Encore

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Intergenerational Feminism: A Dialogue

Ariel Levy and Robin Morgan

October 7 at 7 p.m.
Roschel Performing Arts Center

After 40 years of coeducation at Franklin & Marshall, authors Ariel Levy and Robin Morgan take the stage at the Roschel Performing Arts Center Wednesday to discuss just how far the women's movement has come in that time.

Or how far it hasn't come.

"This is the longest revolution of all, with sexism so pervasive—still—that it's hard to see against the background, because it is the background," says Morgan, veteran feminist and award-winning poet, novelist and journalist. "For example, the national consciousness on racism and on homophobia, while very far from where it should be, is still higher than on sexism."

Levy, contributing writer for The New Yorker and author of Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture, explores the evolution of the women's movement into its present-day form. "Only 30 years ago, our mothers were burning their bras and picketing Playboy," she writes in Female Chauvinist Pigs. "Suddenly we were getting implants and wearing the bunny logo as supposed symbols of our liberation. How had the culture shifted so drastically in such a short period of time?"

Judy Pehrson, director of the Alice Drum Women's Center, is excited the College is hosting the two authors.

"We thought this event would be an interesting one because the women's movement was getting into full swing in 1969 when F&M first admitted women," Pehrson says. "Morgan, of course, was a key leader and chronicler of the movement. Her anthology Sisterhood is Powerful really broke new ground and was one of the most important sources of feminist ideas in the early 1970s. So much has changed over those 40 years and women are in a very different place—on a number of levels—from what they were back then, although there still remains much to be done."

After graduating from Wesleyan University, Levy worked for Planned Parenthood, but says she was fired after a week because she was "an extremely poor typist." Shortly after her dismissal she was hired by New York magazine and, in 2008, joined The New Yorker. She has appeared on National Public Radio's Fresh Air, ABC's Oprah and Comedy Central's The Colbert Report.

Morgan has published 20 books, including the anthologies Sisterhood Is Powerful and Sisterhood Is Global. She is founder of The Sisterhood Is Global Institute and co-founder of The Women's Media Center. In 1990, as editor-in-chief of Ms., she relaunched the magazine as an international, award-winning, ad-free bimonthly, resigning in late 1993 to become consulting global editor. Among her many honors is a National Endowment for the Arts Prize in poetry.

"What's pleasing is that concepts and phrases like date rape, marital rape, lesbian custody, women's studies or gender studies, Madam Secretary of State, Madam Justice and many, many more—which were simply unheard of in 1969—are common today," Morgan says. "The global women's movement is alive, well, thriving, massive and filled with visionary, strong young women."

This event is sponsored by the Alice Drum Women's Center, CLAS, Philadelphia Alumni Writers House and the Coeducation Planning Committee. It is part of the College's celebration of 40 years of coeducation.