Fortune Cookies tomorrow for Let's Talk About Sex

Even if you don't join us to ask what is on your mind about sex, then at least come and take a fortune cookie!!!!

By Daphne Strassmann

Movie night at the Schlesinger March 3, 2010 at 6pm

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We Dig Coal: A Portrait of Three Women (1981) and We’re Here to Stay: Women in the Trades (1986)

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Followed by a discussion with Susan J. von Salis, Associate Curator of Archives, Harvard Art Museum, and producer of We’re Here to Stay: Women in the Trades
6 p.m., Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Radcliffe College Room, 10 Garden Street, Radcliffe Yard, 617-495-8647

We Dig Coal: A Portrait of Three Women (1981), directed by Geraldine Wurzburg, and We’re Here to Stay: Women in the Trades (1986), directed by Susan J. von Salis

With the theme “Working Women” in mind, We Dig Coal: A Portrait of Three Women demonstrates how, through courage, determination and persistence, Mary Louise Carson, Bernice Dombroski, and Marilyn McCusker won dangerous jobs as coal miners at the Rushton Mining Company in central Pennsylvania and overcame negative male attitudes. We're Here to Stay: Women in the Trades describes the experiences of women in various trades and advocates the expansion of career options for women. The film includes sketches and photos from the eighteenth and twentieth centuries of women engaging in activities such as shipbuilding, printing, mill work, and agriculture, as well as excerpts from interviews with eight Boston-area women working in male-dominated fields.

By: Daphne Strassmann

Art Exhibit at Marran

Lesley College Alumnae: Decades of Art Making
Sponsored by the Women’s Center
In Celebration of Women’s History Month
And Lesley University’s Centennial
Marran Gallery
March 3 – March 31

The Women’s Center at Lesley University is pleased to celebrate both Women’s History month and the University’s centennial with the exhibit Lesley College Alumnae: Decades of Art Making. March is Women’s History month and every year the Women’s Center has an exhibit in Marran Gallery showcasing women and art. As we planned for the 2010 show and sorted through the various ideas presented, we began to think about connecting this year’s exhibit to Lesley’s Centennial celebration. The arts have always been an integral part of the Lesley University community and we have heard anecdotally about Lesley College alumnae who included art in their lives in many ways. So we decided to invite a few of these women to exhibit their art at Lesley University so they could share their work with a wider audience.

Lesley College Alumnae: Decades of Art Making exhibits a wonderful variety of visual art forms – sculpture, quilts, prints, fabric art, photographs, and paintings. Each of our artists has chosen to spend some part of her busy life making art. And our artists have been engaged in creating this art through the decades, with some of our artists on the Lesley campus fifty years ago, in the 1950’s. Some of the works, such as the quilts by Mary Ann Boddum and Sandy Keller, represent art forms traditionally created by women but thought about in a contemporary way. Quita Schillhammer has used traditional hooking techniques to create a contemporary purse. Chun Mei Du captures her heritage in her paintings on rice paper and shows us women in timeless, familiar poses. Our earliest graduate, Ann Lange, represents nature in her metal sculptures and Amy Robinson lovingly captures the barns that are disappearing across New England. Jean Winslow’s monoprints reflect some of the pensiveness and mystery in a woman’s life and Jennifer O’Neil’s abstract watercolors encourage us all to pause and reflect on life’s more contemplative aspects. And “Athena”, which Michelle Gardella describes as her self portrait which “depicts my struggle to balance life as a mother, artist, wife, woman, human in American society” might reflect the challenges all of these artists found as they chose to include art-making in their lives.

We look forward to seeing more of their work in the decades to come and we celebrate this glimpse into the talents of a few Lesley College alumnae.

By: Beth Chiquoine

Girlhood, Identity, and Girl Culture: Project Update

Identity maps by: Emily Frost and Rachel Howe

Excitement is in the air at Lesley! This unique service learning course is well on its way and the girls’ groups begin this week! Enrolled in the course, Girlhood, Identity, and Girl Culture, the 20 female Lesley undergraduates are a group of strong young women that each bring a valuable frame of reference to this experience. There are students from every year at Lesley with career interests that include, Counseling, Education, Art Therapy and Women’s Studies. The class has met for four weeks and Dr. Amy Rutstein-Riley from Lesley College, has facilitated the analysis of Girls’ Studies theory, encouraged group discussions of the students’ own experiences of girlhood, and allowed time and resources for planning the girls’ groups. Dr. Rutstein has been supported by Lesley College junior Bonnie Byrant, who is the Teaching Assistant for this class and also the president of Third Wave, the feminist organization on campus.

Through the course, we have been able to discuss and analyze our own girlhood experiences and the outside forces that affected us as we were developing our identities. We found that we shared some similar experiences of rebelling from parents, fitting in with social norms of behavior and dress, and starting to become more aware of our bodies. We giggled as we talked about relationships as sitting together at lunch and the sense of independence that was achieved by walking places after school. We admitted that we watched the Disney Channel into high school and learned our sex education from Boy Meets World and VH1. The room grew more serious as the subject of body image came up. As a collaboration of intelligent and creative young women, it was sad to hear that we all felt that we could never be good enough during middle school.

During the past month, we have been reading through literature on Girls’ Studies, which is still a relatively new field of study. We are learning about girlhood from a multicultural viewpoint and discovering that the media has an immense impact on girls and women today and the way we view ourselves. Largely due to the influence of the media, young girls are being forced to fit into a mold that is simply impossible to achieve. The voices of girls have been silenced throughout history, especially those from minority backgrounds. The crisis of girls today has become a social epidemic of self-esteem and poor body image. Girls are being bombarded with pressures to be perfect: skinny and pretty, smart and successful, relaxed and together, spontaneous and fun-loving, ambitious and focused, innocent and virginal. It is no wonder that pre-adolescence is such a difficult time, since girls are attempting to form their identities in a society that is telling them who to be.

The seven-week Girls, Media, and You! project kicks off this week and to our delight, there are currently 25 girls, ages 11-14, who have registered for the program. Lesley students have been exploring educational initiatives similar to Girls, Media and You! to gain insights and ideas for our program and have drafted their program agendas. With significant help from Alice Diamond, Associate Dean for Career and Community Service at Lesley, many of the logistics of the project are organized: the bus is booked, the pizzas are ordered, and the pencils are sharpened. Last week, we were engaged in a panel discussion in which several interesting perspectives were introduced to the class. Ellen McLaughlin, Executive Director of Tutoring Plus, spoke to the Lesley students about her knowledge of the girls that will be attending. Yolanda Neville, Director of Diversity at Citizen’s Schools, and Rebecca Jackson, a clinician from Children’s Charter, spoke to us about their experiences of working with urban youth. Arielle Jennings from the Lesley Office of Community Service was also on the panel and spoke to us about service learning and the importance of its integration into college curricula. The students also had a chance to ask questions in preparation of facilitating the first groups this week.

On the sidelines, Amy, Alice, Bonnie, and I have been collaborating on the research arm of this project. Bonnie and I have been collecting observation notes from each class session, taken photographs of the artifacts from class, and will be videotaping each of the seven sessions with the middle school girls. We will analyze the quality of the experience of middle school girls as well as the Lesley College students. We are also attempting to study the effectiveness of a service-learning partnership between a college course and a community organization. Amy presented about this multi-faceted project at Faculty Development Day and the response from the faculty and administration was enthusiastic to say the least. A buzz has generated around Lesley about this project and we are working hard to fulfill the high expectations we have set for ourselves. We will be presenting during Lesley’s research day at the Community of Scholars event on March 31st. Amy’s proposal has also been accepted by the New England Women’s Studies Association and we will be presenting our project at the conference at UMASS Dartmouth on April 30th.

By Marie LaFlamme

Oh No! Girls wanted an anchor Barbie instead.

Remember our post on Binary Barbie? Sigh.. controversy now.
Via Jezebel

Read on, dear girls and women:
omputer Engineer Barbie debuted to much fanfare, but most girls voted for Mattel's flagship doll to be a news anchor. Eve Tahmincioglu, writing for MSNBC, uses the Barbie vote disparity to explore why there aren't more women in tech careers.

The Barbie brouhaha points to a key conundrum today when it comes to women and professions in science and technology. Many people see a need for more females in so-called STEM professions (science, technology, engineering and math). But fewer and fewer young women seem to be gravitating to such jobs, thanks in part to the geek factor.

Sandra Guo, 22, always loved video games when she was in high school, but she never thought of pursuing a career in computer science because she felt it wasn't for girls. Even her mother discouraged her. "When I first enrolled in college she was opposed for me taking computer science as a major," she recalled. "She said I'd never find a boyfriend."

Tahmincioglu then reveals that Guo almost dropped out of computer science, due to feelings of isolation and that she was in a majority male space. Luckily, a mentor noticed Guo's growing discomfort and reached out with coaching skills. Guo is finishing her CS degree, and has now landed a job at Google.

Still, the proportion of women who enter and complete degrees in STEM professions remains abysmally small, leading experts and women's groups to devote resources to diagnose why so many girls stay away from these career paths. Tahmincioglu's article pinpoints some of the other ideas experts see as contributing to the tech careers gap:

Fear of failure and the lack of role models could also be driving the disinterest among girls.

Kristen Lamoreaux, founder of SIM Women, part of the Society for Information Management, an association of nearly 4,000 CIOs, offered a personal anecdote: "According to my 13 year old niece, she is not going into a STEM focused role because, ‘I don't like to be wrong and I want to stand out.' She said that when everyone in her Math class does the same problem, they all get the same answer. In Literature, everyone can write on the same topic, but variety is expected and it's possible to stand out based upon your talents."

The key to encouraging more gender diversity in tech may not just be perception based, but to also improve technical prowess and comfort in the space (as well as comfort with the core concepts) from an early age. The Georgia Institute of Technology recently launched a program to entice more African American boys into careers in computer science, using video games as a launching pad for more involvement in development and eventually programming.

In an academic paper, the four researchers explained that they decided to re-examine the normal assumptions around what gets people into computer science. After conducting interviews, they hit upon one illuminating comment:

Me and some of my black friends were talking about the other guys in CS. Some of them have been programming since they were eight. We can't compete with that. Now, the only thing that I have been doing since I was eight is playing basketball. I would own them on the court. I mean it wouldn't be fair, they would just stand there and I would dominate. It is sort of like that in CS.
– Undergraduate CS Major

The study looks at the relationship between play norms and CS norms, and makes recommendations on how to recruit and retain more African American talent in a tech space.

Lead researcher Betsy DiSalvo was interviewed about the project that stemmed from the Institute's research (Glitch Game Testers) and she discussed the merits of boosting confidence before sending the kids to a degree program.

"They saw what computer science is on several levels," said DiSalvo. "First, the workshops showed them they could code. Also being able to be creative by engaging in programming and problem solving motivated a number of students. Others just realized they could work in technology because they were doing game testing work as high school students."

A large part of the battle will be portraying careers in technology as both attainable and desirable to young women.

By: Daphne Strassmann

The (seemingly) lost art of letter writing

photo-lost in your inbox

In high school, I always wanted my friends from other schools to write me letters. A few grudgingly complied, but I wasn't satisfied. I found out about the website livejournal, and found pen pal communities. I was very excited to find that other people had the same interest in letter writing. I was also struck by how many other things I had in common with people in different countries. My natural curiosity made the prospect of having a pen pal more alluring. My first pen pal lived in Switzerland. Finding her letter in the mailbox for the first time was incredibly gratifying. Over the years I wrote to a multitude of people from the United States and other countries.
Over the Winter break I decided to count and organize all of the letters I've gotten from pen pals over the years. Shockingly I've received 500 letters from 126 pen pals in 17 countries. I'm sure there are countless more that I never received. I've been writing to pen pals since I was 16, and I have grown and learned so much from the experience. Although I've written to so many people, I appreciate each individual's perspectives.
Visiting my pen pal in Switzerland was the first major trip I took on my own. We also traveled to France and Luxembourg. It was wonderful to meet her family, and experience the different landscapes of countries. Photography is one of my main passions, and visiting a new place is always inspiring for me. I have also visited my other pen pals in Japan, Germany, England and New York. This summer I plan to meet pen pals in Europe and explore more countries. Through writing pen pals I have been able to hear about the experience of growing up in a different country; their politics, experience with their families and surroundings. Among the differences I have found many commonalities.
My interests have also grown through my correspondence with pen pals. Trading mix CDs has introduced me to many bands that I now consider favorites. Trading art has also been inspiring. My interest in feminism has been enhanced by writing to pen pals. I became more interested in feminism after finding out about riot grrrl (feminist punk). Pen pals introduced me to riot grrrl bands, and one sent me a binder of Kathleen Hanna's writing. She is a co-creator of the movement, and incredibly influential for me.
Writing letters to pen pals has become part of my identity. The friendships are also portable. I moved from California to Massachusetts for college. It's reassuring that I still have a system of support from my pen pals. regardless of my location. I often fall behind on letters during school, but I'm committed nonetheless. I can't foresee not having a letter to respond to in the future.
-Mia BloomBecker

Sex questions on Lesley student's minds.

Here are some of the questions that got deposited in 3 of our mailboxes throughout the main campus. We are taking all of these and putting them up for answers to our three panelists:

Douglas DiMartile
Lesley Counseling Center

Jo-Ann Fortier
Nurse PractitionerStudent Health Service

Magi McKinnies
Director
Lesley University Counseling Center

Don't forget you can twitter your questions to us, email us or post them on facebook. Drop the questions off at mailboxes located at Student Center's Activities Desk, Women's Center White Hall, Health Service Office. You can come by on 2-25 ask speak your mind in person or write your questions rigth before the session starts.

Remember:
This is open to ALL and Everyone!
Female, Male, Straight, Gay and In Between!

1. What is the relationship between a healthy sexuality & sexual fantasies that involve non-consent (ie. Rape pedophilia etc)? How does one integrate into a healthy sexuality these kinds of desires/urges/fetishes? Or not- what to do then?
2. Do women get orgasms when you do it from behind?
3. How is babby formed?
4. How many times can a girl use “I was drunk” as an excuse, before it becomes redundant??
5. Define straight and gay.
6. Why have my breasts not developed?
7. What do you do if you’re with a girl and you’re “down the stretch to home plate” and then she tells you she’s gay...lesbian…and you’re sober??
8. What is a clitoris?
9. What if abstinence doesn’t work?
10. Why can’t we do all the things we do with girls with guys?? Has it been done before?
11. Is it ok to be into S & M?
12. Why do women have vaginas?
13. My boyfriend wants to role play Harry Potter, and I’m weirded out, what do I say?
14. What can a girl do to ensure a or make an orgasm better?
15. Definite signs of herpes?
16. Is oral sex better than anal sex?
17. Why is gay sex so much better than hetero sex?
18. Why are lesbians sooo hot!?
19. When part “a” gets put into part “b” how long until we have to wait for part “c”?
20. Mint tea and cunnilingus.
21. Why do men have penises?
22. How it does it take for herpes to start floating into your body?
23. What are guys biggest pet peeves about women?
24. If you have sex standing up, can you get pregnant?
25. If you have sex in water can you get pregnant?
26. Uptown or downtown.
27. Pull out technique-how do you do it correctly??
28. Snowballing would you do it??

photo via photobucket

Food Preoccupation Group

The snow 'snowed 'on our parade last Wednesday, so we're giving it another go!

The Women’s Center and Counseling Center offer a new group:

Worry about how you look and what the scale says?
Yo-yo between dieting and overeating?
Feel preoccupied with food and body image?

EXPLORE YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD & YOUR BODY!

Together, we will work toward:

• Learning intuitive eating: listening to hunger and fullness
• Connecting compassionately to our bodies and senses
• Finding new and fun ways to move and care for our bodies
• Creating new tools & techniques that comfort and soothe
  

Want to learn more?

Call the Counseling Center at 617-349-8545 and ask for Elise or email ehoblitz@lesley.edu

Come to our first meeting Wednesday, February 17, from 5:00 to 6:00

Sessions will meet in the Women’s Center in White Hall, next to the cafeteria

Posted by: Daphne Strassmann

An important Lesley Event

Breaking the Silence: Israeli Women Soldiers Speak Out [see who may attend]alumni, cambridge community members, current ABC students, current AIB students, current graduate students, current students, faculty, general public, staff/administrators, parents, other

Description

Founded in 2004 by veteran soldiers from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), Breaking the Silence believes that “every Israeli citizen must know what is being done in his/her name in the Occupied Territories.” This presentation will focus on the experience of female soldiers serving in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and their personal experience with human rights violations. This event is part of a 2010 U.S.A. tour.

Occupied Palestinian Territories and their personal experience with human rights violations. This event is part of a 2010 U.S.A. tour.

event type: Diversity-Related Event
credit option: Not Applicable
registration/RSVP required?: no
cost: free

Dates

02/24/2010, 2:30 PM to 02/24/2010, 3:45 PM

Location

Lesley University
University Hall
1815 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138

Room 3-094

Contact Information

Linda Brion-Meisels
617-349-8940
meisels@lesleyedu

Posted By Daphne Strassmann

Barbie adds High-Tech to her long illustrious career

Via Gizmodo:

This is actually wonderful. Barbie's had 124 careers since 1959, ranging from Stewardess to Paratrooper. Today she gets her 125th: computer engineer. You can tell she's smart 'cause she's got glasses, and reads nothing but binary.

Barbie's latest career move is also significant for being the first decided entirely by online vote. Though maybe it's not so surprising that the internet community was especially inclined to see a Bluetooth-rocking geektastic Barbie.

She's been around for decades, but Barbie's every bit the influencer that she's always been. Will this inspire a generation of women to become computer scientists scientists? Probably not. But it might go a long ways towards dispelling any unfair preconceptions about the computer sciences.

Full release below, but first: can anyone tell me what the binary on her screen says? I hope it's not just a bunch of stories about unicorns. That might defeat the purpose.

The Vote Is In: Barbie® Unveils Her 125th and 126th Careers
For the first time ever, Barbie® asked the world to help her select her next career. Over the past few months Barbie® did research around the world and also conducted an online voting campaign, calling upon the world to vote for her doll's next career – Barbie® has asked her Twitter followers and fans on Facebook to help her with this important career decision.

But that's not all! Consumers loudly campaigned for another Barbie® career. The winner of the popular vote is Computer Engineer. Debuting in Winter 2010, inspires a new generation of girls to explore this important high-tech industry, which continues to grow and need future female leaders.

"All the girls who imagine their futures through Barbie will learn that engineers - like girls - are free to explore infinite possibilities, limited only by their imagination," says Nora Lin, President, Society of Women Engineers. "As a computer engineer, Barbie will show girls that women can turn their ideas into realities that have a direct and positive impact on people's everyday lives in this exciting and rewarding career."

To create an authentic look, Barbie® designers worked closely with the Society of Women Engineers and the National Academy of Engineering to develop the wardrobe and accessories for Computer Engineer Barbie®. Wearing a binary code patterned tee and equipped with all the latest gadgets including a smart phone, Bluetooth headset, and laptop travel bag, Computer Engineer Barbie® is geek chic.

Always a trailblazer, Barbie® continues her impressive career path in 2010 and throughout the new decade as she takes on these two new aspirational careers. Both News Anchor Barbie® and Computer Engineer Barbie® are currently available for pre-order exclusively at www.MattelShop.com.

By: Daphne Strassmann

Thanks Jezebel for the video!

"So what is the big Deal about Super Bowl ads?" That was the question from my 12yr old, and so we explained the large market potential, the anticipation for crazy out-there type ads and big stars doing things they might not otherwise do for just television. In our house, we're not football fans, but my husband looks forward to the ads and last night, we finally sat down and took a look at them and share them with our daughter.

We saw talking babies, lot's of beer ads, Megan Fox doing sexy face in a bathtub, loads of strange things that happens involving Doritos, the sweet Google ad, and the much debated anti-abortion commercials. Denny's scared chickens, and Dockers men chanted and marched in a field along compatriots, wearing only underwear and shirts. For the most part, the ads were somewhat predictable. I truly enjoy the Griswolds-genre, so the short was hysterical. My admiration for low-brow humor is well-known, Airplane anyone? Young Frankenstein?

There was just one thing that really killed my tolerant mood for the ads. The Dodge commercial really got under my skin. So for your viewing pleasure I will post both of the Dodge ads, and then go forth and see the awesome response from someone else, who didn't find the Dodge commercial all that funny.

And, if you have moment, check the commercials out on Hulu.com and take a look at (as of today) the predictable demographic scoring. That was about as fun as the ads.


So here you are enjoy:




Some role-reversal according to Dodge.

Mark your calendars for Thursday, Feb-25 at 6pm

When Valentine’s Day is over-
Let's Talk about
Sex.
(Shall we?)

An honest-to-goodness conversation about those lingering questions that beg for direct and honest responses.

When: Thursday February 25th @6pm
Where: The Women's center at White Hall

The format is Q&A

Submit questions or concerns anonymously -if you want- or ask them in person.
The panel will answer your questions from different points of view.

We are looking for an:

Approachable and Open forum

(because we want to discuss what is most pressing on your minds)

Presented By: Lesley University Women’s Center as part of Healthy Relationships Week
and our Spring Health and Gender Series.

For more information- contact the Women's Center

womenscenter@lesley.edu

By: Daphne Strassmann
Photo: Daphne Strassmann

Fourth Annual Conference - Free and Open to the Public: Women for Women: Advocating for Change

Hey everyone,

Here's a great opportunity and invitation.

Lesley University Women's Center,

I am one of the co-chairs for this year's Women's Law Association Conference at Harvard Law School, and we wanted to extend an invitation to any of your students who might be interested in our upcoming conference. I have included information about our conference below.

Thank you,

Alexis Chernak

The Harvard Women's Law Association invites you to attend our Fourth Annual Conference - Women for Women: Advocating for Change. Our conference will take place on Friday, February 19th in Ropes-Gray and will include three impressive panels as well as a Lunch Keynote Address by Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to President Obama and a Conference Keynote Address by Lisa Madigan, Attorney General of Illinois. Please visit our website for more information: http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/wla/conferences/2010/index.html about panels, speakers and the schedule of events.

All events are free and open to the public, though space at lunch and dinner is limited and registration will be required for those events. Registration is underway on our registration website: http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/wla/conferences/2010/register.html. Registration will close on Sunday, February 14th.

We hope you will participate in this exciting day!

Please feel free to contact Alexis Chernak (achernak@jd10.law.harvard.edu), Shannon Doyle (sdoyle@jd11.law.harvard.edu) or Maura Whelan (mwhelan@jd10.law.harvard.edu) with questions.

MIT Women and Gender Studies Present:

MIT Amnesty International Presents...

WOMEN IN AFGHANISTAN
Screening of "View from a Grain of Sand"
followed by a Q&A discussion panel with the director & producer "Meena Nanji".

Wednesday, February 10
Bldg 66-110
6-8PM
*Free*/*Food Provided*

About the movie "View from a Grain of Sand": Shot in refugee camps of Pakistan and the war-torn city of Kabul, three remarkable Afghan women lead us through the maze of Afghanistans complex history, informing this examination of how international interventions, war and the rise of political Islam have stripped Afghan women of their freedom over the last thirty years.

About the director & producer "Meena Nanji": Meena Nanji is a South-Asian Kenyan American filmmaker that has produced, written and directed award-winning independent documentaries and experimental videos. Titles include Voices of the Morning, a 15 minute piece about the effects of orthodox muslim law on a young women, Living in Colour about 2nd generation South Asian youth living in Los Angeles, It Is A Crime, and others.

Co-sponsors: MIT Center for International Studies, MIT Program in Women's and Gender Studies

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MIT's 2010 VDAY Production of...
THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES

Friday, February 12, 2010 and Saturday, February 13, 2010 at 8PM Sunday, February 14th at 2PM Bldg 32-123

Tickets are available for purchase at http://sao.mit.edu/tickets/2010/vagina-monologues and in the Student Center 2 weeks prior to the show. Tickets cost $10 for the MIT community and $12 otherwise. All proceeds support Emerge Global (emergeglobal.org)

Three nights of humor and pathos brought to MIT by students, alumnae, and staff, The Vagina Monologues debuted at the Institute in 2002, making this the ninth annual production. MIT is proud to be one of a thousand participating colleges and universities staging benefit shows through the V-Day world-wide movement to end violence against women. Based on V-Day founder Eve Ensler's Obie award winning play, The Vagina Monologues explores and celebrates women's sexuality -- its delights, pains, actualities, and vulnerabilities. Through intriguing testimonies from real women all around the world, the show has developed into a wonderful phenomenon that peers into women's fantasies and fears.

The Vagina Monologues brings together a diverse group of people from the MIT community, with vastly different backgrounds and interests, united under the common goal to stop violence against women. All proceeds from the MIT production go to local anti-violence organizations helping them to continue and expand their core work. In the past, we have raised up to $11,000 during a single production for local beneficiaries.

Along with The Vagina Monologues, the MIT student group Stop Our Silence holds events that raise community awareness on issues affecting women such as rape, domestic violence, female genital mutilation (FGM), and sexual slavery. Grassroots movements like V-Day have made significant progress to educate the public and raise awareness about the impact of violence against women. The Vagina Monologues joins their efforts.

You can find our actresses and production staff in the Stratton Student Center Feb 1st-5th and 8th-12th from 10am-4pm selling tickets, t-shirts, buttons, vagina temporary tattoos and chocolate vagina pops.

The Vagina Monologues 2010 are sponsored by ARCADE, Women's and Gender Studies, the Women's Fund, and Copytech.

So support vaginas.
Support women.
Support our willingness to talk about vaginas in public.

Until the violence stops...

~The Vagina Monologues Producers
vagina-admin@mit.edu
To learn more about the worldwide "The Vagina Monologues" campaign, visit vday.org

By: Daphne Strassmann

Coming Attraction:

When Valentine’s Day is over-
Let's Talk about
Sex.
(Shall we?)

A honest-to-goodness conversation about those lingering questions that beg for direct and honest responses.

The format is Q&A

Submit questions or concerns anonymously -if you want- or ask them in person.
The panel will answer your questions from different points of view.


We are looking for an:

Approachable and Open forum
because we want to discuss what is most pressing on your minds.

Presented By: Lesley University Women’s Center

Not just for women

Part of our Spring Health and Gender Series

For more information- contact the Women's Center

womenscenter@lesley.edu

By: Daphne Strassmann
Photo: Daphne Strassmann

The Women’s Center and Counseling Center offer a new group:

Worry about how you look and what the scale says?
Yo-yo between dieting and overeating?
Feel preoccupied with food and body image?

EXPLORE YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD & YOUR BODY!

Together, we will work toward:

• Learning intuitive eating: listening to hunger and fullness
• Connecting compassionately to our bodies and senses
• Finding new and fun ways to move and care for our bodies
• Creating new tools & techniques that comfort and soothe
  

Want to learn more?

Call the Counseling Center at 617-349-8545 and ask for Elise or email ehoblitz@lesley.edu

Come to our first meeting Wednesday, February 10, from 5:00 to 6:00

Sessions will meet in the Women’s Center in White Hall, next to the cafeteria.