This weekend, I attended and presented a women's studies conference in Dartmouth, Masachesettes. I presented with an instructor and fellow atudent about activism in the classroom in reference to sexual violence and feminism and Christianity. The idea behind the presentation was that because our instructor was open about her personal history as a survivor of rape and her Christianity, that we as students beneiftted. It was a risky presentation but appeared to go over very well.
Why risky? A lot of professors and academic people believe that for an instructor to openly explore rape in the classroom and reveal herselef to be a survivor, that this is "unprofessional". It's my blief that instructors shouldn't teach classes soley based on sexual violence unless they are survivors. I'm not saying that non survivors can't teach about rape or be allies, however, I am saying that to teach a class that is about rape from the survivor's perspective is a different issue. I think that students benefit more from that personal experience. Discussing rape in the classroom is completely different from taking a class named "Rewriting Violence Against Women" which discusses nothing but violence against women.
That's all on the conference today, I had a car accident on the way home (Everyone came out alive and well) but I have a post traumatic migraine apparently so no more typing o rlooking at a computer screen! More tomorrow about my paper!
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