By Caroline Averitt | Life Editor

& Laila Casiano | Social Media Editor

From heritage to sexuality, from disability to gender identity, meet a few of the minority women from Arkansas State University. 

“Women don’t get enough credit for how far we’ve come and all the stuff that we do,” Ella Scobey said. “We should also appreciate women of all races, cultures, religions, everything.”

Heritage

Eren Ernes, a junior music education major from Jonesboro, is Korean-American, and her experiences as a woman of color give her a sense of identity and belonging. 

“I love my mother and all the great stuff that comes with (my heritage). Having the food, the culture, or dressing the part is fun and allows me to share that with people,” Ernes said. 

As a Korean-American student, Ernes said it is sometimes challenging to navigate academic spaces, especially when combating stereotypes, such as Asians being smart or musically inclined. She often feels discredited for her hard work because of these stereotypes. 

“There’s a stereotype with Asian players that there’s always going to be an Asian better than you,” Ernes said. “I don’t have to be perfect because I’m Asian. I don’t have to be really good at math. I don’t have to be really good at music, even though that’s my passion. I can just do my best and enjoy it.”

Ernes said having a month to recognize women’s history is wonderful, but women should be celebrated all the time. 

“I think that women should always be celebrated no matter what time of the month, what time of the day, time of the year,” Ernes said. “We should always be celebrated and loved and cared for.” 

Sexuality

Sarah Purcell, a senior from Paragould majoring in fine arts, said it was a journey to figure out her sexuality. 

“I grew up in the church and so when I had sexual attraction to women very early on, I suppressed it,” Purcell said. “I think the first time I openly had a crush on a girl was in the 10th grade and even then, I said I was bisexual for a while and still dated men. Whenever I got to college, that’s whenever I really started being like, ‘Hey, it’s OK.’”

Purcell said she is lucky the art department is willing to provide a safe space for queer people to express their sexuality. 

She hopes to see the rest of the university follow in the art department’s footsteps by establishing a safe space for all students, regardless of sexuality.

“It’s valid to have attraction toward the same sex and that doesn’t mean anything bad,” Purcell said.

Purcell said it is important to showcase queer women in media as being themselves outside of their sexuality. 

“In the media specifically, a lot of times, we always see queer women, or people in general, as having storylines directly related to their sexuality rather than just them being people with normal lives who just happen to be gay,” Purcell said. 

She said she loves to embrace both femininity and masculinity. 

“In a world where we can now freely step outside the binary standards previously set, it can be overwhelming to figure out where you sit with gender,” Purcell said. “I feel more strongly associated with femininity than masculinity, but that doesn’t mean I could disregard one for the other and still feel like myself.”

Disability

Scobey, a senior social work major from Corning, Arkansas, was diagnosed at birth with neurofibromatosis type one (NF1), causing tumor growth on the nerves. 

The tumor in her ankle was cancerous. When she was 11 years old it was removed but soon came back, so at 13 years old she had an amputation below the knee. 

“It’s actually genetic, but also can be a mutation. No one in my family has it, so for me, it was just random, like bad luck,” Scobey said. 

Sometimes, Scobey said she encounters situations where people view her as someone who needs to be coddled and helped with everything. 

“A lot of people with disabilities don’t need that. They are able to do things. I feel like, especially as a woman, people already think you need it (help),” Scobey said. “So when you’re disabled, I feel like it’s even more like, ‘Oh, she can’t do it herself.’”

Scobey said within her future career in social work, she hopes to help kids like herself.  

“I went through it and I want to be able to use my experiences to help them,” Scobey said. 

Gender Identity

Olivia Stewart, a sophomore music composition major from Batesville, Arkansas, identifies as a transgender woman. 

Stewart said she experienced shame and stigma as she navigated her gender identity. 

“There’s a lot of self-hatred and years of gender codification that you have to run through. I feel like I’ve had to kind of completely strip down my personality and strip down my ego so that I can rebuild myself,” Stewart said. 

Although she goes by Olivia, she said she does not have the money to legally change her deadname, the name assigned to her before transitioning. 

“My deadname appears on my school email,” Stewart said. “I have to interact with my dead name on a daily basis and there’s nothing I can do to get around that.”

Sometimes when she hears her deadname, Steward said she experiences gender dysphoria. 

“Gender dysphoria is real. But I think everybody gets gender dysphoria. Cis women getting a lot of facial hair, for example, they’ll feel like they’re not feminine enough,” she said. “I like to focus more on the experience of gender euphoria. So that feeling when you put on a dress or you do your makeup and you put a full outfit on and you feel beautiful.”

Femininity 

Meanwhile, Ernes has a complicated and fluid relationship with her femininity. 

“My femininity doesn’t come out often. Some days, I’m feeling it, and others, I’m not. I just feel like being comfortable is always going to be different for someone else,” Ernes said. “If someone finds comfort in wearing a dress, absolutely do that. Doesn’t matter who you are, girl or boy, you should be comfortable within yourself, feminine or not.”

Purcell said she loves to embrace both femininity and masculinity. 

“In a world where we can now freely step outside the binary standards previously set, it can be overwhelming to figure out where you sit with gender,” Purcell said. “I feel more strongly associated with femininity than masculinity, but that doesn’t mean I could disregard one for the other and still feel like myself.”

Scobey said throughout her life, she has struggled with her femininity because of her disability. 

“I never really fit the societal standards for beauty in women. I often felt outcasted,” Scobey said. “As I got older, I realized that femininity is more than just physical attributes. To me, nothing feels more feminine than surrounding yourself with powerful, nurturing women.”

Finally, Stewart said since transitioning, she’s never been happier expressing her femininity. 

“I think it’s (femininity) having the ability to be resilient, to be strong, to be powerful, to be ferocious even while still holding space and being able to simultaneously be compassionate, empathetic and kind,” Stewart said. 

Categories: Life