Feminist author Jessica Bennett visited students from the Internship Program of the College of Liberal Arts at Cal State Long Beach Friday as part of the West Coast leg of her book tour for her new book “Feminist Fight Club: An Office Survival Manual For a Sexist Workplace”.
The the talk with Bennett, an award-winning journalist, columnist, editor and critic whose work focuses on gender issues, sexuality and culture, was part of CLA’s Internship Fridays Initiative and took place in Peterson Hall building 1.
Bennett, who wrote several books before “Feminist Fight Club,” gave CLA internship students a glimpse of the contents of her new book, which she called “part manual, part manifesto.” She said that her “Feminist Fight Club,” was named after the secret group Bennett and her friends created to deal with and combat modern-day sexism in the workplace at the start of their careers.
“It’s like Mortal Kombat, but for women,” she said.
During her talk, Bennett broke down the content of her book, the rules of Feminist Fight Club and various tactics to use against sexism at work.
Some of these rules include: Your must talk about feminist fight club and fight the patriarchy, not each other.
Bennett used phrases and ‘vulgar’ language like “motherf***ing girl power” and “p***y posse” during her talk, while engaging the enthusiastic audience to the serious and equally personal problem of sexism in the workplace.
“Feminist Fight Club” incorporates personal stories about how different women tried to survive male-dominated work fields while living in New York City. The manual-manifesto also includes “battle tactics” and advice on how to deal with the sexism women encounter every day at work.
Bennett explained that her book examines both “the external (sexist)” and “internal (self-sabotaging)” behaviors that women live through, as well as looks at the system setup that sustains this oppression.
At the talk Bennett, explained that the idea to form “Feminist Fight Club” came to Bennett and her female comedian, journalist and producer friends from cumulatively feeling helpless in the fight against institutionalized sexism.
Bennett said that subtle sexism — “the kind of sexism that makes you wonder, ‘Am I actually just crazy?’” — confused the Feminist Fight Club group because it wasn’t forward or overt.
“I know sexism happens, I agree it probably has happened to me and I haven’t even realized it,” senior and psychology major Shannon Kaiser said in agreement.
Bennett’s advice in previous books helped senior and human development major Tida Lot get promoted to assistant manager at her job as an accounting clerk.
“I wanted to see what more she could teach me,” said senior and human development major Tida Lot. “Something I learned from her today was to work well with women — something I don’t do very often.”
Bennett left the mostly-female audience with some advice: to find a squad and a wingman or wingwoman. Bennett urged CLA internship students to find someone who supports their hard work, someone who acknowledges their accomplishments and someone who “helps elevate your voice.”