Old School Feminism

Last February, a 40-foot vagina was displayed in celebration of V-Day at Arizona State University. A C*nt Fest was held at Penn State, and at the University of Northern Iowa, students constructed vaginas out of pipe cleaners.

Events like these have been held at colleges and universities across the nation and have constantly bombarded students with the message that women can only achieve equality with men when they are reduced to solely sexual objects.

The ideas for which Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton fought ? like legal equality and educational opportunity ? have been perverted.

A new generation of activists has emerged who assume hanging posters around a college campus asking, ?What does your vagina smell like?? contributes to the liberation of women. It believes that an art show in which women strip down to nipple tassels and thongs empowers women and ?promotes good body image.?

Campuses across the United States host events to promote this new feminism, which has had a banner year at Bucknell. In 2006, any outside observer would assume that Bucknell?s feminists believe a woman?s only contribution to society is her vagina. Through events such as V-Day and the Sex Workers? Art Show, they perpetuated the idea that women are nothing more than story-telling vaginas.

Last year at Bucknell, V-Day celebrations consisted of the standard production of the Vagina Monologues. During the show, the women performing pretended to be life-size vaginas that were able to tell stories and shout the word c*nt. The advertisements for this event consisted of crude posters displayed around campus. In addition, ?I Love Vagina? and ?Bucknell Vagina? shirts were sold. It is unclear exactly how such posters and shirts contributed to the equality of women, but the shirts were quite popular among Bucknell?s men.

The Sex Workers? Art Show held in March brought this type of event to an entirely new level. The Bucknell Feminist Majority ? with co-sponsors including the Women?s and Gender Studies Program and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology ? brought sex workers to campus to educate students about their ?art.? In reality, it was a strip show complete with nipple tassels, a half-naked trapeze act, and the ?Scarlet Harlot.?

Events such as these distract from the real meaning of feminism: empowering women and creating greater opportunities for females in all areas of society including legal rights, education, and breaking the glass ceiling in the workplace. But this is all being destroyed by events that promote the idea of women as merely objects for sexual gratification.

Campus events for Valentine?s Day should celebrate and help women, not objectify them. While the proceeds from the Vagina Monologues may benefit a good cause ? a battered women?s shelter ? this gesture is obscured by the content of the play.

The true aim of feminism, helping women improve their lives, has not been fulfilled. Many women and their children in Pennsylvania and across America are in abusive, harmful relationships and need assistance. But plays such as the Vagina Monologues and events that promote the objectification of women are not the way to accomplish this goal.

Therefore, the BUCC is trying to bring a different perspective on the controversy that surrounds V-Day on campus. Like last year, the club will be selling roses and carnations in the Elaine Langone Center from February 8 to 14 in honor of Valentine?s Day. Profits will be donated to the Susquehanna Valley Women in Transition, a battered women?s shelter. It is an attempt to remind students that Valentine?s Day should be a celebration of respectful, healthy relationships.

Meghan Monaghan is junior at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. This article originally appeared in The Counterweight, Bucknell?s conservative magazine.