Chico State Vagina Monologues Review

By Sarah Mann

200 interviews conducted, 15 years performed, and limitless reactions, the Vagina Monologues have truly evoked an array of emotions in me.

In its 12^th year of production at Chico State, the Vagina Monologues have never failed to bring in a full audience. 

Presented by Associated Student Women’s Center, the Vagina Monologues had its annual spring production this past weekend in the Bell Memorial Union Auditorium.  

Now for those of you, who, like me before this weekend, have little to no knowledge about the creation and basis for the Vagina Monologues, here you go.

It all began in 1996 when a woman named Eve Ensler interviewed 200 women and asked them questions relating to their relationships, sexuality, and violence against women. The responses she got led her to, well, develop a great interest in vaginas. What it seems she gathered is the thought that a way to gain female empowerment is to gain the empowerment of one’s vagina. A parallel if you will.

After a few years of production, however, the idea and intention of the Vagina Monologues changed form, from a celebration of vaginas to campaign the end violence against women.  This is where the V-Day movement comes into play.

V-Day is a movement also started by Ensler in an effort to end violence against women and girls.  Through the thousands of annual benefit performances of the Vagina Monologues, preformed in 45 different languages in 130 different countries, V-Day has raised awareness and of course funds. 

This simple statement encompasses everything V-day and the Vagina Monologues represent.

“V-Day dreams of a world in which women and girls will be free to thrive, rather than merely survive” – V-day website

SO anyways, before viewing my first Vagina Monologue, I wanted to get a bit of background and that is what I learned. 

As a first time intern at the AS Women’s Center, and someone who has never taken a women studies course in her life, I have to admit that I fell into that horrible  margin of people who get uncomfortable, make inappropriate jokes, and are simply ignorant about the purpose of what the Vagina Monologues is. 

The stigma that comes along with the words vagina, feminist, and even sex, completely gets torn down after witnessing this phenomenal presentation of activism. Every single one of these monologues encompassed topics from sex and mutilation to emotions of anger and pleasure. From each monologue comes a theme of general female empowerment, yet some are easier to detect then others. Names of these monologues ranged from “My Angry Vagina” to “Reclaiming Cunt” to this year’s annual spotlight act called “Myriam.” 

Barb Foy, a cast member of this year’s production couldn’t contain her enthusiasm for the importance of what the Vagina Monologues mean to her, “It has empowered me as a woman,” Foy said, “It has to be done in every city in the world!”  

My first exposure to this production was during a Tuesday night rehearsal last week.  I was taking pictures of the different cast members and then all of the sudden I witnessed “The women who loved to make vaginas happy.”

My initial reaction to this act, which included varied orgasm moans, was shock, then laughter, then true empowerment.  Just after watching one of these real life stories brought to life on the stage, a feeling of riotousness washed over me and I felt the need to jump up on the stage and join those amazing women.

So the bottom line: go see it!

Take Back the Night; Spring 2011

AS Women’s Center

BMU 002

Chico, CA 95928

TAKE BACK THE NIGHT

Raising Awareness about Sexual Assault and Violence against Women

CHICO, CA- 

Take Back the Night is an opportunity for students and community members to come together and recognize the ongoing issue of rape culture and violence

against women.

This is a night to acknowledge and empower survivors of sexual assault, a night to empower and educate friends, family and supporters, a night to reclaim our right to feel safe and secure after dusk. Join us to TAKE BACK THE NIGHT!

Monday, March 7th

10:00-2:00pm 

Free Speech Area, Informational Tabling

Tuesday, March 8th

10:00-2:00 pm

Free Speech Area, Informational Tabling

7:30 pm

BMU 210, Women Only Survivor Speak Out: A place for women to speak out about their experiences in a safe and supportive setting. Women are encouraged to share personal stories, or express their experiences through conversation, poems, journal entries, etc.

BMU 304, Gender Inclusive Workshop: An interactive workshop focused on combating rape culture in our community and society. The discussion will include ideas about how individuals can aid in eradicating the perpetuation of violence against women.

8:30 pm

Common Grounds, Keynote Address by Professor Kate Transchel, History Department

9:00 pm

Free Speech Area, Silent Candle-lit March: A silent march to raise awareness about sexual assault and violence against women.

                                                                                                                                For further information, contact:

                                                                                                Jillian Ruddell, Director of the AS Women’s Center

                                                                                                (P) 530-898-5724

                                                                                                Email:ASWOMENSCENTERSD@CSUCHICO.EDU

Women in the Military

by Hannah Clause

Women in the war zone has become a hot topic as the media discusses the recent sexual assault on news journalist Lara Logan, and as we see more women than ever before fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. I recently read two articles that have to do with women being at the front line of combat. The big question everyone seems to be concerned with is should they be there?

In Kim Barker’s article in the New York Times, “Why We Need Women in War Zones” she talks about how it is not uncommon for journalists to be assaulted while on the job. Since Lara Logan’s recent assault, the code of silence on sexual assault against female journalists has been broken. Barker argues that she and many fellow journalists would not report what had happened to them because they did not want to seem different or more vulnerable than their male colleagues. The reaction by some to the assault on Lara Logan was disturbing (read Nikki’s blog post about victim blaming). Barkers fear is not about getting attacked, but instead “that there will be suggestions that female correspondents should not be sent into dangerous situations”. The first reaction many people have is to put the responsibility onto the women doing their job when it should be on the perpetrators to not commit such heinous acts. Why are we punishing women for men’s actions? All journalists are taking a risk, but don’t punish women because of other people’s actions. Women in the war zone are critical, with out them the only opinion we would get was that of men, and in reality we need both. As Barker puts it, “Without female correspondents in war zones, the experience of women there may only be a rumor.”

If it is important to have women reporting from the war zone, than isn’t it important to have women fighting in them too? NPR is doing a week long series on what it means to be a woman in uniform today, covering the stories of five women in different stages of their military career. Currently the pentagon has a policy that prohibits women from being allocated to direct ground combat units. Contrary to this is that there are no clear “front lines” anymore, and women are indeed fighting in direct combat. Because of the policy in place women are able to get big promotion with out any combat experience, which only puts everyone at a disadvantage. Some of the issues arising on why we should not eliminate this policy are pregnancy, privacy, unit cohesion, and perhaps the trickiest is sexual harassment/assault.

Kayla Williams told her story of living with her all male unit on the side of a mountain in Iraq for six months. She reports that she had to keep a crisp line that the men could not cross, but kept a balance to let them know she was one of them. Williams believes that the policy in place now actually makes it harder for men and women to be in combat together, “I believe that the combat exclusion actually exacerbates gender tensions and problems within the military, because the fact that women can’t be in combat arm jobs allows us to be portray s less then fully soldiers.”

Like Williams said, by basing exclusion off of sex it only further ingrains the idea that women are less than men. If we don’t let women engage in war zone journalism, we are portraying the idea that they are somehow not as fit to do the job as a man. As a woman I am aware of the risks around me when I go out at night, does that mean I am not suppose to go out? It’s time to stop making decisions based off of the wrongful actions of men (or women). As an American citizen it doesn’t seem right to not let a woman fight, in direct combat, for her country because of her reproductive organs, or because of the crimes that might be committed against her. Like I said as women we are very aware of the risks that are out there. Women being in the front line of combat is a topic that will definitely be getting some attention in the upcoming months as the Military Leadership Diversity Commission plans to tell congress next month to eliminate the combat exclusion policy.

Planned Parenthood Federal Funding Removed

By Taure Shimp

Planned Parenthood serves as an indispensable resource for millions of women and men each year, offering access to STD testing, breast and testicular cancer screenings, emergency contraception, sex education and abortions. However, the House of Representatives recently passed a measure which will pull federal funding from Planned Parenthood.

Indiana Republican Mike Pence is the driving force behind this movement and he has made abortion the key issue. In an opinion piece at The Daily Caller, Pence writes, “The Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act would close the loophole that has forced millions of pro-life Americans to subsidize the nation’s leading abortion provider, sustaining and underwriting the destruction of innocent human life that has been carried out on a massive scale by Planned Parenthood.” However, by law, Planned Parenthood doesn’t receive money from Title X funds for abortion services in the first place. Taxpayers aren’t paying for Planned Parenthood to perform abortions. Furthermore, abortion constitutes less than 5% of the overall services Planned Parenthood offers and yet, outrageously, this act restricts all federal funding from going to Planned Parenthood, including funding which allows them to test for STDs, perform breast exams, and offer contraceptives.

What this legislation really does is relegate women to second-class citizens, where our health and our bodies are denied support from the very government that is supposed to represent us. Now, Planned Parenthood will be forced to generate all of their own funding the services they offer to women and men will not be available to the same extent. Planned Parenthood states, “The reality of Rep. Mike Pence’s bill is that millions of women who rely on Planned Parenthood health centers for their primary and preventive health care, including annual exams, lifesaving cancer screenings, contraception visits, and testing and treatment for STDs, would lose access to their main source of basic preventive health care.”

To sign a petition in order to help Planned Parenthood and send this to your local representative, click on this link here. No donation is required, but names are very much needed and appreciated during this time. 

For more information on this issue, check out these links:

1.      Feministing
2.      Bitch Media
3.      Planned Parenthood
4.      The Daily What

Iowa High School Wrestling with the Binary

By Hannah Clause



I stumbled across an article yesterday on yahoo titled “For the first time, Iowa girl wins a state wrestling match… by forfeit,” intrigued I read on.  Iowa has allowed women to be apart of men’s high school wrestling teams for about two decades now and this season is the first time two women have qualified for the state tournament. One of the women, Cassy Herklelman, won her first match because her opponent, Joel Northrup, would not wrestler a woman due to his faith. Here is the statement Northrup gave regarding his reasons to forfeit,

I have a tremendous amount of respect for Cassy and Megan [Black] and their accomplishments, however, wrestling is a combat sport and it can get violent at times. As a matter of conscience and faith, I do not believe that it is appropriate for a boy to engage a girl in this manner. It is unfortunate that I have been placed in a situation not seen in most other high school sports in Iowa.

The article goes on to comment on how this will affect Northrup standings in the tournament and if he will again be confronted with the “issue” of wrestling a woman, Megan Black, depending on the outcomes of the rest of the matches. Little is mentioned on what is in store for Heckler for the rest of the tournament.

Now that you have the gist of the article, let me start by giving a huge congratulations to the women who are being recognized and get to compete in a predominantly male sport. It is hard enough for women’s sports to be recognized, but for a woman to participate in a “man's” sport competitively and win is pretty awesome. Bravo ladies!


The first thing to break down is Northrup’s reasons for not wrestling. How is it inappropriate to engage a person in a sport based on their sex? The two students are in the same weight category and were placed up against one another based on their capability to compete each other and nothing more. By making this statement Northrup is insulting Herklerman’s ability to wrestle, and belittling her by not even giving her the chance to prove her abilities as a wrestler. Instead he is, whether intentionally or not, chastising her because of her sex and not considering her athletic competence as a sports player.


Secondly how is it unfortunate that Northrup has been placed in a situation “not seen in most other high school sports in Iowa’”? Isn’t it unfortunate that our gender binary norms and stereotypes often deny women the recognition they deserve in sports? Because she's a female, he doesn't see her as a fit component. This situation is unfortunate because she wasn't taken seriously in a sport she had worked so hard on. It is insulting as an athlete to not be competed against because of your sex. For some sports, they are broken up into two categories (male/female), but this was not the case for this wrestling championship. What is unfortunate is that Northrup felt that he couldn't compete against a woman, which reflects some of the beliefs in our society and divides us even further.


I respect Northrup’s faith and do not believe is he trying to put women in sports down, but I hope he can overcome, as well as our society, the idea of a man and woman engaging in an athletic physical competition as inappropriate. Once again bravo to Herklelman and Black, I hope to see you women win the championship (forfeit or not)!

NPR Laura Logan Comment Controversy

By Nikki Allair

I’m sure most of you have heard about the Egyptian riots, President Mubarak stepping down, and the jubilation that came afterward. At this point, it’s old news, but what’s been in the headlines recently is the CBS reporter for 60 Minutes, Lara Logan who was attacked and sexually assaulted when she was reporting on the excitement in Tarhir Square.

On NPR.org, they posted a short article about the incident and provided the formal statement that CBS gave all of their reporters and fellow news outlets:

"On Friday February 11, the day Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down, CBS Correspondent Lara Logan was covering the jubilation in Tahrir Square for a 60 Minutes story when she and her team and their security were surrounded by a dangerous element amidst the celebration. It was a mob of more than 200 people whipped into a frenzy.

"In the crush of the mob, she was separated from her crew. She was surrounded and suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers. She reconnected with the CBS team, returned to her hotel and returned to the United States on the first flight the next morning. She is currently in the hospital recovering.

"There will be no further comment from CBS News and Correspondent Logan and her family respectfully request privacy at this time."

Short and to the point. More importantly, it states that she is safe and recovering in a hospital. That’s all that should have come from this article; a terrible, awful thing happened and now she has been returned to the states. She’s safe. Good.

Instead, on NPR, people posted dreadful comments that insinuated victim-blaming. How people can possibly blame Ms. Logan for what happened, I have no idea. She was doing her job, reporting on the chaos and exhilaration from the mob of people in the square. She was doing exactly what other reporters were doing that night.

Except for one thing: she’s a woman. So clearly she should be careful where she reports and be on guard at all times. She might be sexually assaulted if she’s not careful and on the look out. This is our community and society giving into rape culture yet again and accepting that women are prey and men are predators.

I personally applaud NPR for sending out a statement regarding such behavior, “Blaming the victim is an old, tired game. Please don't.” Thank you. Exactly.

Victim blaming is so old and juvenile so stop complaining about how NPR is impeding on your freedom of speech. NPR is a private company who has the right to remove and regulate comments on their website if they wish, especially if they are negative. They have policies that posters need to follow by.

So bravo NPR. You have my personal full support.

STOP Human Trafficking

By Lissa Ricchio 

Think slavery ended when ol’ Honest Abe signed the Emancipation Proclamation? Think again.

Human Trafficking (n): modern day slavery - the sale, transport, and profit from humans who are forced to work for others against their will; see debt bondage, bonded labor, attached labor, forced labor, indentured servitude

Ladies and gentlemen, there are an estimated 27 million slaves in the world today, 80% of which are female and 50% are children. Nearly 200,000 slaves currently live in the US and thousands are trafficked into our country every year. Think California has clean hands with this issue? Negative. 17,000 slaves are brought into and through California per year. Interested in other guilty places? Try Australia, Burma, Cambodia, China, Vietnam, South Korea, Mongolia, Thailand, Philippines, Turkey, Greece, Haiti, Saudi Arabia, the United States… the list goes on. Globally, the slave trade generates $32 billion annually, making it the 2^nd largest criminal activity. That’s ridiculous. People are not objects or property to buy and sell.

STOP (n): a grassroots movement against human trafficking and modern day slavery

Modern day abolitionists needed. Do you have what it takes? STOP and think.

“Brute force, no matter how strongly applied, can never subdue the basic human desire for freedom.” – Dalai Lama

For more information about the organization STOP and/or meeting times and movie dates, go to their website located here: http://www.csuchico.edu/stop/index.php

Meet the Staff and Interns!

Welcome to the Chico State AS Women's Center awesome blog!! First things first; Let's meet the staff and interns who work so diligently to keep the Dub-C up and running as smoothly as it does.

Staff 

Jillian Ruddel

Jill is the director of the Associated Students Women’s Center. She is a junior at CSU Chico, majoring in Multicultural and Gender Studies. Jillian interned for two semesters her freshman year while keeping up with studies and other clubs on campus. She is the Vice President of the Pride/Safe Zone club at CSUC. She coordinated the first LGBT Leadership Conference on campus, along with helping in the creation of other Pride related activities.

Kimberly Edmonds

She is a junior, majoring in Political Science and Multicultural/Gender Studies. She was drawn to the Women’s Center because of Jill’s love for the work done at the center. She loves working with like-minded people to raise awareness and educate.
Fun facts: Kim has 7 siblings. She absolutely hates Calibri font, which happens to be the default font on the Women’s Center computers. The random things that appear in Kerrie’s hair always make her day.

Sharina Jackson

Sharina is a senior, majoring in Sociology with a minor in Psychology. She has a deep passion for feminism and working for equal rights. Apart from being involved in the Women’s Center, She also works with Rape Crisis Intervention, is the previous Vice President for Women of Excellence, and has been working with Safe Place since the opening of the office
Fun Facts: Her hair used to be orange. She is on the A.S. website homepage (check her out!) She has eaten alligator!

Kerrie Lione

She is a senior, double-majoring in Women’s Studies and Sociology. She joined the Women’s Center because she has a huge drive and passion for equality. Kerrie loves being a part of an organization that explores and pushes boundaries.
Fun Facts: She has an unhealthy fear of butterflies. She loves documentaries. She wants to join the Peace Corp when she graduates. And she has a secret celebrity crush on Michael Pitt.

Interns

Nikki Allair

Nikki is a super senior as a Women's Studies Major with a minor in Sexual Diversity. She enjoys working at the women’s center because of the amount of support she has received from this community of feminists. At the Women’s Center, she is surrounded by people who promote a lot of the same values about equality for people from all different backgrounds. She hopes to promote social justice through educational events as a career and working at the Women’s Center is a great starting off point.
Fun Fact: Nikki hates ignorance, peas, mayonnaise, and nuts (they taste like flavored wood according to her).

Jessica Arriaga

Jessica is a sophomore with a major in MCGS with Women's Studies Option. She is apart of the Women's Center because she has found an amazing group of people who have a lot in common with her. She strongly believes in the Women's Center Mission Statement and she enjoys being a part of a group that wants to help create change.

Fun Fact: She loves going to San Francisco just to take a walk, and do nothing more

Kaitlyn Azevedo

Kaitlyn is a senior from the Sociology department with a minor in Spanish. She really wanted to get active and hands on this semester so she knew that the Women's Center was the perfect organization! She wants to advocate human rights and gender equality, as well as help further educate our campus. She is very excited to personally learn more about feminism and the other ideologies supported by the Dub-C. She wants to see how she can help make a difference.
Fun fact: She wants to go to culinary school after she graduates because she loves to cook!

Hannah Clause

Hannah is an Undeclared first year student here at Chico State. She's an intern at the Women's Center because she is interested in learning about women’s issues and raising awareness on gender equality.
Fun fact: She loves to make daily to do lists

Chantel Edwards

Chantel is a freshman and a Multicultural and Gender Studies major with a minor in Sexual Diversity. She is interning at the Women’s Center because she saw their table at a school event and thought it would be a great learning experience and a good way to help the Chico State community.
Fun Fact: She can’t wait to move out of the dorms so she can get a pet snake.

Kathy Eytchison

Kathy is a fifth year Religious Studies and Women's Studies major. She wishes to be a part of fun, activist oriented, events which is why she's back for her second semester as an intern at the Women's Center.

Fun fact: She has a cat named Tuna

Kate Finegold

Kate is a sophomore English Education major. She's interning this semester because she wants to help encourage everyone to celebrate diversity. She believes that we should all feel comfortable in our own skin, and we should all work to respect each other's unique differences...because it's what makes the world beautiful!
Fun fact: She participated in the Prop 8 protests on the steps of the state capitol!

Daniella Galaviz

She's a senior this year with a major in Psychology. She's currently an intern at the Women's Center because she believes in being the change you want to see in the world and by being an activist you are standing your ground.

Fun fact: She's a vegetarian!

Lorraina Hernandez

Lorraina ( or Raina for short) is a currently a freshman with two majors in Math and Multicultural Gender Studies. She's interning because she wants to make a difference!
Fun fact: She loves dancing!

Sarah Mann

Sara is a 4th year senior. Her major is Journalism/Public Relations with a double major in French. She's interning because she wants to learn more about feminist theory and to inform and advocate for women on our campus and in our community
Fun fact: She studied abroad in France last year!

Lisa Ricchio

She is a junior with two ongoing majors in Health Science and Spanish. She's an intern at the Women's Center because she likes getting involved in the community and in activist issues.
Fun fact: She likes scary movies.

Rachel Robledo

Rachel is a sophomore here at Chico State. She is Health Science major with an option in the Environment. She's an intern because she wants to learn more about women's issues and to become an advocate for women's rights

Fun fact: She LOVES her planner

Meggie Schultz

She is a super senior and is completing her major in English Education and a minor in Creative Writing. She's an intern here at Dub-C because she wants to work with other like-minded individuals to bring equality to Chico State and the surrounding community. Being a part of the Women's Center is a way for her to make time to make a difference and support others in their desires to to do the same.
Fun fact: She is entirely incapable of rolling her tongue, raising her eyebrow, touch her tongue to her nose or doing anything else impressive like that. But she can cross her eyes like a pro!

Taure Shimp

Taure is a senior, completing a major in Communications: Public Affairs with a minor in Women's Studies. She's an intern at the Dub-C so she can turn theory into practice.
Fun fact: She can speak at 300 words per minute!

Abby Teicheira

Abby is a senior with a major in Multicultural Gender Studies with a Women's Studies option as well as having a major in Spanish. She's at the Women's Center because she has found a safe space on campus with like-minded individuals where she can go to help, learn, and take the steps to change the world we live in.

Fun fact: She has an evil cat

Nicole Walker

She is a second year student here at Chico State. Her major is Journalism (double option in Public Relations and News Editorial) with a minor in Women's Studies. She's an intern because she wants to help create equality and empower women which the Women's Center at Chico State allows her to do. This is her third semester interning and they still cant get rid of her, that has got to mean something!
Fun fact: She LOVES coffee! :)

Maureen Ventura

She is a senior in Communication Studies with an emphasis in Public Affairs. She is an intern with the Dub-C program because she has always enjoyed the events that the Women's Center puts on. She thinks it is a great opportunity to get more involved in activism. She also loves how it is a safe place for women and men to go. Not very many people know what the Women's Center does, so she likes to be able to inform others on the services they offer.

Fun fact: She will be walking in the Avon's 2 day Breast Cancer walk in San Francisco over the summer to help raise money for the Breast Cancer Cure

Trina Walker

She is a double-major senior in Women’s Studies and Political Science. She is an intern at the Women’s Center because she is a passionate feminist with a drive to make change happen in the world. The Women’s Center and the work we do there is part of that.
Fun fact: She has a slight obsession with mermaids.

Khou Xiong

She is a 5^th year here at Chico State and is double majoring in Religious Studies and Asian Studies. She's an intern this semester because she went to a few of the events that the Dub-C put on and liked it. She thought that she should intern and help out.
Fun fact: Khou has six sisters and two brothers.