Episode #7: Myth or Fact?

Episode #7: Myth or Fact?

In this episode of WTF: The Other F Word, Dra. Leslie C. Sotomayor II and Dr. Katy Ballard begins with a question that is both simple and layered: What is feminism... really?

Together, they move through working definitions of feminism, beginning with bell hooks’s understanding of feminism as “a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression.” From there, they reflect on feminism as a liberatory practice that names sexism as the problem, not men, and makes room for people of all genders in the work of transformation. This conversation considers Black feminism, BIPOC feminism, intersectionality through Kimberlé Crenshaw, Chicana feminist thought, Latine feminism, Chicana/Latina feminism, and queer feminism. It also gestures toward gender performativity, compulsory heterosexuality, and Audre Lorde’s insistence that liberation must include the whole self. Rather than offering one final answer, this episode invites listeners into feminism as plural, evolving, anti-racist, decolonial, class-conscious, queer-inclusive, and rooted in lived experience.

As you listen, reflect: What definitions of feminism have shaped you, challenged you, or asked you to grow?