend to yourself and get along with yourself.
I assure you this will make your life so much more positive.
11. Always remember that life is too short to waste it
hating your body and who you are. Enjoy life and the
body you have!
12. Remember that all woman struggle with body image
and self-doubt issues. Try and compliment others
daily and give them boost of encouragement. Great
comments range anywhere from “You’re a great friend,
I believe in you and your dreams” to “You’re such a
hardworking person. I know you can do it.” Any comment
that empowers woman to believe in themselves is
golden.
The last thing I want to tell you all is that it’s perfectly
normal to struggle with your body image and negative
thoughts. But if things (thoughts, eating habits, negative
thoughts, etc.) begin to spiral out of control and interfere
with your daily life, please consider talking to someone
about it. It is absolutely okay to ask for help. And it’s also
okay to admit that you aren’t okay. So please, never hesitate
to reach out to someone you trust if you need the
help. There are people who care and will do anything to
help you. You all deserve to live a happy, healthy, and
positive life.
Blessings,
Nicci Stemler
8. True beauty is on the inside, never forget that. Never
judge a book by its cover, remember?
is the greatest love of all”

Finding Your Own Style
An excerpt from the blog, Style
Sense with Confidence, written by
Haley Sponaugle
Not everybody is a fashionista
and that is okay. Not everybody
needs to be up to date on the latest
trends and fashions. Fashion in
this day and age seems to consist
of a more temporary expression
of clothes. However, style is
more permanent and more unique
from person to person. I believe
finding “your style” is what will
help you be more confident and
help you feel a sense of pride and
admiration for yourself. This does
not mean you need to have the
latest, greatest, or most expensive
clothes in order to feel confident.
Your own personal style consists
of the clothes that personally
make you happy and express you
the best. Maybe for you that just
consists of running shorts and a
t-shirt or it may be the having
the most expensive brand on the
hanger. Whatever your style may
be, it is important to stay true
to it in order to feel confident
and the most like yourself.
Nothing is worse than being in an
uncomfortable, unflattering, or
“un-you” outfit all day. Feeling
confident is wearing what makes
you confident. Everyone’s sense
of style is different and that is
just how it should be. We are all
unique and all feel confident when
wearing different clothes. Finding
your own personal style is just one
step to feeling your best and most
confident.
Your are never going to feel good
about yourself if you are dressing
for someone else. Now that does
not necessarily mean dressing for
boys. Many women feel the need
to dress for other woman as if
it is some sort of a competition.
However, when trying to find your
own confidence and in order to
help your own self esteem, what
will work best is not dressing how
other want you to dress, it is about
dressing how you want to dress.
It is easy to say it but it is hard
to do this. Trying to dress exactly
how you want without worrying
about how others many perceive
you is something that many people
find hard. Personally, I have dealt
with criticism for my style. People
don’t like what I wear and they
tell me. However, I have found
that people only tell you they don’t
like your style because they are
hiding behind the fact that they do
not like their own style. My advice
is to do what you do and wear
what you want. Confidence is truly
key so do not subject yourself to
inferiority simply because you were
too scared to wear what you truly
want to wear. Find your style, and
own your style. Be confident in
what you wear and others will be
confident in it as well. Everyone, by
law, has to wear clothes, so why
not wear what you want, when you
want?
Of course you cannot always wear
exactly what you want. In formal
interviews, jobs, or particular
social events there may be some
sort of dress code. Although you
must adhere to the dress code for
these particular circumstances,
there are always ways to add a bit
of “you” into those outfits. Find a
way to show who you are through
your clothes; a way to express
yourself. As Rachel Zoe once said,
“Style is a way to say who you are
without having to speak.” So find
your style, wear what you want,
wear what makes you happy, and
most importantly be confident.

“Style is a way to say
WHO YOU ARE
without having to
speak”
Outfits and photographs by Isabella Jansen

Photograph taken by
Molly Henderson

Chivalry vs. Feminism
Becky Stemler
Merriam-Webster defines feminism
as, “The belief that men and women
should have equal rights and
opportunities.” With all the empowered
feminists in the world today, things can
be quite confusing in the dating world.
It is possible that feminism is gradually
rejecting chivalry. Is it more insulting
for a man to open a door for a woman
with the possibility of him implying she
is too weak to do so herself, or for him
to not attempt the action at all? While
some radical feminists would choose
not to accept such actions, I find
accepting them fine as long as they
were offered with the right intention,
and not just because it is expected.
Feminism empowers women and men
to be strong and equal individuals.
Does this mean that a woman should
be independent in the form of rejecting
a man’s courteous actions, or that a
man should not make these chivalrous
actions because it is not expected of
him? Not necessarily. It means that if
a man chooses to do something nice
because he wants to do so for the
woman, and not because he has to
or it is of expected of him, then that
is okay. If a woman knows that she is
fully capable of opening a door herself,
should her inner feminist tell her to
reject a man holding it for her? To put
my point in perspective, imagine this:
You see an elderly person walking
into a restaurant behind you; it is
not considered rude or offensive to
offer to hold the door for them. In
most cases they are able to open
the door on their own, but it is a kind
and respectful deed for you to do
so for them. The same could go for
a man holding a door for a woman.
Dating can be rather confusing with
all the empowered feminists in the
world nowadays. Men do not want
the pressure of fulfilling the role of
a so-called gentleman; and women
are flaunting their self-sufficiency
and strength. Is holding a door for
a woman insulting her capability?
Should a woman expect a man to pay
for her dinner on dates? Chimamanda
Ngozi Adichie expresses, “The boy
is expected to pay the bills, always,
to prove his masculinity.” Paying for
a bill should not be done in order to
prove anything to society. There are
differences between doing something
out of courtesy and kindness, versus
doing something to fulfil the cliché
of “protecting the weaker sex,” or
because it is what society expects of
you. The Ted Talk goes on to point
out an interesting point, “What if their
attitude was not ‘the boy has to pay,’
but rather ‘whoever has more should
pay,’” thus creating the equality of
the positioning in the relationship.
Since the Middle Ages, chivalry has
been an honorable and polite way to
treat women. It is and has been a value
of respect. In relationships, men and
women should be able to do things
for each other not because they are
expected to, but because they want to.
Chivalry is not implying that a woman
can’t open the door for herself; it is just
a form of manners and can be seen
as a good deed. While a man should
not be expected to pay for dinner, it
is an act of chivalry for them to do so.
Should men give up on acting with
chivalry because it is not expected
of them? Should women reject
these acts as an “I can do it myself”
attitude? Every person is entitled to
their own opinion and choice, but I
hope that both men and women can
keep an open mind and not let their
pride get in the way of accepting
or doing these chivalrous deeds.

“We must tell
girls their voices
are important.”
Malala Yousafzai

Teaching Without
Gender Bias
Article by Sue Kampel
Attitudes toward gender bias in
education have changed profoundly over
the thirty years I have been teaching
junior high students. In many ways, it has
become a more complex problem. Apart
from the inherent injustice of an unfair
education, it also affects society as a whole.
A surprising fact for many people is that on
standardized tests girls outperform boys in
several areas. The most pronounced gender
difference in achievement is the advantage
girls have in reading. On average, girls
read more and enjoy reading more than
boys. Girls’ advantage is consistent across
countries, different age groups, and in
same-sex and coed schools. In mathematics,
boys and girls have similar results at the
fourth and eighth school years, but boys’
advantage emerges in the later school
years. In science the gap is small with
boys having some advantage. The gender
bias however becomes evident in the fact
that women still remain a minority in the
fields of math, science, and technology, but
evidence shows that boys are more likely
to be among the poorest performers in
reading ability, a needed skill in these jobs.
I feel the real issue in gender bias is girls’
lack of confidence in their formative years.
Obviously, they are qualified for jobs they
are clearly not attaining. There is still an
underlying bias in our society that places
boys above girls in sports, scholarships,
politics, and salaries. Role learning starts at
birth and gender socialization is reinforced
through exposure to family, school, peers,
and mass media. Secondary factors such
as Religion and social media also reinforce
“gender appropriate” behavior. Women
need to help break the pattern of gender
stereotypes by not buying into society’s
pressure to be sexualized by the media.
Teachers need to break the stereotypes
by modeling confidence, taking sexual
harassment seriously, using gender-neutral
language, using girl friendly examples,
supplementing male-biased textbooks, and
encouraging girls to take risks, not praising
them for quiet, passive behavior. Diversity
between the sexes is a good thing and we all
benefit from the uniqueness of the sexes, as
long as we build a culture of equality for both.

“Bunbury is Love” by Gab Hirlinger

What does it mean to be an
I find my self wandering
and struggling with the idea of
INDIVIDUALITY
does it even exist anymore
is anyone truly an individual
are people putting themselves out there
taking down their walls or masks
that hide them from the world around them
being their true selves
even if it doesnt match society’s
idea of normal
are they constantly pushing the boundaries
doing what makes them happy
and being the person they want to be
individual?
or are they pretending
pretending and conforming
conforming to societies ideas
and acting like there happy
happy just following in the footsteps of others
not creating their own paths
or making their own name for themselves
their just comfortable
comfortable being someone else
Poem by Isabella Jansen
Oh no but not me I am an individual
and I plan on showing my individuality
my walls have come down
my mask is off
and what you see
is truly me
no cover ups or even make up
I am my own person
I say what I feel
even when people do not agree
I wear clothes I want to wear
and I keep my head held high when I walk in a room
I do what makes me happy
I stand up for my beliefs
and find what im passionate about
I follow my dreams
I am a force to be reckoned with
I walk to my own beat
there is no one quite like me
and that is individuality

The Evolution of Women
Bailey Timmers
Feminism is commonly defined as ensuring
that the social and political rights of women are
equal to those of men. The definition, as simple
as it may sound, has brought about controversy
since the late 1960’s. Some have interpreted
feminism to mean that women should have the
right to choose whichever lifestyle they please.
Others may interpret it to mean that women and
men should be considered equals in all aspects.
Since the 19th century the focus of the feminist
movement has broadened past just women.
In the 1960’s, the American woman was
limited in almost every respect, from family
life to work life. A common routine for the
women of this time period was marrying
young, having children soon after, living a life
full of household chores and working to the
every need of men. Men were superior and as
time passed women grew sick of this never
ending cycle. There was only so much women
could do to defend themselves. Without the
proper education, respect, and power they
deserved, it was difficult to start a revolution
for women’s rights. Brigham Young once said,
“You educate a man; you educate a man. You
educate a woman; you educate a generation”
(Young). Throughout historical events, such as
men going away for war, women were able to
play a role in the workplace and take on both
a fatherly and motherly role in the household.
When the men returned, women recognized the
ability in themselves to be equal to men in all
aspects. With this new idea of equality of the
genders, the majority of men did not know how
to act and could not envision such a proposal;
understanding that, the commencement of
feminism would create an ongoing ripple effect
throughout society.
men refuse to escape from society’s historical
behaviors of a superior male culture. In the past,
men had been raised to handle politics, not show
emotion, receive the upper-hand of education
and essentially dominant women. Today, women
are raised to believe they are not inferior to men.
However, the way men are raised has not altered
much from the past. Gloria Steinem, a female
American activist, once declared, “We’ve begun
to raise daughters more like sons... but few
have the courage to raise our sons more like our
daughters.” By stating this, Steinem is calling
for a change in the way future generations are
raised. While women have made strides in
equality in the past decades, more modifications
are still necessary to gain the respect, power, and
positions they deserve.
Because of activists’ persistence, women in
America now have equal rights with men;
however, more change is still occurring. No
more are women expected to be obedient to men,
barred from politics, education, and life outside
housework. Women are now independent,
politically-involved, educated, and diverse.
Women are just as knowledgeable and capable
as men in all areas of life. Vera Nazarian, an
author, once wrote, “A woman is human. She
is not better, wiser, stronger, more intelligent,
more creative, or more responsible than a man.
Likewise, she is never less. Equality is a given.”
Since the late 1960’s, feminism is an idea that has
evolved with the aid of strong women and men.
Today, feminism is a controversy that has
both women and men arguing for and against
its cause. On one side, women and men are
collaborating to promote equal opportunities and
treatment among the genders. On the other hand,

Photograph taken by
Abbi Sandmann

Celebrities Support Femin
Although feminism has been a strong movement
since the 1960’s, there are still many people who do
not know what being a feminist entails. A feminist
is defined as a person who believes in the equality
between the sexes in all aspects of life. The media
has had a huge effect on the development of
feminism today. There are many celebrities, male
and female, taking a stand and preaching the
importance of equality between genders.
Emma Watson, famous British actress and UN
Women Goodwill Ambassador, has talked on
several occasions and in interviews about her
passion to create a world full of gender equality.
On September 20, 2014, Emma delivered a speech
launching the “HeForShe” program promoting
feminism at the United Nations Headquarters. In
her speech she talks about her personal encounters
with feminism, activism, and the dream of equality
between men and women. Watson says in her
speech, “Apparently I am among the ranks of women
whose expressions are seen as too strong, too
aggressive, isolating, anti-men and, unattractive.
Why is the word such an uncomfortable one? I am
from Britain and think it is right that as a woman I
am paid the same as my male counterparts. I think
it is right that I should be able to make decisions
about my own body. I think it is right that women
be involved on my behalf in the policies and
decision-making of my country. I think it is right
that socially I am afforded the same respect as men.
But sadly I can say that there is no one country in
the world where all women can expect to receive
these rights.” Watson exposes to her audience the
equality and empowerment she feels in her life and
the injustices that should be corrected around the
world. She talks about the rights women should
have and what we, as societies, need to do to fix
inequalities throughout the world. Speeches like
this are not a one-time occurrence for Watson.
She supports her feminist and empowering views
constantly throughout interviews. In a 2012
interview regarding her controversial pixie haircut,
Watson shares, “If I had it my way, I would have just
kept it short forever. Of course, men like long hair.
There’s no two ways about it. The majority of the
boys around me were like, ‘Why did you do that?
That’s such an error.’ And I was like, ‘Well, honestly,
I don’t really care what you think!’ I’ve never felt
as confident as I did with short hair — I felt really
good in my own skin.” Watson’s constant support
of being comfortable and confident in your own
skin is inspiring to women everywhere.
Another supporter of feminism in the media is
Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Proving that not only
women can be feminists, Gordon-Levitt proclaimed
himself a feminist on the Ellen Show which caused
a lot of buzz on social media. Being the son of a
feminist activist in the 1960’s, Gordon-Levitt, grew
up supporting the equality between the genders.
He explains, “So not only was feminism something
that my mom taught me about, motherhood is
right at the core of what feminism is or isn’t. A lot
of people who don’t identify with that word feel
like that word is somehow against motherhood.
Personally, I don’t take it that way. For me, as a
feminist, it should be up to the woman to decide if
she wants to ne a mom... if that’s what she wants to
do full-time, that’s awesome, that’s what my mom
did. But if she wants to go out and have a career
apart from being a mom, then she should be able
to do that as well, and that’s to the benefit of

ism through Social Media
Ally Kampel
and femininity that define how we’re all supposed
to act, dress, and speak, and they serve no one.”
Page is among the many who want to push out
gender roles and accept everyone the way they
are. Taking to the media, Page shows young men
and women that these gender roles prevent many
people from living up to their full potential. Page
shows her support to all gender equality in every
form.
everybody.” Gordon-Levitt supports that women
should be able to feel empowered without feeling
like a bad mother or against motherhood. Gordon-
Levitt talks about feminism in interviews and on
social media to get people talking about the topic.
Even though many people do not think gender
inequality is an issue today, Gordon-Levitt disagrees
and thinks it is good to get people talking about
the issue.
Ellen Page, Canadian actress, has also made herself
known as a feminist. A few years ago, Page delivered
a moving speech at the Human Rights Campaign
conference about feminism, equal rights, and
general equality between all types of people. Page
spoke about her struggles of coming out as gay and
the inspiration she receives from people who are
confident in who they are. Although Page’s speech
focuses on the LGBT community, she does voice
her feminist beliefs. She says, “Now, I try not to read
gossip as a rule. But the other day, a website ran
an article with a picture of me wearing sweatpants
on the way to the gym. And the writer asked, ‘Why
does this petite beauty insist on dressing like a
massive man?’ Because I like to be comfortable.
There are pervasive stereotypes about masculinity
Another feminist who often voices his feminist
beliefs through the media is John Legend. In 2013,
Legend spoke at a press conference for a fundraising
event for Chime for Change, a charity that seeks
to improve the lives of women worldwide. He
discussed his support for empowering women
and encouraged others to proclaim themselves as
feminists as well. Legend says, “All men should be
feminists. If men care about women’s rights, the
world will be a better place. We are better off when
women are empowered; it leads to a better society.”
Legend takes his feminist opinions to the media
to encourage other men and women to support
gender equality.
These celebrities all support empowering women
and gender equality, and all believe that there
should not be discrimination between genders.
Feminism is a very strong movement, but needs
more support. These celebrities put their beliefs on
social media to get people talking about feminism
and to encourage them to join the movement.

“I feel like I am
in total control
of my life, and
I know I can
do anything
I intend to
accomplish.“

Finding Your FIERCE
Katie Kinnemeyer
I am 28 years old and I am FIERCE.
And you’re FIERCE too. Do you know that?
If so, high five yourself! If not, high five
yourself anyway! Because you are... but it’s
understandable if you don’t know it yet...
My FIERCEness is directly correlated to my
evolution as a female. I didn’t really enjoy my
experience as a female until recently, and that’s
because I’ve always had this nagging feeling
that there was something – this invisible force
field – that directed me down a certain path,
and when I tried to deviate it would bounce me
back to its own trajectory. It’s taken me a solid
28 years to 1) figure out I am a FIERCE being,
and 2) believe that 24/7.
Ladies, we are recipients of a centuries-old
legacy that just doesn’t work in the 21st
century (really, it never did). For millennia,
women played a role in society that was largely
determined for them, not by them, with them
having no say in the matter. Their FIERCE was
diminished, if not extinguished, by the stories
their societies were telling them about their
“place” in society.
FIERCE = bold, fiery, intense, passionate,
powerful, relentless, strong, untamed, wild.
FIERCE = no more following the script that has
been laid out for you.
FIERCE = having control over your own
agency, and blasting it out into the world.
Taking control over your own agency means
you are making your own moves. You know to
the depths of your soul who you are and you
interact with the world accordingly. You are
a FIERCE being who doesn’t act according to
others’ wishes or expectations – you act from
your core, your center.
I can remember starting my journey to
discovering my state of FIERCE when I was 15.
It didn’t really click until I was 27. But when it
did click, I didn’t want to be anything other than
FIERCE. I started figuring out how to be more
FIERCE more often, and bring that energy into
my life so I can put my FIERCE energy back into
the universe.
Here are the steps I’ve taken to make sure
I’m living my life more and more FIERCELY
everyday.
NOTICE.
The first step to finding your FIERCE is simple:
start paying attention. WAKE UP! Start noticing
the times when you are following a script that
is not your own. You can find your own clues
by noticing when something doesn’t sit well
with you, or make sense to you. When you pay
attention to these moments, you’ll naturally start
questioning what is going on in those situations,
and why it doesn’t make sense to you.
When I was in high school, I was expected to
follow this path: get good grades go to college,
get a secure job, get married, have a family, live
happily ever after. This story was constantly
reinforced (it still is) – by my family, teachers,
career counselors, peers, Disney movies, the
media, you name it. For the most part, I bought
into this story up until it was time to get my first
job after graduate school.
I graduated with my MBA during the first year
of the recession. The story for newly-minted
MBA graduates is that the next logical step
is to immediately start working in a secure,
predictable, well-paying corporate job. When I
started grad school, my goal was to have a job
at Procter & Gamble when I graduated. In my
first few months, I met someone at P&G who did
exactly what I wanted to do, and I convinced
him to informally train me. I learned a lot about
what it was like to work at P&G, and I realized
it was not appealing. Around the same time, I
discovered I love the energy at startups and
small companies.
All of the sudden, I felt an internal resistance as
I applied for jobs in the corporate world. When
I considered other options, I realized I needed
to do something so I wouldn’t stay stuck in the
MBA graduate story, where I was beginning to
suspect I didn’t belong, which brings me to the
next step of finding your FIERCE:
REBEL. LOUDLY.
When you start paying attention to something
that doesn’t sit well with you, it’s hard not to
do something about it. This is where you rebel!
I’m not talking about breaking rules just to be a
punk, but deviating from the script you’ve been
unknowingly playing by all along, and making
tweaks to the story until it starts making sense
to you.
I didn’t get a job until 7 months after I graduated.
The delay was uncomfortable (MBA’s are
supposed to graduate with a job lined up!), but
I knew that settling for a job that would make
me miserable would be unbearable. My first
job was a 3-month contract working for a small
interactive firm. No benefits, and no guarantee
of employment beyond 3 months. Despite my
parents’ concern, I jumped on this job, because it
was my first foray into a field I really wanted to
be in.

Two weeks into that gig, I knew the job wasn’t
for me. The fact that I knew I only had 10 more
weeks of it made it bearable. I can’t imagine how
stressed I would have been if I landed a job I
hated with a salary and benefits that would have
felt much harder to leave.
While there was some discomfort in knowing
what life after MBA school was supposed to
look like, and that I was kicking off my career
in a very unsecure, unpredictable fashion, it
was absolutely thrilling to realize I was in total
control of my career, and where and how I
applied my creativity and skills. This experience
was a game-changer for my career, and it’s all
because I listened to my gut rather than the
story of the typical MBA career path. Because
I felt that this strategy was working out for me,
it seemed that finding my FIERCE had a next,
logical step:
NOTICE MORE. REBEL
MORE, AND MORE
LOUDLY.
The more you pay attention to how the scripts
you’re expected to follow impact your own
decision making and actions, the more sensitive
you’ll become to the moments that those stories
don’t jive with how you want to live life. The
more in touch you are with your intuition, the
faster you can start to rebel against those stories.
The more experiments you run to shed those
stories, the more space you create for your own
story to emerge.
Your acts of rebellion is your story creation. You
are taking control, you are writing the script
for your own life. You’ll notice a magical thing
happening as you start tweaking the story for
yourself. You will start to get a very clear idea on
what happiness and success look like to you. And
it’s likely something different from what you’ve
bought into all your life.
Because of the decisions I’ve made to eschew the
traditional MBA path, I feel like a unicorn among
my peers. A lot of my friends from school are
working their asses off at a corporate job, 60-80
hours a week, doing what others tell them to do.
Because I was listening to my gut and making
decisions based on the things I knew I didn’t
want to do, I was able to start to get to the core
of what it is I really want to put into and get out
of this life.
DISCOVER YOUR CENTER
AND OPERATE FROM
THERE.
When you rebel, you make decisions based on
what you know you don’t want to do. Clearing
the things you don’t want out of your life gives
you space to take the bold steps to living your
FIERCE with abandon, but first it’s crucial

to connect with your center, your core, your
purpose, your soul. You start to define what
happiness and success look like for you, and
you start to create and follow a set of principles
that set you on your own path, even if you
have no idea where that path is leading.
I quickly learned, through my own acts of
rebellion, that in any project I ever work on, I
want creative control. I want to solve problems.
I want to put new things in the world. I want to
make people’s lives better by making them feel
more alive through the work I do. These are
some of the main tenets I live and work by. I
discover new ones everyday.
The more I started to define how I want to
interact with the world, the easier it became to
call bullshit on the story others wanted me to
follow, reject it, and put energy towards things
I wanted to accomplish. The more I reinforce
my own principles, the more centered I feel
moving through life. I feel less stressed, I care
less about what others think about the moves I
make, I have more control over my future, and
I feel WAY more confident in myself and my
ability to achieve the ambitious things I want
to achieve. Every day I try to create a stronger
connection with my core, which allows me to
kick ass as in the next step of finding your
FIERCE:
CREATE YOUR LIFE.
Let’s recap: you’ve noticed things that just
don’t make sense to you, rebelled against
stories that aren’t your own, you’ve started to
figure out what will make you happy and what
your own version of success looks like, and you
are working hard to operate from your center
and core principles always. Because you’ve
done all this, 2 amazing things have happened:
1. You’ve created space in your life to bring
more of what you want into it, and
2. You’ve communicated to the universe how
you intend to spend your energy.
What happens next is exhilarating. As you
continue your acts of rebellion, and you
operate from your core, the universe will
conspire with you to fill the space you’ve
opened up with opportunities to live exactly
how you want to live. And you will have
kickstarted a virtuous cycle – the more you act
in ways that stem from your core, the more the
universe gifts you with opportunities to keep
acting from your core. By feeding this cycle,
you will create the life you want to live, and
you will operate as a FIERCE BADASS doing
badass things that you may not even be able to
imagine right now.
I deviated from the story I was told to follow,
and figured out how to start creating my
own story. Because of that, I’ve got my own
company, working with amazing people who
every day dare me to show my FIERCE. I have
no limits – I can make as much as I want, I
can do whatever projects I want to do, and I
can find excuses to travel anywhere I want to
travel.
I have control over my own schedule (which
is awesome, because I hate waking up early). I
have plenty of time to commit to volunteer (as
I do with Seton’s senior project and Alumnae
Association, among other organizations) and
work on my own side projects, on topics that
are of interest to me outside of my job, and
have plans to incorporate the projects I’m
really loving into my job. The night before I
finished this article, I told my business partner
I want to redesign our business model so we
can take the opportunity to help our friend
starting a business in Hawaii (and with that, go
to Hawaii whenever we want to!). I even have
my own ball pit.
I feel like I am in total control of my life, and I
know I can do anything I intend to accomplish.
All because I’ve worked hard to reject the
stories that weren’t mine, get clear on what I
want and need to be my version of happy and
successful, put my FIERCE out into the world,
and conspire with the Universe to make life
amazing.
BE A FIERCE BADASS.
I kickstarted my virtuous cycle of FIERCE a
long time ago, but I’ve really ramped it up
in the last year or so. The result? I’m doing
more awesome work in my company, while
simultaneously carving out new paths I’m
super excited to pursue (writing this article for
Sydney is definitely supporting a new path I’ve
been wanting to explore). I’ve applied these
steps to other areas of my life too (you’ll see
there are many, many stories that are not your
own), with results that lead to more space for
my FIERCEness and less room for bad stress
and energy.
TO REALLY ESTABLISH YOUR FIERCENESS,
the key is to live these steps all the time. It’s
not a one-time project. You are a constant work
in progress, the same as every other human
being on this planet. Your transformation
into your FIERCE BADASS self won’t happen
overnight, and you’re going to take risks that
might not always work out. One last word of
advice: be patient with it, and be kind with
yourself as you grow.
The more you live these steps, the more you
find your center, the more you feel your power,
and you will find yourself living a life you love.
Go out and uncover your FIERCE. I can’t wait
to see what you do with it.

EMPOW
WOM
TOGET

ERING
EN
HHER