Student Written I’m Not a Feminist, But… Plays at Little Theater

Troy- On Friday, February 19, thirteen Russell Sage students performed the student-written play, I’m Not a Feminist, But…. It was a multiple part play consisting of several different skits on feminist ideals and history.
One of the first skits was about a female softball player in college. She was not a feminist in the beginning of the skit and then was hit on the head with a softball. In her unconscious state, the softball player was visited by the “ghosts of feminists past.” The ghosts came in order of the three waves of feminism. Alice Paul came first, she brings the softball player to the same college that she currently attends in Alice Paul’s time. The player sees a classroom full of girls learning “domesticity.”
After Alice Paul, the softball player is visited by the second wave feminist and author of The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan. Friedan told the softball player about the lack of an Equal Rights Amendment and limited reproductive rights. At the end of the skit, Paul and Friedan told the newly reformed feminist softball player that she was the third wave of feminism.
There were also skits such as “Who Wants to be a Millionaire Feminists Edition,” “Feminists Gone too Far,” a poetry reading, and a dance number at the end. The students played their roles with enthusiasm.
Although the play did have some important messages about the Equal Rights Amendment and reproductive rights, I did have some qualms about it. First of all, there was only one male actor in the play. He was a part of the skit titled “Feminists Gone too Far.” As the only male in the play he was tied up, his wallet was stolen for shopping purposes, and his girlfriend was converted to lesbianism.
Also there were a substantial number of stereotypes in the play for both males and females. For instance, in the skit “The World of Homo Sapiens,” there was a 1950’s style description of the differences between a man and a woman in the workplace. The man was played by one of the female actors instead of the one male actor and was made to look like a complete oaf. The boss in the office kept going around and thinking that the “female’s mind is at home.” Many employers do not feel that way about their male or female workers.
All in all, I’m Not a Feminist, But… was fairly entertaining, especially the closing dance number. Unfortunately, the world cannot see an Equal Rights Amendment, if we treat those who we are supposed to be equal with as oafs, tie them up, steal their wallets, and turn their girlfriends into lesbians.