What I found is that the anti-abortion movement hasn’t changed much since I was in middle school. If anything, it has expanded and become more far-reaching into schools, youth groups, and families.

My day started at a press conference at the Family Research Council, where I had to sit and listen through three hours of conservative rhetoric, including Pannell from Life United who urged the conservative movement to “prevent women from entering the death halls of Planned Parenthood.”

More of the speakers at the press conference included a reverend who complained about Planned Parenthood clinics being built in urban neighborhoods, a “pro-life blogger,” and an “economist” who said that Planned Parenthood lied in the 1970s about abortion preventing rates of domestic violence.  Maybe the most disgusting part was listening to a young woman not much older than myself give a speech about how abortion is the genocide of our generation and that by bringing “pregnancy council centers” onto college campuses we can prevent the murders of thousands of babies.

Maybe the most frightening part was Jeannie Monohan, president of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, who exclaimed that rather than the pro-life movement shrinking, their numbers are actually growing. Monohan might have exaggerated the exact numbers, but in essence she’s right; where were the pro-choice feminists in D.C. that day that should have been there celebrating Roe v. Wade’s victory?

We know that the pro-life movement is alive and well … according to a report from The Guttmacher Institute, 135 anti-abortion measures were passed across state legislatures in 2011. These measures included waiting periods, personhood bills (such as Ohio’s “Heartbeat Bill”), forced trans-vaginal ultrasounds and other restrictions.

However, a recent NBC and Wall Street Journal poll found that 70 percent of adults wanted abortion rights preserved in the first three months of pregnancy. So why does it look like the pro-life movement is kicking our ass?

Maybe it’s because 8^th graders from across the country are being brainwashed with religious indoctrination and screaming chants like “Let me see your pro-life spirit!” Maybe its because Students for Life of America has organized pro-life chapters on over 750 college campuses in the U.S. Maybe it’s because politicians like John Boehner and Rick Santorum have added their vocal support to the cause.

But I think what it comes down to is that women today are taking Roe v. Wade for granted. The women of my generation, especially, don’t remember a time when we couldn’t get our birth control pills or abortions from Planned Parenthood.  Many of us don’t know what it feels like to watch 400,000 extreme, fanatical religious pro-liferes walking down the street protesting the right of American women to have a choice over their own reproductive health. Trust me, it’s a gut-wrenching feeling.

Feminists need to get up and fight again. Roe v. Wade hasn’t been overturned, and it’s not clear whether the current Supreme Court would overturn the decision, but what is clear is that women’s reproductive rights are being slowly chipped away at the state level.

I urge women everywhere to not remain silent. That’s exactly what the pro-life movement wants. Find ways to get involved on campus … VOX at Ohio University and the Women’s Center are great places to start! (Full disclosure; I’m a member of both.)

I don’t want to have to tell my children someday that Roe v. Wade was overturned, or basically rendered useless. Don’t let your uterus get trampled. Fight back now.

Jess Miller is a Student Outreach Coordinator at the Ohio University Women’s Center, temporarily dislocated in Washington, D.C. You can read her full coverage of protestors here.

Press Release
For Immediate Release

Contact:
The Women’s Center
740-593-9625
womenscenter@ohio.edu

International Women’s Day Festival to be Held on March 17

Women of all ages from America and abroad are preparing for the Ohio University Women’s Center’s 5^th annual International Women’s Day Festival.

The 2013 International Women’s Day Festival is scheduled for Sunday, March 17 from 2 to 6 p.m. in Baker Center Ballroom. This year’s theme is “A Promise is a Promise: Time for Action to End Violence Against Women.”

Ohio University graduate student Katie Moore is the logistics coordinator. She described the festival as “a transformational event for women to come together to celebrate the past, present and future accomplishments of women worldwide. It will be a fun, inspiring event.”

The festival will feature live performances, educational displays, vendors and presenters. The lineup includes a Middle Eastern Fusion dance, Indonesian shadow puppets, presentations about gender equity in Syria, original poetry and music, and a fashion show, among others.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for our international and domestic women to learn about each other, celebrate each other and build connections,” Dr. Susanne Dietzel, Director of the Ohio University Women’s Center, said.

According to Dr. Winsome Chunnu-Brayda, Associate Director of the Ohio University Multicultural Center, “International Women’s Day is a wonderful opportunity for women from all over the world to come together and share their talents and experiences. This is also a great learning opportunity for all of our students.”

The festival is sponsored by the Ohio University Women’s Center, Multicultural Center, Black Student Cultural Programming Board and International Student Union.

Ohio University and Athens community members of all genders and ages are invited to attend. Free child be provided. Everyone is also encouraged to participate in the Altars Ofrendas community altar by bringing a photo, favorite object or an item that represents a woman who has influenced their personal or professional journey.

For more information visit www.ohio.edu/womenscenter, call the Women’s Center at 740-593-9625 or visit 403 Baker Center.

I saw this year’s Super Bowl as very progressive in terms of feminism.  However, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it was a huge step forward.  While it had some great aspects, there are still some underlying antifeminist tones that need to be addressed if the game is truly going to make significant progress in becoming more inclusive.

I don’t know about you, but I am still obsessing over Beyonce’s halftime performance at Super Bowl XLVII.  She was as fierce as ever.  One of my favorite things about Beyonce as a performer has always been that she relies on her talents above all else when she is on stage.  Enough men fantasize about her and objectify her body that she could just stand up there in a revealing outfit, barely singing, and that would be enough to boost her record sales.  However, she moves her body in ways that rival Shakira while simultaneously hitting high notes that I sometimes swear are even better than Mariah Carey’s, and this is why she is an incredible performer.  She makes sure she is most known for the talents she possesses, which is Girl Power at its finest.

As if watching her perform wouldn’t be enough to have me and millions of other fans talking about nothing else for days, Beyonce invited fellow Destiny’s Child stars Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland to sing with her.  The sight of not one but three strong, talented, fierce women on that stage made me appreciate just how far women have come in popular culture.  Each of these three women has been criticized at some point by society for qualities such as being “too ambitious,” “mean,” “bitchy,” and “not good enough.”  Combine that with the fact that Alicia Keys rocked the National Anthem and Jennifer Hudson beautifully belted out America the Beautiful, both women who have been criticized in the past for being “overweight,” and there’s no doubt that these women were the true stars of the game.

Based on these rockstar performances featuring independent ladies, it appears from the outside that the Super Bowl has become a feminist-friendly event.  However, a dark side to the spectacle has recently come to light.  There’s a good chance that you’ve come into contact this week with an article that has been making its rounds on the internet: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/03/super-bowl-sex-trafficking_n_2607871.html.  Apparently, the Super Bowl is the single largest sex trafficking event in the United States.  Sadly, this statistic isn’t surprising, as the Super Bowl does provide the ideal environment for this heinous crime to occur–with such a large number of men travelling to the same area all at once, the demand for prostitution rises.  What is surprising is that this statistic isn’t more well-known.  I think people tend to believe that sex trafficking is a crime that affects countries in the global south, not the United States of America.  It does happen here, though, and more often than one would care to believe.  (The UN offers very informative statistics on sex trafficking here: http://www.unglobalcompact.org/docs/issues_doc/labour/Forced_labour/HUMAN_TRAFFICKING_-_THE_FACTS_-_final.pdf).

When talking about the dark side of the Super Bowl, let’s not forget about the ever-popular Super Bowl advertisements.  Some of those weren’t exactly pro-feminism, either.  I was definitely offended by the Go Daddy commercial with the stereotypical hot blonde making out with the overweight nerd.  I see absolutely nothing wrong with that pair, yet the ad suggested that the image was unimaginable.  Why is that such a difficult pair to imagine, though?  The entire focus of the commercial was that Go Daddy is both sexy and smart, and thus a sexy woman kissing a smart man represented that.  But why can’t women be both hot and nerdy?  Why could the woman only be portrayed as sexy?

On the surface, this year’s Super Bowl was a good one for women, but it obviously could have been better.  We still have a ways to go as a society to make America’s favorite game more inclusive and accepting of all.

Post written by:
Lindsey Spanner, Student Outreach Coordinator

The statistics for college-aged students are scary: 

• Women between the ages of 16 and 24 experience the highest rate of intimate partner violence, which is almost three times the national average.
• 70% of dating abuse victims between ages 20-24 were victimized by a current or former partner.
• 43% of dating college women report experiencing violent and abusive dating behaviors.
• 57% of college students say dating violence is difficult to identify and 58% say they do not know how to help someone who is in an abusive relationship

Social media has given dating violence a new platform; now perpetrators can use sites such as Facebook and twitter to target their victims.  According to www.teendvmonth.org (which is a great resource for information about teen dating violence and how to report it), digital abuse is now listed as a type of dating violence, alongside physical, verbal/emotional, and sexual abuse.  Digital abuse includes using technology such as texting as well as social media sites to harass partners.  The perpetrator may demand access to passwords for the ability to monitor these sites and devices.

One of my favorite awareness ads about digital abuse is still one that I saw on television when I was in high school: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2gIEqW-lL8  Looking back, it is concerning that these ads, while very affective, always just seemed to focus on male-female relationships in which the female was the victim.  That’s why I was happy to find a relationship between two young women being portrayed as digitally abusive on www.thatsnotcool.com ‘s home page.  I think one of the most common misconceptions of dating violence is that it only occurs in male-female relationships and that the female is always the victim.  This is not the case.  It can occur in any type of relationship, and males can be (and are) victims.

I’m glad that digital abuse is being discussed more and more.  Things have changed a lot since I was in middle and high school; I didn’t even have access to texting until my senior year, so digital abuse wasn’t a huge concern.  However, as children begin creating Facebook pages at younger ages, digital abuse amongst teenagers is becoming more of an issue.  And with memes such as this prevalent on the Internet, I think the need for education on digital abuse is great: http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/1hqe/

This post has been written by
Lindsey Spanner, Student Outreach Coordinator

As a college student, I began my higher education in the “sink or swim” mentality that is freshman year. Friends were a life jacket and I was in need of them following my departure from a town where I had known all of my friends since infancy. As the struggle to find a sense of belonging progressed I became critical of everything about myself. Why didn’t I have a perfect body? Why couldn’t I make friends as fast as other girls?

This insecurity progressed until the spring quarter of that year when I took a freshman English class. Although I do not remember much from the class, I do remember one thing about the building it was in: the bathroom.

I recall being late for class and desperately having to use the restroom. I ran in the bottom floor of Ohio University’s Ellis Hall restroom and was instantly taken aback what I saw. Across the walls were song lyrics, quotes, poems, and inspiring messages written by my fellow female students. I was surprised not only by the amount of graffiti I saw, but the stark difference it was from the crude language usually written in bathroom stalls. It was as if, for the first time, I could see the confidence other women had about life.

“Learn from each mistake, don’t be too hard on yourself. Trust me – no one is perfect,” – anonymous quote, bathroom stall number two.   

Ohio University, a Mecca for liberal arts students in the harsh world that is Appalachian Ohio, has a female population of about 53 percent within its entire population of 20,000 students. Such statistics beg the question of why we as women feel insecure when we could take over the campus male population if need be.

Society, especially the media, tells us to have perfect bodies, perfect grades, and perfect relationships. It can be overwhelming. But society also tells us not to write on bathroom walls; the women of the Ellis bathroom defy the norm.

“When I am on a mission, I rebuke my condition. If you’re a strong female, you don’t need permission,” – Lady Gaga, stall number three.  

But is it just about rebellion? Or is there some other motive to take out a marker and write?

“I think the bathroom is interesting because especially I think on college campuses the bathroom has been a space where women have voiced all kinds of concerns,” Susanne Dietzel, director of the Ohio University Women’s Center said. “It is very different from the bar bathroom, where people write when they are drunk.”

The women’s bathroom is more than just a restroom. For women, it is an area to cry, to talk and seek advice from friends, and to gossip.

“That bathroom is a forum for exchange and very often bathrooms have been that,” Dietzel said. “I remember reading about how when women first started talking about sexual assault and rape on campus the bathroom became one of the places in which surreptitious campaigns were started. It provides anonymity. In the bathroom you are usually alone, and the only person you face is yourself in the mirror and that can be both affirming as well as not so affirming.”

“It’s nice to know that some good people still exist in the world. I felt alone until today,” anonymous quote, stall number one.

But some see the bathroom writings as a shadow of creative writing in addition to a self-help room.

“Some of it [the writing] is due to creative writers and philosophy majors in this building,” Director of Creative Writing Dinty Moore said. “The better graffiti functions like an image in a poem or a very short haiku. I’m hesitant to go on the record and say it qualifies as creative writing, but in fact it does. The point of creative writing is to make the readers stop and look at the world differently.”

Director Moore holds office in Ellis Hall and has not personally been in the girl’s bathroom since he is male, but believes the writing to be more of a nuisance than an expression.

“I suspect most people in the university wish that no one was doing that,” Moore said. “I wish there was a dry erase board in every stall so that people could write things and then erase them. Even if sometimes I am amused by what I read, I just don’t think you should write on other people’s walls.”

Director Dietzel disagrees about the writings’ function.

“I do think that the graffiti is a very legitimate form of communication,” Dietzel said. “If you look at the social groups who do graffiti, those are usually the groups that don’t have other voices that are available or other medias that are available to them. It [graffiti] is really about people who don’t have access to other means and ways of communication. So, for them graffiti is definitely a way in which their voices are being heard, in which their artistry is being seen so it’s a great way to communicate and give disempowered people and groups a voice.”

Upon further exploration of the restroom, I noticed that the writings are painted over at least once a year. After the removal of the words, it does not take long for more to pop up.

“When you paint over the writing on the walls, you censor those you serve, breed resentment among them, and try in vain to suppress creativity,” – anonymous quote, stall number one.

But is the painting done to punish the rule-breaking writers? Or is it done simply to create room for more?

“I think it is just to clean it up and I can understand that,” Dr. Marsha Dutton, director of the OU English Department said. “Of course it would make more room for the writers because it is clear the people who are writing in these stalls are going to keep on doing it. But I’m sure that’s not the intention. The intention is, ‘let’s clean this up.’ Which means, when they decide to paint, they are actually regarding it as graffiti.”

Graffiti or not, the Ellis bathroom is seen as original.

“There is such a range of both lyricism and quotations from songs and to some extent poetry and from things they have read,” Dutton said. “But also a kind of dialogue where one person will write something and someone else will respond and someone will say something and it may move from a kind of plaintive comment to someone being cynical. So you get a range of ideas and emotional responses.”

Emotional responses that made me wonder if there should be a couch like you see in the movies on which a patient lays upon while a psychiatrist scribbles notes.

“Women are writing to one another and hearing each other and giving advice. There’s a kind of, I almost don’t know how to say this, there’s a kind of sisterhood developing in there,” Dutton said.

“My boyfriend in abusive, but I love him and keep letting him hit me. What should I do?” anonymous quote, stall number two

-       “I had the same problem. I left. It feels AMAZING,” responding quote, stall number two.

-       “You deserve so much better. You are strong,” responding quote, stall number two.

Recently, OU experienced a similar situation in another campus restroom. A student took to the wall, recording their despair.

“I feel like I am losing control of this. I don’t know how much longer I can keep going. Trying to survive this is exhausting. I feel like there is no reason for me to be alive anymore. I think I should be dead. I hate having these thoughts, but I don’t know how to make them go away,” anonymous quote from a photo taken by the Ohio University Division of Student Affairs.

In response, students who saw the comment took the time to write inspiring messages to the writer on post-it notes and place them on the bathroom wall. This occurred the same day the writing appeared.

“Ask yourself now where you would be without days like this when you finally collide with the moments you can’t forget,” anonymous quote, stall number three.

Going to the restroom is a primal need. We do not control it. We do not over think it. But it is also a place where each of us has a moment of privacy to reflect on the day, our work and what we need to do. It can be a place of solace.

“You can weep to your friend, but sometimes what you want to get out is just plain pain,” Dutton said. “Sometimes what I see in there is people who are grieving or suffering or searching. They can write one sentence or a piece of a song and somebody that they don’t even know hears them. It is sort of like an inanimate psychologist and better even because you get a real response.”

“Don’t forget to love yourself,” anonymous quote, stall number three.

As I move forward towards graduation, I face throwing myself into a sea of uncertainty once more as I search for a job, home and life. I will continue not because I have to, but because I know I can. Finding your place in the world is difficult, but it is nice to know that the writers of the Ellis girl’s bathroom know how I feel.

“Cherish every moment you have here; every single step, class, person, etc. Each day is yours to make the best of it all so you have no regrets,” anonymous quote, stall number three.

 Post written by:
Caitlin Turner,  junior studying journalism

We have all been there.  We have all, at some point or another, been infatuated with something that we now regret taking such a strong interest in.  I am not ashamed to admit that I used to be absolutely obsessed with the Twilight series.  As embarrassing as this is, I was a member of Team Edward.  I thought Edward Cullen was the ideal boyfriend.  Not only is he tall, attractive, intelligent, and cultured, but he only has eyes for his girlfriend, Bella.  In fact, he cares for her so much that he follows her around and sneaks into her bedroom at night to watch over her and make sure that she is always safe.  What’s not to love, right?

Now, I won’t go into the details of how I finally became disenchanted with Twilight and its anti-feminist main characters, because that saga could take days to recount.  Instead, I want to talk specifically about Edward, and how he displays some alarming traits that unfortunately have become normalized.  In honor of January being National Stalking Awareness Month, I want to shed some light on how Edward Cullen’s stalking-esque behavior is now seen as nonthreatening and even romantic by millions of Twihards across the globe.

Yes, I said stalking.  Edward Cullen is, in fact, a stalker.  He displays many of the general characteristics of a stalker:

-He is manipulative.  (He tries to control where Bella goes and who she goes with, so as to keep her “safe”).

-He falls “instantly” in love.  (He decides that he likes Bella before he has even held a conversation with her).

-He is jealous.  (He hates the fact that Bella has a close friendship with another man, Jacob).

-He is socially awkward and uncomfortable.  (He rarely speaks to anyone at school, preferring to sit along in silence most of the time).

When did these traits become romantic?!  When did it become okay for someone you barely even know to follow you around school and sneak into your bedroom at night without your permission or knowledge?!  That’s not sweet—that’s creepy.  When someone tries to control where you are and who you are with at all times, that’s not a sign of his or her affection for you.  Vampire or not, those qualities translate to stalking.

Twilight is not the only pop culture piece to portray stalking as something normal and to be admired, however.  The sad truth is that stalking has been glorified in our society for a while now.  Remember Benjamin Braddock from The Graduate?  He follows Elaine to Berkeley, where he begins to bother her while she’s on campus, only to eventually follow her to her wedding.  And how about Christian Grey from Fifty Shades of Grey?  He tracks Ana on her cell phone.

There are musical references to stalking, as well.  The classic example is from Every Breath You Take by The Police: “Every bond you break, every step you take, I’ll be watching you”.  Other references can be found in Lady Gaga’s Paparazzi and Clay Aiken’s Invisible.

I’m not quite sure who’s to blame here.  I have trouble believing that Stephenie Meyer purposely made Edward Cullen a stalker, and The Graduate is a film classic, despite Benjamin Braddock’s creepiness.  There is clearly a lack of knowledge, though, about stalking and how serious of a crime it is.  It often seems to be overlooked in lieu of other crimes of violence against women, such as sexual assault and domestic/dating violence, but it is just as serious and can be just as dangerous.  Taking famous characters from pop culture and considering them under a different light could be the first step in shedding light on this issue.

*If you suspect that you or someone you know if a victim of stalking, call the Ohio University Survivor Advocacy Program at (740) 597-SAFE (7233), or visit their office located at 44 University Terrace (McKee House).

Post written by
Lindsey Spanner, Student Outreach Coordinator

“If you could charge people for not being decent human beings, a lot of people could have been charged that night.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/17/sports/high-school-football-rape-case-unfolds-online-and-divides-steubenville-ohio.html?pagewanted=all

In a sense Mr. McCafferty is correct: disturbing as the sexual assaults that were perpetrated that night are, it’s just as disturbing how many people did not do anything to stop them. 

Why not? 

I would offer that, the inquiry into why so many people did nothing at Steubenville must (at least) be framed in terms of gender, sexuality, and community. 

Taken in reverse order, it is not negligible that the young woman who was sexually assaulted was not from Steubenville.  While a strong sense of community does not preclude sexual assault, it may factor into bystanders’ unwillingness to intervene.  Leaving aside the possibility that the status of the alleged perpetrators as athletes may amount both to their occupying a position of privilege within the Steubenville community as a whole, and to their constituting a micro-community in its own right, the difficulty of overcoming all the psychological factors which make it easier to keep quiet and do nothing is only amplified if the person on whose behalf one must speak up and act is a stranger in a room full of otherwise familiar faces.  I myself recall being a teenager at parties and being overwhelmed by the task of attempting to look out for the friends I’d known for most of my life.  It was not that I didn’t care about any of the others I didn’t know, but because I didn’t know them they felt like ‘others’, and if it was between them and my friends, I always chose my friends.

And this is not to say that it was this young woman’s fault for going to a party in a community that she didn’t belong to.  Rather, when something like this happens in a community it behooves that community to ask itself why it isn’t doing a better job of taking care of other people.

Further, it ought not be underestimated how normalized sexual assault has become.  In my experience, young men of the millennial generation are first introduced to sex through pornography (at least if they have reliable internet access).  Most will not have an interpersonal sexual experience for years after that introduction, and they will not spend that interval abstaining from porn.  Intoxicated sex is fetishized in the discourse of mainstream pornography: the women being assaulted are not depicted as being hurt by the assaults – indeed, if they come to their senses they are usually made to regard the assault as a pleasant surprise.  The terrifying result of this is that evil takes on a banal aspect – watching an unknown, intoxicated young woman be sexually assaulted is not entirely novel.  It may not feel right, it may not be erotic, but it’s also not wholly unfamiliar. 

The answer is not to censor pornography, or blame any young woman that finds herself in that scenario.  The answer, or at least an answer, is to openly and critically interrogate pornography and its discourses.  Moreover, and not unrelated, we must talk frequently and honestly and openly about sex and figure out when and how sex can be healthy and fun, and what to do when it looks like it’s not.

Lastly, consider the culture of masculinity, in particular young masculinity.  It is a peculiar and dangerous mix of entitlement, aggression, and insecurity – and that’s leaving aside any consideration of the manner in which these conditions are, at least in my experience, configured and exacerbated when you belong to an athletic team.  I think a lot of young men feel a peculiar sort of rage when these ingredients are mixed together: they feel they deserve what they want (entitlement), they feel they should be able to get what they want by taking it (aggression), they fear that if they don’t get what they want it’s either because they don’t deserve it or because they are too weak to take it (insecurity), they hate themselves both for being afraid and because they either don’t deserve what they want or don’t live up to the definition of strength they buy into, and they take that hate and use it to turn their fear into rage directed at others, the people who must be keeping them from getting what they deserve.  I don’t offer this account because it suffices to explain the choices of some young men to sexually assault that young woman on that night, though certainly it was involved in that.  Rather, I offer it because, as something that may be common to a lot of young men, it is conducive to a culture of silence and inaction.  If one young man sees another pursuing something he wants, if he sees him taking what he wants, it makes a modicum of sense to the young man standing by, at least on an intuitive level.  He does nothing both because he can empathize with the perpetrator and perhaps because, on a similar level, he would expect another young man to enable him through his silence and inaction.

None of this will change until we start offering young men different models for masculinity, and start having some hard conversations about who we are, what we want, what we need and what we deserve.

In closing I wish to state that these considerations are not meant to exhaust or derail the conversation surrounding the Steubenville case, they are merely offered as a contribution to it.  If we as a culture can manage to keep talking about these issues, maybe there will come to pass a time when we don’t need something terrible to happen to remind us that such talk is so very necessary

Blog post by
Bill Arnold, OUSAP Violence Prevention Educator

Hello everyone!  My name is Lindsey Spanner and I am a junior studying Communication Studies and Spanish.  I am also pursuing the Writing Certificate and hope to complete a Linguistics minor before I graduate.  This is my second semester as a  student worker for the Women’s Center.  With Jess Miller currently interning in D.C., I am taking on some of her responsibilities and will be blogging each week in her place.

Feminism has always been a part of my life.  I was fortunate enough to grow up surrounded by strong women who taught me that I can achieve anything I set my mind to, and more importantly that I have the right as a woman to do so.  My mother is a first-generation college graduate who has always stood up for her rights as a woman, and she is an inspiration to me as I advocate for equality and women’s rights in my own life.  Thus, the Women’s Center is a perfect fit for me, and I feel right at home here!

Besides being a feminist, I am also passionate about travelling.  I love visiting new places; whether it be a different country or a different state, I’m always looking for the next adventure.  Last spring I had the opportunity to study abroad in Spain, and the experience was life-changing.  I met some amazing people while I was there, including my host family, with whom I discussed all sorts of issues.  We talked about everything from education rights to stereotypes of American women, and from women’s issues to whether or not my host brothers should have to do chores.  Feminism is truly a global movement!

When I’m not in the Center, you can likely find me either riding my bike or watching Sex and the City reruns (I may or may not be obsessed).  I’m excited to be taking on more hours this semester, so be sure to stop by the Center to say hi!  

The downside to this, of course, is that I will no longer be working at the Women’s Center or involved in the many student organizations that I am a part of. I’m going to miss Athens and all my friends, but I can’t wait to go back to D.C. and be involved in all of the political happenings there.

Who knows, maybe I’ll be lucky enough to interview this guy.

It’s been such a privilege to work here at the Ohio University Women’s Center this semester. I came here with a lot of passion about feminist issues, and I left with a lot of knowledge about how to empower women and how women can empower the world. I’ve been extremely fortunate to work with other students and volunteers who are dedicated and hardworking. I’ve been lucky to have bosses like V and Dr. Dietzel who are so dedicated to the furtherance of women’s and LGBTQ equality. I’m proud to say that I worked for such intelligent, strong, independent women. I’m sad to leave, but can assure you I’ll be back.

Till next time….peace, love, and feminism.

-Jess