Student Organizations Raise Gender Discussion

From “Why so Gendered?” posters posted campuswide to a cardboard Eiffel tower covered with signs to a Tumblr blog titled “Phillips Exeter Academy Needs Feminism,” a series of highly controversial gender-and-sexuality-related activist events swamped the Exeter campus this past year. The events, mostly initiated by an anonymous group of Exonians, prompted heated discussion among the student population and the greater Academy community.

The first wave of posters appeared during the last week of  September, covering bulletin boards of Academy buildings, windows and bathroom doors. The signs included a copy of the E Book’s dress code guidelines, with the words “For Boys” and “For Girls” highlighted. Although the intent of the posters was ambiguous, they sparked dialogue about gender issues on campus, such as dress code and co-ed bathrooms.

Many students felt that the second wave of activism, which came in early October, was more provocative than the last. The placards, covering a wider range of topics, covered entire bulletin boards in the Academy Building. The posters featured various questions, including “When did you consent to letting strangers decide what you look like naked?” and “When did you consent to rules that deny the existence and validity of gay relationships?”

In response, some students created satirical posters that resembled the activists’, including one that read: “Have you ever been subject to a cheesy rhetorical question?” 

The final round of posters occurred this April, when they were pasted onto a handmade cardboard Eiffel tower from Jazz Brunch and placed in the middle of the Academic Quad, which was later moved in front of Phillips Hall. The posters featured controversial statements as before, such as “Do you ever think about the gender of your deans?” 

Director of Student Activities Joanne Lembo said that although the posters succeeded in sparking dialogue among the student body, the anonymous students who created the posters made the wrong decision when they placed the posters without considering school rules on advertising with posters.

“The posting policy in the Academy Center is one poster per bulletin board, so that there’s an equal advertisement for all groups,” Lembo said. “Whenever there is a violation of the policy, we take things down regardless of the content, and we followed our procedure with the ‘Why so gendered?’ posters.”

Some students felt that the posters were an ineffective means of sending the intended message to the general student body, describing them as denunciatory and aggressive.

“The tone sounded accusative to me,” lower Tim Wu said. “The campaign was good in that it was thought-provoking, but I do not think it was doing so in an informative way. It makes you think the wrong questions by putting you on the back foot.”

 Health instructor Carol Cahalane believed that the posters successfully prompted discussions, which she felt indicated the success of the campaign.

“If the goal was to get people to talk about this issues in a substantive manner, then the campaign has been highly successful. Through those follow-up conversations that people were having all over campus, perhaps they learned some things,” Cahalane said. 

“However, I do worry that some people were turned off to the ideas because of some of the ideas seemed too much of a stretch.”

Along with the posters, the Exeter Feminist Union initiated a project on Facebook and Tumblr. This winter term, some members of the club posted topless (but covered by a sign) photos of themselves that offered their own responses to the main question “Why do we still need feminism?” The project sparked heated discussions on the topic of feminism among both students and faculty. 

“The goal was to give students a safe space to discuss the issues of feminism that are not discussed elsewhere on campus,” senior Caroline Goldfarb, co-head of the Feminist Union, said. 

“We hoped that we could also provide information and a new understanding to club members and non-club members about what it means to be a feminist in our own lives.” 

Many students and faculty believed the project successfully started important conversations and aided those who were unaware of the importance of feminism to realize what it means to both males and females of our community.

“I liked the feminism project because they were very personable, in the sense that it literally put a face behind the words,” Wu said. “It was also more informative, although they were mostly just anecdotes it provided an avenue for people to see what feminism can really bring to the table.” 

Senior Andres Mejia agreed, and added that the project especially helped the male students of the Academy become more aware of the natural advantages they are granted by society, as well as the effects of language.

“It got some of the guys to think about easily overlooked, but important, privileges they have in a male-dominated society, even in the Exeter bubble. It made some guys more aware of the subtly oppressive comments they make to some of the women and girls at Exeter,” Mejia said. 

On the other hand, some students believed that the project had been unsuccessful and pointless. Senior Efosa Idusuyi, who posted a topless photo of himself solely for humor in response to the project, said that the project did not change the perceptions of students.

“I’m glad women are not forced to work in the kitchen or something, or enslaved anymore, but I didn’t know what the context was,” Idusuyi said. “I just thought, ‘Okay, a bunch of people are just topless.’ And because I thought the photos didn’t really mean or change anything, I decided to make fun of it a little bit,” Idusuyi said.

Lower Preeya Sheth, a member of the Feminist Union, said that the project was an overall success and that she hopes to continue it next year.

“Even if at a micro-level, I think we did make a change in that we sparked helpful discussions about gender roles; we got tons of submissions from students and a lot of overall support for our project,” Sheth said. “I hope we can continue the conversation about feminism and gender roles around campus next year as well.”