Next month, the eighth annual convention of the National Women’s Studies Association will take place at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. On June 11-15, college professors and instructors who deal in this unacademic subject will gather to pursue their peculiar goals at taxpayers’ expense.
The very name “women’s studies” is a lie. “Women’s studies” is a code term for Radical Feminist Lesbian Studies. Anyone who cares about “truth-in-packaging” or “full disclosure in the post-Watergate era” should help to expose the dishonesty of what is called “women’s studies.”
This expensive week of meetings each year is made possible by taxpayers’ money. Most of the thousands who attend are taxpayer-salaried persons from the education world.
We can easily predict what will take place this June by reading the catalogues from past conventions. The Seventh Annual Convention, held June 19-23, 1985 at the University of Washington in Seattle, featured 244 separate sessions. You can get the flavor of this convention from the titles below.
“#16. Lesbian Studies: Creating Choices Both Inside and Outside the University. This session will explore lesbian education both within the university and in community-based programs and will ask how feminist education can facilitate the choice of lesbian identity.”
“#17. Incorporating Feminist Content into Traditional Courses: How the Revised Syllabus Looks.”
“#19. Incorporating Feminist Perspectives into the Curriculum: K-12. A discussion of various strategies used in public schools to integrate feminist values into the curriculum. Making an impact through administrative channels, volunteering, and teacher preparation will be explored.”
“#32. Building Community, Finding Love: Lesbian Bar Culture Since the Forties. The results of grass-roots gay and lesbian history projects focusing on working-class lesbian communities throughout the country.”
“#61. Female Deities: Historical Perspectives. Panelists present historical overviews of female deities: one discusses intimate associations of female deities of the ancient world to various insects and beasts; the second panelist sketches some major trends in the history of the mother goddess religion; the third explores the patriarchal dichotomy of marriage in opposition to love.”
“#63. Living Our Vision: Students and Feminist Organization. This workshop will raise issues around applying feminist philosophy at all levels, from Women’s Studies to student groups, and discussion of the tendency of hierarchical structures to seep into our efforts.”
“#64. Fighting the Enemy Within: Combatting Homophobia on Campus.”
“#72. Constructing a Sexual Identity. The Sexual Politics of Radical Feminism and Lesbian Sadomasochism; Alternative Accounts of Feminism and Sexual Freedom. Attitudes and Sex-Roles of Formerly Heterosexual Lesbians.”
“#89. Who is the ‘We’ of Feminist Discourse? Black and White and Lesbian-Feminist Perspectives.”
“#91. Lesbian Nuns: Breaking Silence. Unique revelations gathered from both ex-nuns and present nuns.”
“#115. Dykes, Cons, Native Americans and Methodists: Coalition Building on a Death Penalty Case.”
“#117. The Lesbian Resource Center: 14 Years of Lesbian History.”
“#118. What To Do When the Grant Runs Out: Institutionalizing a Feminist Project.”
“#123. Mentor Relationships Among Professional Women.”
“#127. Approaching the ‘Gender Gap’ Through Political Action.”
“#130. To Have and To Hold: Wedding Ceremonies, Celebrations of Bondage.”
“#150. Motherhood Without Marriage. The panel presents the results of recent surveys of attitudes towards single mothers of choice and the experiences of single mothers of choice and their children.”
“#165. Lesbian Mothering. This session will deal with alternative conception (artificial insemination), legalities and custody battles, and other related issues of lesbian mothering.”
“#196. On the Barricades For Abortion Rights: What We’ve Learned and How We’ve Won Against the God Squads. Four activists will discuss how we can defend our gains nationally against the right-wing campaign to turn back the clock for women’s rights.”
“#205. Women and the Peace Movement: Historical Perspectives.”
Unsuspecting students who take courses in “women’s studies” should be warned: “Contents may be dangerous to your male-female relationships.”
