Ten Years Ago and More… Portrayal Guest Contributor, Professor Kathy Brady Emily Daly

Winner of Four Collegiate Excellence in Journalism Awards fromo Our college. Our news. Our voice. Naugatuck Valley Community College March 1, 2016 Waterbury, Connecticut Vol. 60, Iss. 2 A Troublesome Ten Years Ago and More… Portrayal Guest Contributor, Professor Kathy Brady Emily Daly More than ten years ago, when I was an English survivors tell their stories. The Director of the Marches and Speak Outs temporarily high- Sometimes she’s the ditzy blonde who makes faculty member at Western Connecticut State Women’s Resource Center stood at the micro- light what we would prefer to forget. When everyone laugh. Or the nerdy girl buried in University, I was part of something that forever phone, reciting mind-numbing statistics of that the crowds and marches disband, so too, does books who goes unnoticed until she removes changed me. For many years, an accepted time, which are still virtually unchanged: memory. College campuses, in particular, are her glasses. And don’t forget the self-assured autumn ritual involved men on the football vulnerable to episodic amnesia because stu- woman who knows what she wants, and n 1 in 4 women in America will be a team organizing “panty raids,” in which dent populations are ever changing. If real is therefore called a “bitch.” Thanks to the rape victim groups of players literally invaded women’s social change is to occur, there must be a pub- media, these one-note portrayals overlook n 1 in 3 college aged women will be dorm rooms to steal their undergarments. lic repository for times, places and events, an women as multi-faceted individuals who sexually assaulted or raped Over the many years that the tradition existed, institutional, academic and social memory that can be more than one thing—given the n Only 10% of rapes are ever reported women were routinely terrified and assaulted; holds what we long to, as Toni Morrison writes opportunity. n Less than 2% are adjudicated that year, several women were injured in their in the novel, Beloved, disremember. There are too few female directors, writ- own rooms. The administrative response was More than ten years ago, men broke down ers, or producers creating roles for women, not swift or adequate; initially, there was no Then she introduced the keynote speaker, the doors in a dorm and assaulted the women especially women of color. Viola Davis response. It was just “good, clean fun,” a way my daughter, Morgan, who was raped in her behind them. That event catalyzed a flurry of expressed this during her 2015 Emmy accep- for the “boys” on the team “to be boys.” dorm room during her first year. My daughter activity and concern that long ago died. To tance speech, declaring, “The only thing that In response to such acts of violence toward Corey and I held each other tightly, stifling sobs implement real change, there must be last- separates women of color from anyone else women on campus, the Women’s Coalition (of as Morgan shared her all-too-familiar litany ing commitment to women, especially in col- is opportunity. You cannot win an Emmy for which I was a co-founder) galvanized students of horror. When she finished, a dozen other leges and universities. NVCC has a Women’s roles that are simply not there.” and faculty, organizing protests and demon- women--all they had time for, we were told— Center and a fledgling Women’s Studies pro- Some women, like Angelina Jolie, do their strations culminating in a Take Back the Night spoke in various stages of shock, grief, and gram that could help foster and effect aware- best to break the mold. Many know her as an March. That late October night, more than two healing. Afterward, holding candles and each ness and change, but too few on campus are actress, or “that evil harlot who stole Brad Pitt” hundred men and women, students and com- other, we marched through campus. aware of either. In her landmark book Trauma from Jennifer Aniston, but her achievements munity activists (including Danbury’s mayor) More than ten years and tens of thousands and Recovery, Judith Lewis Herman argues are far greater. Also a filmmaker, she has pro- held candles and each other as we marched of victims later, our world remains a place that the study of “sexual abuse and domes- duced, written or directed several films, the through campus. Afterward, we had a Speak where women are not always safe and not often tic life becomes legitimate only in a context most recognized being Unbroken. Jolie has Out, and dozens of women came forward to valued. Since it is often men they know or love that challenges the subordination of women” also received a Jean Hersholt Humanitarian bravely share their stories and to plead for who commit rapes, sexual assaults, and mur- (9). The Commission of Institutions of Higher Award and an honorary Damehood from understanding and social change. As a result ders, women are all-too-often not safe in their Education suggested colleges and universities Queen Elizabeth II for her work as a UN of that march, those stories, and the light of homes, their dorms, their offices or classrooms. “incorporate the perspectives and contribu- ambassador. A promoter of various causes, those candles in the night, panty raids were We cannot accept these actions and statistics as tions of women and minorities and new schol- including conservation, education, and wom- abolished, and, most importantly, a committee part of the wide spectrum of human behavior. arship about them into the formal curriculum, en’s rights, Jolie is most celebrated for her ref- formed to draft Western’s sexual assault and Despite disparities of time and place, a com- ugee advocacy, as Special Envoy for the UN. harassment policy and procedures. I was part monality of survivors’ experience is denial or and into co-curricular activities in order to… achieve goals of inclusion and diversity.” Are Taylor Swift and Beyonce are among the of that committee. We who served on it ago- guilt: I shouldn’t have been drinking; we’d been dat- most influential women in music, writing we doing enough to achieve those goals? nized over every nuance of many drafts until ing for a while; I shouldn’t have let him in my room; songs about feminism and loving oneself. we felt it was perfect. At last, we thought, this I should have been more careful. Worse still is the Ten years from now, the women at NVCC Beyoncé’s On the Run tour grossed $19 million document will change our world. common public response: blame the victim, will continue to reshape the world. Their oppor- for just 19 North American dates. Swift’s 1989, Some years later, I stood in the cool chill not the perpetrator. tunities, their possibilities, their achievements sold over 3.5 million copies, making her one of an April day as dusk descended on a Years ago at WCSU, we took a small but will to a great extent, hinge on our work, our of the only platinum-selling artists that year. crowd of hundreds in front of the library at important first step toward creating a safer words and our world, created in classrooms Like many artists, she has various endorse- Boston College at another Speak Out, listen- campus for women and men, but we know now and hallways, stages and Centers. Aristotle ment deals and her own perfume. ing to another group of rape and sexual assault it didn’t go far enough. Take Back the Night believed, “The female is the female by vir- Oprah needs no introduction. A power- tue of a certain lack” of qualities; therefore, we house, she’s had her own television show(s), ONLY should regard the female nature as afflicted magazine, TV channel, film production with a natural defectiveness.” In a world where imprint—and has jump-started the careers too often such beliefs are not only tolerated of Dr. Phil, Rachael Ray, and Dr. Oz. Ariana 10% but embraced, we need to nourish Women’s Huffington, journalist, author, political com- of Studies programs and open doors to Women’s mentator, and founder/editor-in-chief of The rapes Centers, so the women and men at NVCC can Huffington Post was named the 52nd most 1 in 4 women in America 1 in 3 college aged women will are walk through them and into the light. Ten years powerful woman in the world by Forbes mag- will be a rape victim be sexually assaulted or raped ago and ten years before that, we held candles azine in 2014. reported and each other as we marched. What and who Countless women helm Hollywood pro- Graphic created using icons made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com will we hold ten years from now? duction companies and studios that dom- inate theaters and influence culture. These the Feminist movement arose during the 1960’s, include Cheryl Boone Isaacs and Dawn Biology + Society = Gender there was a demand for change within assigned Hudson, President and CEO, respectively, of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts Nicole Hayes roles for women. Because of the Feminist movement, women and Sciences; Kristine Belson, President of Although gender is considered a matter of deferent to men, and nurturing. Whereas males have been able to make great strides, advancing Sony Pictures Animation; Lori McCreary, biology, gender roles are sets of standards are expected to be more assertive and contrib- within careers, such as medicine, engineering, President of Producers Guild of America constructed through stereotypes, behaviors, ute more financially.” This traditional belief and various other fields in which opportunities and CEO at Revelations Entertainment; and and appearances based on one’s sex.

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