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LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) — When a young girl spends her formative years around women in power and a strong-minded mother, she's bound to develop unique beliefs regarding women across the globe. For Colleen Denney, a University of Wyoming gender and women's studies professor, her beliefs boil down to this: Feminism is not a dirty word.
"My mother didn't take anything from anybody," Denney said. "She was just a great example of sticking up for yourself."
Though Denney now resides in the Gem City, she spent much of her lifetime traveling around the world as her father worked as a civil engineer for oil companies. After her birth in New Orleans, Denney's family moved to several notable places, including Australia and England. Denney lived in London from age 13-18. It was there Denney found some of her greatest comforts.
"I got to meet the queen while my father was working for her building oil rigs in the North Sea," Denney said. "I've had this fascination with royalty because of that."
Denney's area of expertise is Victorian art history, but more specifically, the artistic depictions of women throughout the period and the stories of women resisting what they were commonly told to do. As a result, Denney teaches courses on feminist visual culture of the modern and contemporary periods. She recently returned from a sojourn in which she traveled to London, Paris and New Zealand, studying all-things women's suffrage.
"I always talk about how much I love angry women," Denney said. "I'm trying to figure out where this feminist thing comes in. I think it's always been in my consciousness."
Spending time in the southern Bible Belt as a young girl also contributed to her feminist views, she said.
"I was brought up southern Baptist and that's where I think my feminism started," Denney said. "I found it very judgmental. Any institution that oppresses women I am not going to be a part of. I have many colleagues who go to church; that's their business and right, but for me, I just can't process it."
Denney received her bachelor's and master's degrees in English and Art History, respectively, from Louisiana State University. Denney, who has authored several books, is currently working on a novel, titled "Of All Things Desire." She said the transition from studying English to Art History was natural.
"To me, the methods of looking at a piece of literature and looking at a piece of art overlapped," she said. "I've always wanted to write a novel. It's very freeing to do that kind of writing when you do academic writing all the time and write a footnote every two seconds that is a paragraph long."
As an educator, Denney's students seemingly appreciate her ability to connect to a younger audience.
"She's really passionate about what she does and she's so sassy," UW senior Laura Angell said. "She can joke, but also takes things really seriously. She understands how to make you care and passionate about the things she is."
On the other hand, Denney finds much to admire in today's college students.
"I think this generation is awesome," Denney said. "They are so engaged. Of course, it's the age that my kids are, so I understand this age group. They are serious and they get it. I don't know how much of their awareness has to do with social media, but they really know what's going on globally."
Bonnie Zare, Denney's fellow gender and women's studies professor, said Denney is a dynamic lecturer, which contributes to her popularity among students.
"Students enjoy her forthright style and sarcastic sense of humor," Zare said. "She brings a high level of precision to her research, which makes it stand out."
Denney will be the first to tell you she considers herself an activist for feminist issues and urges her students to reconsider the semantics of the term.
"When my students hear the word feminism, they push away and say, 'I'm not a feminist,'" Denney said. "They'll say, 'Oh, it means you're a man hater.' No. We need to separate from that. It means you are involved in equal rights. It has to be part of a bigger picture than just women."
On an activism front, Denney said the subject of reproductive rights in Wyoming and across the country is a major issue for the progression of the modern feminist cause.
"There's still a lot of work to be done, and I just think we need to keep pushing forward," Denney said. "I had a student the other day talk about writing a paper on double standards. I told them to write about old men on the Hill making decisions about women's bodies and what that says about our culture. It means we're still in a patriarchal culture and for some reason men feel they are still in charge of women's bodies."
Denney said she is excited to see new, local elected officials sympathetic to many issues she is passionate about.
"We're super excited about Charles Pelkey being elected and Peggy Trent in her position," Denney said. "Locally, we have more voices hoping to make change. We have some great organizations like CLIMB and the Wyoming Women's Foundation."
Pelkey, who was recently elected to represent House District 45, said he will likely consult with Denney on a number of issues, but admires her as a parent.
"She's a wonderful mother," Pelkey said. "There are definitely aspects of her work that I will probably rely on in the future."
Denney said she admires many local women, specifically those who work daily on ranches.
"I'm working on raising the profile on all the Wyoming ranch women who are so interesting," she said. "Those are really powerful and important voices. Feminists look like a bunch of wimps when you talk to these ranch women about what their lives are like. It's a very different kind of power and importance."
For Denney, her students are what she appreciates most at the end of the day.
"They charge me up," Denney said. "They are so interesting and for me, I sort of disarm the whole student-professor distance on the first day of class and try to earn their trust. I really missed my students while I was gone."
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Information from: Laramie Boomerang, http://www.laramieboomerang.com
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