V-Day is here! We have so much going on!. Check out the CWG webpage to see the full schedule.
Today is Health Resources' SexDay: At 4 pm today, Paul Joannides will give a presentation at 105 Dartmouth. He is the author of The Guide to Getting it On - the "textbook" that Sexperts use.
Then this evening from 8-10pm, the 7th annual SeXfEsTiVaL is on. The CWG passed along the organization to Health Resources to allow them more input, and to free us up for other V-Day ventures. We will still be present...in fact we'll actually have more freedom to do tables. Thanks to Health Educator Kari Jo Grant for her amazing stewardship of the festival in its new incarnation.
Tomorrow and Thursday are the 11th annual performances of the Vagina Monologues. Buy your tickets at the Collis Info Desk before they sell out! ($8)
This year we are proud to award Sergeant Rebel Roberts of Safety & Security as our 2009 Vagina Warrior! Rebel is a tireless ally and friend to the Sexual Abuse Awareness Program (SAAP) and the CWG and most importantly, to students at Dartmouth. She is our shero! Rebel will receive the award at Thursday night's performance.
Also on Thursday night, Carmen Tarleton will be coming to the Vagina Monologues. Carmen is a community member who was the target of a brutal assault a number of years ago which included her being doused with lye. As she struggles to heal, her medical and related costs are exhorbitant. We are proud to share with Carmen the proceeds from ticket sales and fundraising events for her recovery. Carmen and the example she sets, fills us with inspiration and unabashed awe at her resiliency and commitment to life. We are thrilled that she will be coming to the show.
35 Dartmouth women, including our own Megan Fallon, (CWG Asst. Director), and Michelle de Sousa (SAAP Coordinator), will put on a great performance. If you want to buy a vaginagram to cheer on your favorite actress, you can buy them at the door.
Graduate students are very involved with V-Day this year - thanks to the commitment of MALS student Katie Kinnaird working with Megan Fallon - also a MALS student. Events have included a film screening and discussion; sending chocolate pop vaginagrams; and will culminate in a Venefit for V-Day Grad student Charity Cocktail Party at The Canoe Club in downtown Hanover. The Canoe Club will provide 50% of their proceeds to our fundraising efforts - including diners who wear an identifying V-day bracelet available at the door!
I am personally, and professsionally, proud that we have participated in V-Day since its first college campaign 11 years ago. On our 10th anniversary - last year - Eve Enlser came to our campus. This was a thrill for us all, and for me personally, a life-altering experience. I am profoundly grateful for the work that she and V-day have done to create a world that is less violent for women and girls.
Proceeds from ticket sales and fundraisers go to supporting local community resources for violence against women, such as WISE, Have Justice Will Travel, and when possible, directly to community survivors.
Peace & Sisterhood
Xenia Markowitt
Director
Center for Women & Gender
Dartmouth College
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Date Auctions then and now.
In our weekly staff meeting at the CWG, a staff member announced that a sorority and a fraternity plan to sponsor a date auction in the coming days. Around Valentine's Day, date auctions on campus (usually sponsored by Greek-letter organizations) are as predictable as, well.... the Vagina Monologues. Although date auctions really pre-date the arrival of V-Day 11 years ago, by decades.
This reminded me of a story that I heard related as part of an alumna's senior thesis on activism in our Upper Valley community. It appears that back in the 1970s, soon after co-education, there was an auction of women held on the Green. The then-Dean was the MC accompanied by his wife, and he auctioned off the "co-eds" to wash a man's car, or for similar such tasks. Women activists in the Upper Valley community found out about it, and started at the other end of the Green, marching over, paper chains around their ankles connecting them in a column. Da da da Dun. Da da da dun. They intoned. When they reached the platform, they climbed up, asked the Dean for his bull horn and proceeded to inform the crowd of how demeaning it was to women to auction them off for the delight of the men.
I love that story. I love that the community activists felt that they had a right and a duty to intervene. I love that women spoke up against auctioning off other women - that they spoke up for human dignity. I love that they made their point, and probably made a few of the participants rethink what they were doing. I love that the community women connected students' actions to their lives.
Today, as far as I can perceive, most students don't seem to find anything objectionable about date auctions. Community activists don't appear to concentrate their efforts on college goings-on of this sort.
Every year we at the CWG and OPAL, make an effort reach out to try to get students to think critically about what it means to auction themselves off: what are the messages about human worth; can one auction off human beings - especially women and men of color - without invoking the horrific history of the slave trade and 21st century sexual slavery? To hold a "date auction" in February, which is Black History month and also our tradition of V-Day about raising awareness to end violence against women & girls, one might argue, is adding insult to injury.
The Center provides opportunities to explore this and other issues related to gender. Check out our website for V-Day activities and more. Stop by and let us know what you think.
Peace & Sisterhood
Xenia Markowitt
Director
Center for Women & Gender
Dartmouth College
This reminded me of a story that I heard related as part of an alumna's senior thesis on activism in our Upper Valley community. It appears that back in the 1970s, soon after co-education, there was an auction of women held on the Green. The then-Dean was the MC accompanied by his wife, and he auctioned off the "co-eds" to wash a man's car, or for similar such tasks. Women activists in the Upper Valley community found out about it, and started at the other end of the Green, marching over, paper chains around their ankles connecting them in a column. Da da da Dun. Da da da dun. They intoned. When they reached the platform, they climbed up, asked the Dean for his bull horn and proceeded to inform the crowd of how demeaning it was to women to auction them off for the delight of the men.
I love that story. I love that the community activists felt that they had a right and a duty to intervene. I love that women spoke up against auctioning off other women - that they spoke up for human dignity. I love that they made their point, and probably made a few of the participants rethink what they were doing. I love that the community women connected students' actions to their lives.
Today, as far as I can perceive, most students don't seem to find anything objectionable about date auctions. Community activists don't appear to concentrate their efforts on college goings-on of this sort.
Every year we at the CWG and OPAL, make an effort reach out to try to get students to think critically about what it means to auction themselves off: what are the messages about human worth; can one auction off human beings - especially women and men of color - without invoking the horrific history of the slave trade and 21st century sexual slavery? To hold a "date auction" in February, which is Black History month and also our tradition of V-Day about raising awareness to end violence against women & girls, one might argue, is adding insult to injury.
The Center provides opportunities to explore this and other issues related to gender. Check out our website for V-Day activities and more. Stop by and let us know what you think.
Peace & Sisterhood
Xenia Markowitt
Director
Center for Women & Gender
Dartmouth College
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