I was introduced to the merit and meaning of purple by Cheris Kramarae, now professor emeritus at the University of Illinois. In early research conducted during the 1970s, Kramarae examined how language reflects widely held cultural beliefs about women and men and their place in society. What is known as the second wave of the women's movement occurred in the '70s and created an opportunity for women to speak out and speak about issues that previously had been dismissed as trivial, issues of importance to women and their particular ways of being in the world. Thanks to the first two waves of the women's movement, I can now teach a university course on gender and communication where students are introduced to the concept of gender and can explore the many ways it influences daily interaction. I like to clarify that I am interested in issues of gender, not just differences based on sex.
Sex is biology-based, the identification as either male or female.
When introduced to this concept in graduate school, I was finally able to understand that what I experienced growing up as female, and a Black female at that, was a result of larger structures, institutions and cultural patterns. Today I combine personal experiences with scholarly knowledge in the exploration of gender and challenge students not to assume that the women's movement is over simply because progress has been made in this century. I believe true progress will be made through constant questioning of the status quo. As we applaud women as visible in some places, now we also need to ask, and continually examine, why women remained invisible or relegated to rigid roles for so long. It is not enough to say women are out of the house now and work to earn a living.