REPORTER
A publication of National Organization
for Women - New York State, Inc.
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Young Feminist Revolution Revisited
by Liz Funk, Chapter President of Capital District Young Feminist NOW
youngfeministsnow@hotmail.com
 On Saturday, March 26th, over thirty young women sat around a large assortment of tables at the Guilderland Public Library. Clad in beaded sandals, straightened hair, and shiny jewelry, they looked like typical teenagers. However, each of these young feminists attended the first meeting of the new Capital District Young Feminists’ Chapter of NOW with a good head on her shoulders, and an unremitting devotion to achieving gender equality.
I am a junior at Voorheesville High School, and founder of this chapter. I am a freelancer writer and aspiring novelist, and have also taken feminist views in all of my endeavors; One day I hope to be President of National NOW. I came up with the idea to found this chapter after reading an article in the Times Union, featuring NOW-NYS President Marcia Pappas speaking about her desire to have younger women involved in NOW for the 2006 NOW National Conference to be held in Albany. I contacted her, and she and NOW-Albany President Laura Draiss-LaCroix guided me through the steps to get the first meeting of this new chapter underway.
Our chapter hopes to address several pressing feminist issues that especially affect our generation of women, including the body image epidemic that makes seven-year-olds diet and seventeen-year olds-starve, affirmative action for men in college admissions at prestigious universities (where more women apply so less qualified men are admitted before more qualified women), the skyrocketing figures of violence against women in teenage relationships, plus rape and domestic violence. There are also women’s sexuality issues, wherein sexually active women’s reputations are “sullied” while their male partners’ reputations are enhanced as “manly.” Furthermore, most young women know very little about their genitals, sexual response, and reproductive rights, including the availability of birth control and the morning-after pill. Other issues are equal pay, young women hazing one another at sorority inductions, sex education in high schools; and young women being steered away from math and science.
While this generation of young women has more opportunity than any previous cohort of women, there are still many sexist issues that remain in society, and new issues that have arisen from our media-driven society. However, the members of our chapter aren’t going to resign themselves to inequity. With their hard work and tenacity, strides toward equality will be made. Because the group’s members are scattered around the Capital District, the group alternates its meeting locations frequently. For more information, contact Chapter President Liz Funk at youngfeministsnow@hotmail.com. Also, visit the chapter’s web page.
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