ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 20, 1996 TAG: 9603200026
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
VIRGINIA TECH'S lineup of topics and events for observing Women's Month 1996 has taken a bit of a drubbing in the news media. By promoting the observance with a publication that begins ``1996 is an important benchmark in the herstory of women at Virginia Tech,'' the university invited snickers and criticism of the usual sort directed at political correctness.
By featuring an ``ecofeminist analysis of the interconnected oppressions of sexism, racism, and speciesism'' - by Carol Adams, author of ``The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory'' - event organizers virtually guaranteed ridicule from carnivorous critics.
Planned discussions of such subjects as ``Perverting Evolutionary Narratives of Heterosexual Masculinity; Or, Getting Rid of the Heterosexual Bug,'' and the showing of the film ``Thank God I'm a Lesbian'' further assured accusations of a political-indoctrination agenda linking lesbianism with liberation.
And so, predictably, a significant point related to Women's Month 1996 on the Tech campus has, amid the ``herstory'' hysteria, been nearly lost. This month marks the 75th anniversary of the admission of women to the school. Countless alumnae have excelled in their chosen professions as engineers, scientists, writers, business leaders and all sorts of other endeavors that, through most of history, have tended to exclude women.
Predictably, too, events with tongue-in-cheek titles such as ``Night of the Goddess'' have been selectively cited to put the entire observance on a par with macho males running off to the woods, half-naked, to pound on drums and get acquainted with their inner selves. This trivializes the recognition of such groups as WomenWork, an alliance of women volunteers who recently built a Habitat for Humanity house for a family in the New River Valley.
This also ignores the fact that matters of serious concern for women are being discussed: violence against women in society; substance abuse among women; broadening career opportunities for women; financial and retirement planning.
To be sure, some of the topics picked by the events' planners at Tech are controversial. But open discussion of controversial - even silly - ideas is an important part of academia, as well as of democracy. Neither would be well served had Tech tried to suppress women's discussions on its campus.
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