I didn’t think it could get worse, but it did. Here we go again with the new crop of weirdo workshops conducted at the National Women’s Studies Association’s eighth annual convention held June 11-15, 1986, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Cl.6 The Social Construction of Relationships: From Personal Ads to the Bedroom. Must I Be a Feminist in the Bedroom Too?
S1.3 Gender, Sex, Peace, and Power. The Perils of Unbridled Masculinity. Manhood Equals Power. Contradictions in Maternalism as a Basis for Pacifism. Maternal Protest in the Women’s Peace Movement.
S1.5 Lesbianism and the Women’s Movement: A Consciousness-Raising Approach. This workshop will use the feminist technique of consciousness-raising (CR) to explore participants’ experiences and feelings about lesbianism and the women’s movement, to increase awareness of the importance of eliminating homophobia from the women’s movement and society as a whole.
S1.9 The Three R’s — Rotate, Revolt, Reform — Forms and Methods of Teaching. This workshop will provide a demonstration of one technique of feminist pedagogy, the Rotating Chair, used in several women’s studies courses at a small, private, midwestern, liberal arts college.
C2.8 Perspectives from Women’s Studies in Religion: Self, Sisterhood, and World. Godhead and Warhead: Feminist Deconstructions. Self, Power, and Christ: Feminist Reconstructions.
SP1.2 Celebrating Lesbian and Feminist Culture: A Slide Show of Photographic Explorations, Conversations, and Visions.
S3.2 How to Get Tenure Without Selling Your Soul Too Much: Cynical Advice for Feminist Academics. The presenters will share experiences and advice for feminists seeking jobs, tenure, and promotion in academia. The discussion will consider official and covert systems of evaluation, mentors and mentees, whether to be Ms. Collegiality, and whether to sue.
H4.4 The Missing Woman: A Feminist Analysis and Treatment of Body Image Disturbance and Bulimia. Students of body image document the paring down of the ideal female form to the figure of a young boy. The emulation of the male physique can be understood as an expression of role conflict in women expected to adopt male behaviors and to devalue female traits and behaviors.
S4.3 Homosexuality and Homophobia: Issues for Educators and Clinicians, Gay and Straight. S3.7 Teaching About Homophobia and Lesbians in Feminist Classrooms.
S5.13 Working for Change: Librarians as Activists. Peace and Nuclear Weapons Issues. S8.2 Bringing Global Feminism into Libraries.
C6.5 Lesbian Ethics. The “Fem” Question Re-examined. Sexual Energy. Starting Lesbian Ethics. Lesbian Loyalties.
S6.9 The University’s Women’s Center: Catalyst for Change. This session will examine institutionalized sexism within the university, its effects on the learning environment particularly outside of the classroom, and the ways in which campus women’s centers can be catalysts for change. Strategies for organizing at both the campus and systemic levels will be shared.
H7.2 Reproductive Rights and Public Policy. The Abortion War: Feminists versus the Right Wing.
S7.6 Will the Real Radical Feminists Stand Up? The panelists will discuss the use and misuse of what is called “radical feminism” in popular women’s studies and feminist theory textbooks, and the problem of maintaining a radical feminist posture while affiliated with mainstream (malestream) institutions such as universities.
S8.2 Lesbian Projects and Issues: Private and Public Support. Report on surveys of 600 lesbian organizations and of 265 funders concerning philanthropic support of lesbian projects. The survey results give clear direction for the next steps in opening up this billion dollar-a-year world to lesbian activists and service providers.
All the above is quoted word-for-word from the National Women’s Studies Association’s official program for its 1986 convention entitled “Women Working for Change.” Yes, indeed, these radical feminists are working for “change.” It’s hard to see how any self-respecting university can continue to endure the bizarre courses that masquerade as “women’s studies.”
