“I’m one of those crazy feminist ladies. I think it’s important to stand up for people’s rights. I hate injustices and I’ve always wanted life to be fair. As a kid, learning life isn’t fair was a really hard lesson to learn.”
Meet fifth-year senior Karen Jans. She said people should call her “Lady Danger.”
“People don’t really call me that, but I’m trying to make it a thing,” she said.
Jans is majoring in creative writing with a minor in women, gender and sexuality studies. She said she’s looking forward to just having a degree and she doesn’t know what she wants to do after graduation yet.
A few years ago, Jans said she traveled to Belgium as part of a foreign exchange program.
“Some of my favorite things are waffles, beer, chocolate and French fries,” she said. “So it was kind of perfect.”
Looking back on her time in Belgium, Jans said she began to realize inequality is a global problem. She said gender roles vary from place to place.
Men in Belgium were more metrosexual than men in America, Jans said. It was more socially accepted for men to be invested into their appearances, she said.
“It’s hard though, to put a feminist lens on other cultures because I am so much a part of this culture” she said.
Jans said she hopes to travel more. She said she would like to go to less Westernized, French-speaking countries such as Madagascar.
She said the more you see and experience, the more you learn.
“The more you know, the more you can understand the human condition and that we’re all just people,” Jans said.
