CWG Director's Blog

Is it My Job to Teach the Revolution?

2009-10-12T12:22:00.001-04:00

October 11, 2009

Is It My Job to Teach the Revolution?

Marta Antelo

By Xenia Markowitt

When I wake up in the morning and head to my job, I ask myself: Will this be a day I start the revolution? Or will I be called upon to stop it?

The question has become prescient over the past 12 years in my work at a women's center at a small, prestigious liberal-arts college. My favorite memory, of a student intern I'll call Cathy, illustrates the dilemma I face daily: Cathy had helped the center organize Sexual Assault Awareness Week, which included our Take Back the Night march and vigil. She had secured permits from our security and local police departments for marching and for use of a bullhorn; speakers for stops along the route; and materials to construct makeshift candleholders. The event had attracted hundreds of participants. A few days later, she asked to talk with me in my office at the women's center.

First I told her what an exemplary job she had just done.

"Thanks," she said. "But I have something else that I'm working on."

I waited.

"We're going to take over the administration building," she said. "We're fed up with the administration dragging its feet on diversity issues, and we're going to have a sit-in."

Still I waited.

"I need to know what to do first. I thought you could help me. Should the first thing be to go and get a permit? Do I need a permit to take over the central-admin building? I'll need one for the bullhorn, I know. Should I go to safety and security first, or to the police department?" She looked up hopefully.

I started slowly. "Cathy, since you have used some language of the 60s, I'm going to, also." She nodded. "You are planning a sit-in and want to know if your first step is to get a permit?" She nodded.

"Cathy, first of all, if you're going up against the Man—don't inform the Man."

I waited while this sank in. Then I added: "And while I may not look like it to you, I am the Man."

Ever since uttering those words, I have pondered the role some of us play on college campuses. Many of us have positions that simultaneously require us to represent the institution as one if its officers, even as we hope to use our positions to agitate for social change.

To some degree, we have institutionalized social protest. Take Back the Night is a perfect example. When I was a college student, in the early 80s, it was a social-protest phenomenon. At my university, we chalked the outlines of a body on the sidewalk where a woman had been raped, and we wrote a message to that effect. The action involved only students, not administrators. Besides taking back the night from society, we were taking it back from the university. Take Back the Night now is a line item in my budget. It is one of my job responsibilities, and it could influence my job-performance evaluation.

Are we to blame Cathy for conflating the two events in her student-activist life—the one organized by the college to raise awareness of sexual violence, and the one she and her friends were organizing on their own? I'm not always sure I know the difference philosophically—just that one is my responsibility, and one may be my responsibility to suppress, or perhaps I should say reframe. That's what we often do, those of us with these jobs: We "reframe." Is it our job to teach activism? To some that would appear essential; to others counterintuitive. So I struggle with how to make that decision.

I explained to Cathy that the nature of campus activism had changed. After all, sit-ins, or building takeovers, were staged in order to get the attention of the administration. But getting the attention of the administration can be done on my campus with a phone call—even directly to the president himself.

I told her: "If you hold a sit-in, the deans are going to order pizza and sit down next to you and ask what your concerns are. Will you be ready to answer them? You can make an appointment anytime you want to see the president and voice your concerns directly to him. So what is the purpose behind your sit-in? What do you hope to achieve?"

That's my role, after all: to get a student to think about what she may want to achieve, and to follow through. It may not be as exciting as demonstrating, but volunteering for committee work is a more direct way to influence policy on my campus. It could be argued that such work is more strategic, even if it is a more tedious and solitary form of activism.

The random group of students did take over the administration building with a sit-in of sorts. They held a rally on the front steps, but they didn't interrupt the work of those inside or prevent people from entering or leaving the building. They introduced student speakers who voiced complaints about the college's lack of action on certain diversity-related issues. I didn't see Cathy speak, but I saw another woman (whom I did not recognize) demand a bigger, better-financed women's center. The rally was planned while the trustees were visiting, and they and the deans responded by arranging for a campuswide gathering in our student center's largest hall that afternoon. At the gathering, students would have a platform and a microphone to voice their concerns (but no pizza).

About a year ago, a broad coalition of students organized a "rally against hatred" late one night via e-mail. I happened to be home—and online—as they were planning their rally. (I am copied on many such messages.) I watched how they moved from the idea of burning an offending publication on the central green to planning a rally with speakers. The exchange demonstrated that they were using skills they had learned from staff members like me, such as making strategic and intentional choices. We were part of their planning process.

When I attended the rally, the following day, I noticed that the speakers' roster included the college president, dean of the faculty, and dean of students. That kind of rally, which, I venture to think, those august speakers may have attended—or maybe even planned—at some point during their own college years, in the past didn't provide a platform for such voices, did it? They were the very people at whom the rallies were directed: high-level administrators who were allowing the behavior that was being protested.

At whom then, was this "rally against hatred" directed? What is social protest? What is activism? Are these skills we should be teaching? When the students took over the administration building, it was a faculty member who suggested they move their protest to where trustees were meeting. Students had to be told that. Once I taught a student how to hand out fliers. Am I hired to teach the revolution? Recently a new colleague told me, "Of course social revolution is going to be managed, because it's a service we provide in our service-based educational culture."

We may encourage students to set goals, follow through, and leave a legacy involving an arts festival or a new sorority. However, if we support the student who engages in a similar process involving issues of social change, it can be perceived as politically charged behavior. If, for example, a student lobbies for a publication on the experience of women of color, suddenly her behavior is called activism.

So what do I do with this dissonance? Some would do away with advocacy positions like mine. Others are still waiting for me to take down the Man. As I see it, at a time when many college educators are concerned about developing the "whole student," our role is to support students' interests, even when those interests lead them to activism. Why shouldn't students have opportunities for the practical application of what they learn in the classroom? How radical is that, really? It's not as if we're advocating the revolution.

So I remain in this unsettling place between what's expected and what's feared. This much I know: As part of my job responsibilities, I mostly help women—but also men—find their own voices and become compassionate and engaged citizens of our planet. Not a bad job, eh?

Postscript: Back to that moment in the student center, where the trustees were waiting to hear the student protesters' demands. I was lying low, given that one of the demands was a bigger, better-financed women's center. I was standing on the side of the room near two deans, who were probably in their 50s. As the students spoke, I overheard the deans whispering.

"These kids don't know how to do this," one said, shaking his head.

The other dean agreed. "In my day," she said, "we knew how to pull off a demonstration."

Xenia Markowitt is director of Dartmouth College's Center for Women and Gender, which is part of the Office of Pluralism and Leadership.

Orgasm, Inc.: The Strange Science of Female Pleasure

2009-05-07T15:19:00.007-04:00

I want to include this second poster made by our amazing Programming Intern, Julissa!!

To find out more about Liz Canner, please visit her website at:
Astrea Media

and about her residency at the CWG website.

Peace & Sisterhood
Xenia Markowitt
Director
Center for Women & Gender
Dartmouth College

Visionary-in-Residence 2009

2009-05-07T14:40:00.009-04:00

We're so excited these days in preparation for our Visionary-in-Residence 2009, LIZ CANNER.

Liz is an independent filmmaker and activist who has worked on such varied and interesting subjects. Her latest work concerns the area of women's health and sexual well-being. Her latest film is PHENOMENAL - and we're so lucky to be able to show it in a sneak preview before its official release in the US.

I've known Liz for a number of years now and have been urging her to finish her film Orgasm, Inc.: The Strange Science of Female Pleasure ever since we met, because I couldn't wait to share it with students, faculty and staff at Dartmouth.

That day is here!!! Monday, May 11th! Loew Auditorium at 7pm.
We kick off her residency with a screening of the film.

Orgasm, Inc. is a humorous and informative odyssey that explores the mixed messages, corporate greed and outright quackery that women confront in their quest for sexual pleasure. This film had its international debut in the last few days at a Toronto Film Festival where audiences have been motivated to speak out on issues of women's health. The Visionary-in-Residence program brings mulitiple opportunities to interact with Liz Canner, and learn more about her work.

Liz Canner is an award winning independent filmmaker who has created many innovative documentaries on human rights issues. Since earning her BA with Honors from Brown University in 1991, Liz has received more than 40 awards, honors and grants for her work. Her documentaries have been broadcast on PBS, cable stations and internationally in many countries. They have screened at festivals like the New York Film Festival and the Human Rights Watch Film Festival. For her contribution to the field, she was honored with a Radcliffe Institute (Bunting) Film Fellowship from Harvard University and a Rockefeller Foundation Next Generation Leadership Fellowship.

Here's the residency schedule we have lined up:

Monday, May 11

~*~Sneak Preview Screening of _Orgasm, Inc.: The Strange Science of Female Pleasure & Meet the Director Q&A
open to all, free 7pm, Loew Auditorium

Tuesday, May 12

~*~Student Lunch with Daughters of Dartmouth
(by invitation only)
~*~Student Dinner with Gender-Neutral Housing Floor
(by invitation only)

Wednesday, May 13

~*~Class visit: WGST16 Contemporary Issues in Feminism: Theory & Practice, Professor Martin
~*~International Student Association Dinner
(by invitation only)

Thursday, May 14

~*~Grand Rounds, Dartmouth Medical School
~*~Community Dinner to award 2009 Visionary-in-Residence
Occom Commons, 6pm
open to all, Free, RSVP - space limited - preference to Dartmouth students

Friday, May 15

~*~Independent Filmmaking Lunch Workshop
12:30pm, Wilson Hall 315
open to all, Free, RSVP - space limited -

RSVP to cwg@dartmouth.edu
indicate Community dinner or Filmmaking Workshop in the subject line

Peace & Sisterhood
Xenia Markowitt
Director
Center for Women & Gender
Dartmouth College

The Lonely Soldier by Helen Benedict

2009-04-10T15:09:00.003-04:00

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and the SAAProgram has all kinds of goings on....
check out our current events page on the CWG website.

We're all reading The Lonely Soldier by Columbia Journalism Professor and author Helen Benedict in preparation for her visit on:

Monday, April 20
3:30pm
Filene Auditorium
Moore Psychology Building

We can't put the book down! Helen Benedict has exposed the absolutely appalling conditions that women in the armed forces are facing given the behaviour of their fellow [male] soldiers matching or even out-doing that of the enemy.

Then, just yesterday NOW (the National Organization for Women) sent out a call-to-action in support of H.R. 840 which was reintroduced on Feb. 3, by Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) H.R. 840 is the Military Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Response Act. According to the email:

"The bill works to reduce violence against military personnel and their families
by enhancing programs of prevention and deterrence, improving victim
services, and strengthening provisions for prosecution of assailants."

Just this week President Obama described the Afghani law that legitimizes marital rape as "abhorrent". Yet our military has created a climate for women in which rape and sexual assault are sanctioned. It is no small irony that we are sending troops in to Afghanistan to fight for freedom for people there when we are not even concerned with promoting the same freedoms in our own military institutions. I call that abhorrent too.

I encourage you to come to Benedict's event on the 20th. For more on the event, also see the article in the Book section of today's Valley News.

Peace & Sisterhood

Xenia Markowitt
Director
Center for Women & Gender
Dartmouth College

V-Day!

2009-02-10T12:25:00.004-05:00

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

Date Auctions then and now.

2009-02-03T19:36:00.005-05:00

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

LA Times blog mentions CWG VIR!

2009-01-26T15:03:00.004-05:00

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2009/01/kurt-andersen.html

The CWG Visionary-in-Residence is mentioned on the LA Times blog!

Mike Boehm may be trying playfully to stir up controversy....but we think there are enough visionaries to go around - and enough reason to create multiple Visionary-in-Residence programs!

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. So cool.

Peace & Sisterhood
Xenia Markowitt
Director
Center for Women & Gender
Dartmouth College

Women on the Agenda

2009-01-25T16:02:00.004-05:00

Our new administration has put women on the agenda. Check out what it looks like and let us know what you think. http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/women/
I remind myself that the reason women are listed last before "additional issues" is because of the "w" in women, and I hope that I'm right about that.

The Center is abuzz with activity these days in preparation for our 11th annual V-day series. Some of our new efforts include:

creating an ongoing student V-group which will work on the issues all year long and open up participation to men and other women who are not in the Vagina Monologues. Student group status will mean that students take on more responsibility in the staging of the Monologues but will still have all the support it needs from the CWG.
the Sex Festival will be coordinated by Health Resources this year and from now on. Our collaboration with Health Resources for this event has been strong for the past 6 years and will continue now as they take the reins. Look for our CWG booths at the festival!
Professor Susan Brison, the East Wheelock Faculty Associate and the CWG are co-hosting a teach-in on the Congo. The spotlight campaign of this year's Vagina Monologues draws much needed attention to the horrendous victimization of Congolese women. This teach-in will take place a week ahead of the monologues at Brace Commons, on *CHANGE OF DATE COMING.*
Look for some new ways to be creative this year as part of the V-day series. You can get up-to-the date schedule information at our current events page on the website: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~cwg/events.html

It's not too late to get involved. Contact the CWG to join in the activities!

Peace & Sisterhood
Xenia Markowitt
Director
Center for Women & Gender

Feminist President.

2009-01-16T13:14:00.002-05:00

Welcome back to campus!

As we begin this term, we also prepare to usher in the 44th president of the United States: Barack Obama.

Presently there is a rather lively debate going on in the blogosphere about whether or not President-elect Obama should have appeared on the cover of Ms. Magazine, in superman-like pose, ripping off his button-down shirt to reveal the Feminist Majority T-shirt underneath that reads "This is what a Feminist looks like." (http://msmagazine.com/)

Ms. Magazine's defense of the use of the image is that in an interview, President-elect Obama identified himself as a feminist. The debate rages on about a lot of things, but I am struck by this statement. President-elect Obama is - as far as I know - the only US head-of-state to declare himself a feminist.

What will this mean for women in the US, and for the women of Dartmouth? For me, the debate about whether or not one can embrace the moniker feminist is usually a distraction to the work-at-hand. I'm much more interested in what people do than what they say they do. The proof is in the pudding.

At Dartmouth, students talk a lot about gender inequities as manifested in "gendered spaces". Some may call themselves feminist - most do not - but that doesn't keep the conversations from happening frequently. Talking about how space on campus is gendered is a tangible way to see manifest the broader gender inequities women perceive at Dartmouth and in society-at-large.

The conversation about gendered spaces and possible changes to achieve equity, is very complex and involves other factors which may have or may not have a gendered component. There are no easy answers. Will a feminist president have an impact on this concern for Dartmouth students at all? It remains to be seen.

One thing for sure is that there is a palpable feeling of possibility in the beginning of this new administration. Possibility for enduring change that creates a more inclusive America. Can we create a more inclusive Dartmouth? Yes we can!

If you're interested in talking about this or other things, write a comment and/or drop by the Center.
We're in the Choates between Little and Brown.

Peace & Sisterhood
Xenia Markowitt
Director
Center for Women & Gender

Welcome!

2008-12-05T14:09:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the
Center for Women & Gender
Director's Blog