The Meg Quigley Women’s Studies Program at Mills College
Women’s Studies Newsletter
Spring 2011 Issue 35
Introducing The Women’s, Gender And Sexuality Studies Department At Mills The Meg Quigley Women’s Studies Probudget.” Doree Allen, one of the first four gram will become the Meg Quigley Women’s, Women’s Studies graduates to walk down Gender and Sexuality Studies Department the aisle in 1976 and one of the forces behind on July 1st. The newly formed department establishing Women’s Studies as a major, will offer a major in Women’s, Gender and describes her time at Mills from 1974-78 as Sexuality Studies in addition to a Women’s “A fascinating time in the history of feminism. Studies minor and a Queer Studies minor. The There was no place where the fertile ground WGSS major will allow students to emphasize created by writers, artists, historians, psycholWomen’s Studies, Gender and Queer Studies ogists, sociologists, and activists of the “secor both. ond wave” of feminism Mills College was was more evident than part of a wave of proat Mills. I have always active, early adopters, thought it was quite emestablishing a Women’s blematic of my feminist Studies Program in the education that The Dinmid seventies. Petitions ner Party, an installation were drawn up, circulated created by the artist Judy and signed by students Chicago between 1974and faculty alike. “At the 1979, premiered at San time, it was a challenge Francisco’s Museum of to convince the world Modern Art in 1979.” Althat there is a huge diflen is currently a Senior ference between women Lecturer and the director studying and the study of Stanford University’s of women”, explained Center for Teaching and Professor Ruth Saxton , Mills Yearbook 1977 Women’s Studies foundLearning Interdisciplinary ing faculty Professor Ruth Saxton. Program in Oral Communication. Saxton credits Professors Diana O’ In 1985, the program established a Hehir, Diana Russell, and Lee Mirmow as the Women’s Studies minor while still pulling tenured faculty who were the driving force be- together all of its courses from departments hind establishing the major and could do what and programs across the campus, most sigSaxton, as an adjunct instructor, could not. nificantly from Sociology, English and Ethnic Saxton recalls that, “After the faculty Studies. In 1990, the Quigley grant made it approved the Women’s Studies program, Prof. possible for the Women’s Studies Program to O Hehir and I became the first co-chairs of the hire a visiting professor and begin a national Women’s Studies program. O Hehir brought search for a newly opened tenure track posithe program validity and status, and I did the tion. In 1992, a full 16 years after the major work (quite willingly). Our real estate was was offered, Professor Elizabeth Potter was a file drawer in my office! An office, a typehired as the first Women’s Studies tenured writer, a file cabinet eventually belonged to faculty. Saxton recalls, “With respectability us after I wrote a proposal to then President and budget and tenure track faculty position, Barbara [White] requesting our first small the program thrived while also growing be(continued on page 2)
Inside this issue:
Introducing the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Department at Mills College Studies Living Community Fall 2011 Queer Elevates Moods and Decreases Stress in Adult Women: Women’s Play Project Play Promoting Women in Philanthropy and Social Justice Spotlight on Senior Projects
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Introducing WGSS Department At Mills yond its sense of grass roots activism. It had a newsletter, brown bag lunches in the tea shop, and formal presentations by writers of senior theses in the old Bender Room.” The original Women’s Studies Program, like the new Women’s, Gender and Sexual-
Reprinted from Mills College Yearbook, 1976
ity Studies Department, was established in response to student demand. And Mills, like many academic institutions, have responded to student demand by expanding their Women’s Studies Programs to include curriculum on Queer and Gender Studies. Some of institutions that have pioneered this evolutionary trend are Smith College, Yale University,
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Colby College, the University of Minnesota, and many others. “We will offer the same strong curriculum in Women’s Studies but will be adding queer studies and gender studies as well,” explains Professor Potter, who has been Chair of the Women’s Studies Program since 1992. The inclusion of Gender and Sexuality to form a WGSS Department makes it possible for Mills to be more inclusive and flexible in its offerings. “It is good to see Women’s Studies maintain a focus on its discipline while embracing a broader outlook”, observes Professor Saxton. The new WGSS curriculum will offer several brand new courses in addition to formally approving several very popular Women’s Studies Special Topics courses. New courses include Professor Priya Kandaswamy’s Introduction to Queer Studies, Feminist and Queer Research Methodologies, Race, Sexuality and the State, Transnational Sexualities and Sexuality in the City. Students can expect to see Professor Judith Bishop’s special topics courses, Sex, Body and Gender in Pre-Modern European Societies, Women in Islam and Comparative Studies on Women in Religion (formally Women in World Religions West) in regular rotation. “It seems this new department is a testament to the important legacy of its predecessor and to the tremendous theoretical sophistication that has grown out of the Women’s Studies programs of the seventies,” remarks Doree Allen.
Queer Studies Living & Learning Community Fall ‘11 The Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department is excited to offer a Queer Studies Living and Learning Community (LLC) for entering students in the Fall of 2011. LLCs are an important part of the first year experience at Mill since they bring students with a common interest together. In the process they create a community of students who live together in the residence hall, take a class together, and participate in activities, outside the classroom, with a professor, that relate to the common interest. The LLC in the fall will be linked to Professor Kandaswamy’s “Introduction to Queer Studies” class and will be co-advised by Professors Kandaswamy and Bishop. Students in the LLC will learn about key concepts and issues in Queer Studies while attending events in local queer communities. The LLC builds upon the recent momentum to expand Queer Studies at Mills, and WGSS is looking forward to welcoming new students into our growing Queer Studies community.
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Women’s Studies Faculty 2010-2011 Deborah Berman-Santana Ethnic Studies JoAnne Bernstein Art History Judith Bishop Women’s Studies Diane Cady English Carlota Caulfield Modern Languages & Literature Mario Cavallari Modern Languages & Literature Carol Chetkovich Public Policy Vivian Chin Ethnic Studies Rebekah Edwards English Carol George Psychology Bert Gordon History Janet Holmgren President & English Margaret Hunter Sociology Carol Jarvis Library Amina Mama Ethnic Studies Ajuan Mance English Brinda Mehta Modern Languages & Literature Ann Metcalf Anthropology Melinda Micco Ethnic Studies Zohreh Niknia Economics Elizabeth Potter Women’s Studies Siobhan Reilly Economics Moira Roth Art History Kirsten Saxton English Ruth Saxton English Cynthia Scheinberg English Julia Oparah Ethnic Studies Nancy Thornborrow Economics Kathy Walkup Book Arts Laurie Zimet Social Science
Play Elevates Moods And Decreases Stress In Adult Women: Findings From The Women’s Play Project By Dr. Julie Nicholson & Dr. Priya Shimpi “The voice in the back of my head keeps telling me that I should be doing work/reading…gets in the way of me becoming completely involved in activities.” “I almost never make time to play. I feel pressured to complete the tasks of work and school and have convinced myself that there is no time for much else.” These are very typical quotes that Dr. Julie Nicholson and Dr. Priya Mariana Shimpi and their research assistant, MA candidate Shannon Fisherkeller are finding in their Women’s Play Project at Mills College. The Women’s Play Project began as a local research project primarily focused on Mills students and has grown into a project gaining national attention and interest among international partners for future collaboration. The project is an analysis of women’s own self-reports of play from their earliest years to the present and provides a fascinating window into women’s experiences with and beliefs about play. It turns out that women play in tremendously diverse ways that often have their roots in their childhood play experiences. A small sampling of the hundreds of ways women reported playing include: decorating digital paper dolls, Wii bowling, cooking over Skype with a best friend, hiking, attending concerts, taking grandchildren on outings, sailing, practicing at a shooting range, dressing up for the Mills Black and White Ball, or engaging for hours on end in the multiplayer online role-playing game, World of Warcraft. When asked about the importance of adult play, women report a myriad of benefits resulting from their play including the ability to “escape reality,” aiding in problemsolving, expanding their minds and thinking, supporting the development of friendships and intimacy in relationships, feeling pride in their accomplishments, connecting to valued memories of important people and experiences in their past, feeling joyful and losing a sense of time. One of the most commonly reported benefits was related to the therapeutic aspect of play, helping women to elevate their moods and to decrease their stress levels, “It helps calm our body, mind and spirit so we can get through our days without as much stress and angst as possible.” Women described how play had the power to temporarily release them from the challenges associated with their daily lives, “Play lifts you out of your normal state of mind into an exalted one. If you are really playing and have truly entered the flow of play, time passes unnoticed and stress lifts. Play stimulates the creative part of the mind as it flows from the imagination.” When asked if they learned
from their play, many women reported gaining a much deeper self-understanding including strengthening their
awareness of what they found most meaningful and how to schedule their time more effectively: “I think that the idea that each individual needs to know what play is for them is important. I realized that Twitter isn’t play for me, but it may be for someone else. The idea that in order for our play to really be effective, and beneficial to our heath and development it has to be the type of play that really does get us in the flow…All play is not created equal! Having this understanding has helped me in setting my goals for play, because I realized I was making time for play, but I wasn’t making time for play that was meaningful to me. Watching TV for thirty minutes is just a waste of time, but working on a craft project for even just a few minutes can make a difference in my entire week.”
Other women described how play helps them broaden their perspectives, expand their imagination and heal from trauma and loss, “Adults learn, or relearn, to relax and to take a look at life from a different perspective. They learn how infinitely deep and wide the internal world of imagination is. They learn that they can be the agents of their own escape from boredom and tedium. They learn to transcend (continued on page 4)
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Women’s Play Project
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the effects of trauma and loss.” A central finding was the disconnection that exists between adult women’s beliefs about the importance of play and their own practice of play behaviors. While 100% of the women believe that children should play at least 6 hours a week and 90% believe that adults should play this often, only 39% of the women in our study engage in this amount of play. They report that pressure to perform at work or school prevents play and many describe stories that these pressures have led them to stop playing entirely or to include play very minimally into their lives. Women made visible the social norms that serving to regulate their play, narratives that place their own play in opposition to ideas of responsible adult behavior, “My greatest barrier to play is my own sense of responsibility. I fear I will not accomplish what needs to be done. I worry what others will think of me if I am silly and playing. And I don’t make or take the time to play.” Thus, our data suggests that although play is highly valued by a majority of women, many learn to quiet their need for play as they respond to narratives in society that communicate to them that play is incongruent with what is expected for responsible, busy and mature women, especially a type of “letting go” emancipatory and silly play. And yet, our research also suggests that when women are given spaces to discover the loss of play they have experienced and allowed to critique their ‘taken for granted reality’ where play is invisible, they consistently find ways to push back and resist such messages as ‘there is no time for play in women’s lives’, ‘women should feel guilty indulging themselves in adult play’, and ‘play is antithetical to productivity and maturity.’ As women learn to resist these dominant meanings, they begin to reclaim play as an important element of their lives as in the women’s voices below. I look back at my non-playing days and wonder why it was such a challenge? Why was it so hard to be free and really let loose if really that’s all play is about?....Play has made me learn more about myself, my strengths, weaknesses…it has definitely broadened my horizon encouraging me to try out new things that I wouldn’t have tried otherwise…We have to overcome our fear of being free and give time for play.” I have been trying to reinstitute play in my life. I have really gotten out of the habit, which is actually remarkable to me
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when I reflect, because I spent at least 50% or more of my time playing for the first forty or so years of my life…Our son was born…We continued to go out, but really slowed down… .I went back to school, play time was further reduced….There was the ever present question of money…We were barely getting by, and we just sort of phased out our play time little by little. …I hardly noticed that my own, private playtime was slipping further and further away…. I think that experiencing the peace that play brings, coupled with the things I have learned this semester about the positive effects of play, has moved me to make a life-long commitment to never stop again”
Drs. Nicholson and Shimpi presented these preliminary findings in a paper titled, From Mindful Play to Advocacy: The Importance of Reconnecting Adults to Play, at the Association for Constructivist Teaching conference in Chicago on October 22nd and at Value of Play Conference in Clemson on February 7th. They will also be presenting this research during a national webinar sponsored by KaBOOM! (http://kaboom.org/about_kaboom) on April 26, 2011. The most recent development emerging in the Women’s Play Project is the Global Play Memories Project. Audio-recorded interviews will be completed with women around the world about significant memories of their childhood play. The interviews will ask women to reflect on their favorite play memories in childhood, the feelings they associate with these memories and then to make connections between these memories and their observations of children’s play in contemporary society. Penny Wilson, an renowned Playworker and play advocate in East London is collaborating on this project and will be introducing it to an international audience this July at the International Play Association Conference in Wales. The first manuscript emerging from the project, “Disappeared”: The Silenced Dialogue Of Women’s Play”, is a poststructural case study analysis of the erasure, reconceptualization and reclamation of play among Mills undergraduate women engaging in a self-study of their lifetime experiences and relationships to play. The Women’s Play Project is growing and seeking additional research assistants as well as individuals who are interested in being interviewed for the Global Play Memories Project. Please contact Dr. Julie Nicholson (jnichols@mills.edu) or Dr. Priya Mariana Shimpi (pshimpi@mills.edu) with any questions about their research.
Promoting Women In Philanthropy & Social Justice Women’s Studies Program co-sponsored “At the Table: Women in Philanthropy”, an event presented by Institute for Civic Leadership (ICL) at Mills. The purpose of this first-of-its-kind event was to inform students about the field of philanthropy and to provide them with the opportunity to network with women leaders. “Our goal was to promote philanthropy as a strategy for promoting social justice and to generate an awareness of philanthropy as a career path for women,” explains Michaela Daystar, the Director of ICL. “Women are becoming increasingly more prominent in this field and are in an unprecedented position to influence the funding decisions that support non-profit programs.” Daystar and Lisa Gray, the interim director of ICL and the organizer of the event, were pleased with the response from the students who came away from the discussion with a greater appreciation for the role philanthropic organizations play in the fabric of our society. Women’s Studies Senior Jessica Glennon introduced Leah Guthridge, the Northern California Regional Director for Shakti Rising, a social change organization whose mission is to transform the lives of women, girls, and the larger community and is based in San Diego. Emma Kharki and Lisanne Zentner also attended the opening reception and
served as ambassadors for the Women’s Studies program. Many of the 35 Mills students who attended the event felt inspired to go into the field philanthropy. Look on YouTube for an edited version of the “At the Table: Women in Philanthropy” from February 23rd and tell us what you think.
Spotlight on Senior Projects “The street one block away from the high school has erupted as over 300 students and police officers from four local forces battle for an end to the chaos. What started as a seemingly ordinary reprimand from an officer to a jaywalking student has become a heated racial confrontation. Angela Moffett, Class of 2011 Before the afternoon is over, several students were arrested and twenty people visited the hospital for their injuries.” Angela Moffett begins her senior thesis describing this day in October of 1990 in San Leandro, California. She goes on to explore how, after years of living in a homogenous community perpetuated by severe racism, police brutality, real estate agent policies and “unspoken agreements” between homeowners, San Leandro citizens experienced an incredible change in the city’s ethnic diversity. The once predominantly white city saw a burgeoning of its population of African Americans, Asian Americans and Hispanic people. Moffett’s thesis explores what happened in San Leandro as the diversity grew, how the community responded to the changes, what happened in the schools, and how these changes affected African American female students in particular.
“Today’s Girlie Girl culture is being created and reinforced by the way women are portrayed in Disney’s Cinderella and Tangled and is contributing to a disconnect between women’s sexuality and sexualization. This disconnect is fueling many things including early sexual behavior without Jess Senires, Class of 2011 entirely understanding or feeling sexual desire, sexual competition among girls, the need for male validation of the self, and the obsession with youth and beauty found in women of all ages.” In Jessica Senires’s senior project she examines the original Grimm fairy tales of Cinderella and Rapunzel and compares them to Disney’s warped portrayals in its films. “By removing key social lessons and examples of strong, independent women found in the Grimm’s German fairy tale versions of Ashenputtle and Cinderilla, Disney creates new damaging social lessons and passive female characters”, explains Senires. Her thesis examines today’s Girlie Girl culture by comparing the one dimensional female characters of Disney films to the strong, complex, three-dimensional female characters found in the oringinal versions.
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The Meg Quigley Women’s Studies Program 5000 MacArthur Blvd. Oakland, CA 94613
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The Meg Quigley Women’s Studies Program at Mills College Women’s Studies Program Chair: Dr. Elizabeth Potter Phone: 510.430.2233 Email: wgss@mills.edu Newsletter Editor: Jessie Heminway
Ethnic History Months: Including presentations, exhibitions, perfomances and dinners in celebration of Latina Heritage Month, Native Heritage Month, & Black History Month. At the Table: Women in Philanthropy: A round table discussion with six women who are leaders in the world of philanthropy. (see sidebar on page 5) Egypt: the Revolution and Thereafter: A teach-in featuring Dr. Nezar AlSayyard, Chair of the Center for Middle East Studies at UC Berkeley, and Yasmeend Dailfallah, PhD candidate at UC Berkeley and lecturer at Cairo University discussing the events culminating in the historic popular revolution in Egypt. Recovering Homosexualities: Homoerotic readings of the Poetry of Lorca, Cernuda, Gil-Albert, and Prados: Presented by Professor Godoy, a Barcelona native and Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at San Diego State University where his reasearch specialty is 20th Century Spanish Peninsular poetry and theater with a particular focus on gay authors. Queer Studies and the Politics of Emotion: Presented by Heather Love Associate Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania, Fellow at the Stanford Humanities Center and Author of Feeling Backward: Loss and the Politics of Queer History. Professor Love also gave a workshop to faculty on queer and transgender pedagogy and a presentation on creating an inclusionary community for transgender and queer students and staff.