College Feminists Connect!

Take Back the Night a Success!

This past Tuesday, October 23rd the Minnesota Women's Consortium and the ACTC Women's Studies Programs co-hosted Take Back the Night-Twin Cities. Take Back the Night is an internationally held march and rally to protest and take direct action against rape and other forms of sexual violence. This year Take Back the Night Twin Cities was held on Hamline University's campus.

An estimated 150 people attended the event, including students from Hamline, St Catherine University, St Thomas University, Augsburg College, and Century College, faculty and staff from these schools, and many community members. 

The event consisted of two open mic portions where students performed music, spoken word, and shared their personal stories about sexual violence. There were organizations tabling with resources for students as well as activites including t-shirt and sign making. The Hamline University Gospel Choir also performed during the event.

The rally featured a number of fabulous and inspiration speakers, including Sarah Jane Johnston, President of Minnesota NOW, Erin Parrish, MN Women's Consortium Executive Director, US House Representative Betty McCollum, Bobbi Holtberg, Program Director at the MN Coalition for Battered Women, Katie Kramer, a representative from the office of Senator Al Franken who read a letter of support from the Senator, Donna Dunn, Director of the MN Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Susan Hadley McCormick, Founder of WomanKind, and Adrik Curtis, a representative of Outfront Minnesota.

The event was concluded with a moving candlelight vigil led by Hamline Women's Studies Professor Kristin Mapel-Bloomberg.

For those of you who were unable to attend this year, be sure to watch for the event next fall. The plan is for the event to rotate between ACTC college campuses.

This event was co-sponsored by Minnesota Women's Consortium, ACTC Women's Studies Program, Hamline University Women's Studies, Hamline University Women's Resource Center, Hamline University Sexual Violence Prevention Task Force, Hamline University Students Preventing Sexual Violence, Hamline University Poetry Slam, Hamline University Hip Hop Collective, Hamline MPIRG, Hamline Democrats, University of St. Thomas Luann Drummer Center for Women, the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women, HU Hedgeman Center for Student Diversity, Minnesota NOW Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Augsburg College Anne Pederson Women's Resource Center, St. Catherine University Abigail Quigley McCarthy Center for Women, Twin Cities Save the Kids, and Gender Justice.

 

Let’s Talk About Rape Culture on Campus

It’s Fall Semester! Welcome back to school!

And welcome back to yet another example of the rape culture on our college campuses.

On my way to my faculty office, which is in the lower level of a residence hall, I spied a bulletin board titled “Hook Pick Up Line And Sinker” on prominent display in one of the main hallways.

“Um, what?!” I said to myself, as I began to examine the many items on the board, which were carefully printed on colored paper, cut out and double-mounted on a different color, and then artfully placed on the board. They were examples of pick up lines one might use to “hook up” and eventually “sink her.”  Here are a few gems: 

• Oh, I’m sorry . . . I thought that was a Braille name tag
• Your daddy must be a hunter because he sure caught a fox
• Ya know, if we cut your arms off, you’d look just like Venus de Milo
• Want to become a STUD. You know, you can’t spell stud without STD and U.

As Seth and Amy would say: Really!?! 

First, we have the line that is to be delivered as a phony apology after violating a woman’s body – one can only assume the line is to be said while a woman’s breast is being touched in the fashion of a person with blindness reading a Braille text. This one gets double points for demeaning both people with visual disabilities and women.

Extended Resource Directory

Hi there. I'm happy to announce that after a few days of piecing together student organizations, clinics, and initiatives together for our list of colleges/university across greater Minnesota, we now have a more extensive resource directory for all you young feminists! So rejoice, get active, and let us know if you know of any other resources we could add to our growing directory!

That Feminist Thing - Reflections on the Midwest Feminist Conference

Last weekend (November 4-5) I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to attend the Midwest Feminist Conference in Iowa City, Iowa. After a five hour drive on Friday afternoon, I and two other lovely Hamline students arrived just in time to hear the keynote speaker - Feministing.com's very own Courtney Martin.

The talk was based on Martin's latest book: Do it Anyway: The New Generation of Activists. I have to say, after this semester - in which I feel as though I have literally discussed every social problem on Earth - it was extraordinarily refreshing to have someone tell me that saving the world is an overwhelming and unrealistic goal. Martin profiled several activists who do fabulous, beneficial work close to home and built upon their own lived experiences. The take home message seemed to be: do what you love, and do what benefits others and yourself. The talk was most inspiring and I cannot wait to read the book it was based upon.

On Saturday I was psyched - empowered with the knowledge that I was not a bad person if I failed to find a solution to all the world's problems - I prepared to attend a series of workshops on various topics. While all the workshops were beneficial, two in particular stuck out to me. So, instead of boring you with summaries of all (even if I did think they were awesome), I shall discuss my two of choice.

First, Moving through Issues between Trans and Feminist Communities (presented by stef shuster) lead to one of the most intense, and headache inducing discussions I have ever been a part of. It was not headache inducing in a bad way, but in a "how are we ever going to get through this?" way. While posed as dealing with specifically feminist and trans communities, this workshop lead to a discussion about gender pronouns, micro-aggressions, and assumptions about gender. A handful of individuals carried the discussion and I did not contribute at all, but rather chose to listen. I was definitely out of my depth in this workshop - primarily because of my lack of knowledge about the culture of the Trans community. How would I have contributed to a discussion about Trans issues when all I know is what I have learned in a sociology class? Another problem was I did not particularly agree with one ideology, which was a theme throughout the discussion - the idea that you should never assume a person is a certain gender. Essentially, what people were saying is because some people do not identify as a man or woman,  it is micro-aggressive to make assumptions about someone's gender.

Now, to be clear, everyone has the right to identify as any gender they please, and I will gladly respect and support anyone's choice to do so. But, I think it is important to note that never assuming someone is a man or woman requires a complete tear down of the current gender system. THAT IS A REALLY BIG PROJECT. I do not know how to approach this issue - do I want the current gender system to stay? Do I want it to go? Am a prepared to take sides? How can I be an ally to people who do not identify within the current gender system if there is no language for a new system? See the headache? It's coming back just thinking about it! And the thing that really got me was even the people who so adamantly carried the discussion had no solutions, or potential solutions, or starting points. Was this discussion illuminating and valuable? Absolutely. But I wish I knew where to go from there.

The second workshop that stuck out to me was The Year of the Uterus. Fabulous name, yes? This workshop focused on all recently passed and currently proposed legislation in regards to reproductive rights. Overall, it was a good, informative presentation. But the part that stuck out to me most happened while information on later term abortion (often referred to as "partial birth") was being presented. I was unfamiliar with the procedure for later term abortion, having only received any information about it in a pro-life religion class, so I raised my hand and asked what the procedure entailed. The response was totally alarming. No one knew. Not one of the presenters had an answer until an audience member offered, "It’s similar to dilation and extraction." That was the extent of the answer I was given.

This concerns me because the presenters were promoting later term abortion and they could not even explain what it was. That is a definite problem. As feminists, we are responsible for fighting for gender equality, but we need to be informed. We cannot just pick issues and promote them without deciding if we agree with the argument on a personal level. Feminists as a group are constantly fighting backlash and being uninformed just adds credence to ridiculous claims. We should not be afraid to refuse to support issues we do not agree with - what we need is informed, thoughtful participation is this wonderful movement we call feminism, not blind followers.

Overall, the conference was a valuable experience. Joining feminists my own age and watching other students present was awesome. There are times when I forget how many other feminists are out there and I began to despair, but gathering in Iowa City reminded me that there is a whole Midwest full of feminists! And, after seeing just the tip of what they have to offer I can tell we - us Midwest Feminists - are going to do awesome things. -Jen Kaltveit

Our Future, Our Choice, Our Fight

 

We have some very exciting news! On Thursday November 3rd you are all welcome and encouraged to join St. Cloud State's Women's Center, College Feminists Connect, Minnesota Women's Consortium, Women'sAction, Planned Parenthood Minnesota, and others for a discussion about women's reproductive health, sex education, and whats at stake in Minnesota! Along with the discussion about women's reproductive health in MN there will also be discussion about what's at stake during the upcoming legislative session and elections.  The discussion takes place on November 3, 2011 at 11-12:15pm in Miller Center, Room 122 and 2-3:15pm in Glacier South, Atwood Memorial Center at St. Cloud State University.  College Feminists Connect will be tabling in between sessions. Drop by our table to learn more about this great program! We hope to see you there!

How Are You Recruiting Your Future Feminists?

With every new semester comes the excitement of new classes, new faces, and more chances to participate as an activist on your college campus! This is an exhilarating time of the semester, as students are feeling re-energized and invigorated, and aren’t yet burnt out from huge amounts of tedious homework assignments (although, it won’t take long, but I’m optimistic.)

Over here at St. Cloud State University, the Women’s Center is eagerly planning our approach on acquiring new students that are interested in participating in our feminist community. Not only are we reaching out to the feminist minded students on campus, we are also attempting to create an awareness of the Women’s Center. Surprisingly, most students at SCSU do not even know that there is a fully staffed Women’s Center available to them on campus.

On the basis of how we are planning on getting the word out on campus, the University does much of that for us. Every Fall and Spring semester, the University puts on what we call a “Main Street” event. For those unfamiliar with this event, it’s where the entire campus basically advertises every single student organization, campus department, and off-site/community resource that a student will ever need. It is quite a huge event, one that takes up most of the available space on campus. The Women’s Center has participated in this event every year, and is very well known for the women’s symbol pens we hand out (trust me, you WANT a Women’s Center pen – you are not cool without one, I swear).