Outside the University Center Ballroom, UM management posted a sign warning and reminding that anyone thinking about protesting the event would have to do so in the designated “First Amendment zone” between the campus library and the UC.
No one really knew how the event would go: Organizers weren't sure how many people would show up or if pro-life supporters would be there to advocate for Constitutional Initiative 100, which is proposed for November's statewide ballot and defines human beings at all stages of life, including an embryo.
Organizers wondered whether they would fill the 240 seats provided. By the time keynote speaker Jessica Valenti stepped to the microphone, there were more people than chairs and Valenti's talk was delayed a few minutes so more seating could be found.
“We are thrilled by the turnout,” said Allyson Hagen, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Montana.
Letty Limbach, organizer for UM Students for Choice, was equally excited.
A “gathering storm” threatens to diminish women's reproductive rights, Limbach said, and it's critical for young women in Montana to unite.
“Who better to bring young people together than a young woman who looks like them and sounds like them?” Limbach said.
Certainly Valenti was hard to distinguish from many of the college-age people in the audience. Her talk featured humor, personal stories, a slideshow and a conversational tone.
She got her mixed crowd of students, retirees, working moms, local politicians and middle-age men laughing over a true tale dubbed “boobgate” in the blogosphere.
The event and its retelling is a reminder of why feminism is important, Valenti said, and it goes like this:
After a small luncheon with a dozen or so bloggers and President Bill Clinton, a formal picture was taken of the gathering. Valenti, who was at the luncheon wearing a close-fitting crew-neck sweater was placed front and center in the photo, standing in front of Clinton.
When the photo hit the Internet, Valenti said, it unexpectedly solicited all kinds of rude and sexist comments about “the raven-haired girl” in the center of the photo who flaunted her breasts, and it unleashed a nasty blog exchange with a New York Times columnist.
Valenti shared with her audience some of the e-mails she received on her Web site Feministing.com, and then showed the audience the photo in question. The room erupted in laughter when everyone realized the ruckus focused on a benign and dull group photo.
The digs, the rude comments, and the sexualizing of how she stood and what she wore happened, Valenti said, “because I am young ... because I am a feminist.”
All young women in our culture, she said, are generally treated like objects “to be looked at and judged.”
In this instance, she said, “it's a way to put me in my place,” and to further degrade feminism and those who support feminist ideals.
The word, the concept of “feminist,” has suffered an enormously effective smear campaign over the decades, which has resulted in pernicious stereotypes and a misperception about what it is. The result, Valenti said, is that today's young women think of feminists in terms of those stereotypes - without finding out for themselves what the word “feminist” encompasses.
By way of example, Valenti asked the crowd to shout out the preconceptions. Quickly came the replies: “Hairy.” “Lesbian.” “Bra-burners.” “Man-haters.”
In truth, she said, those who don't bother to find out for themselves what feminism is all about don't realize that feminists are everywhere in all shapes and forms, promoting equal pay for equal work, organizing educational opportunities such as a rock 'n' roll camp for girls, and providing safe bus rides home in rough urban areas.
Last fall, young activists in Montana sent to Congress more petition signatures than anywhere else in the country in an attempt to prevent an increase in birth-control costs.
Getting the word out about feminism - about what it looks like today, and that it's cool, important, edgy and empowering - is critical, for many reasons, Valenti said.
“Mostly because the issues surrounding feminism - such as reproductive rights - tend to be the issues that affect young women the most,” she said.
Aside from legislative pressures and rollbacks under the Bush administration, other disturbing cultural practices have surfaced, she said.
Valenti told her audience she is particularly horrified by “Purity Balls,” which started in Colorado Springs, Colo. The formal event, much like a high school prom, is a father-daughter dance that is federally funded through abstinence-only education programs.
“The girls get all dressed up and look like little wives,” she said. “And they pledge their virginity to their fathers.” The pledge is often symbolized by a pink box that has a lock and key, which they give to their father for keeping until marriage.
“It's really disturbing,” Valenti said. “It's horrific. Go on YouTube and check it out.”
Aside from being “incestuous and creepy,” what Valenti finds the most upsetting is that the Purity Balls imply that a young woman can't make important decisions for herself regarding her own body.
Joanna Johnson, 23, said she was glad she ventured out into the night to hear Valenti speak.
“I thought she was pretty sassy,” Johnson said, “and I liked her and what she had to say.”
“I think she's delightful,” said Vickie Amundson, 62. “I liked her ability to stay humorous about all of these issues, because if you lose your sense of humor, they've got you.”
Although the event was geared to finding and recruiting young activists, the cross-generational turnout for the event was a wonderful surprise, Hagen said.
In many ways, the crowd represented the passing of the torch to the younger generation.
“It's always a good sign when you have to pull out more chairs for an event,” Hagen said. “And it was really exciting to see the huge amount of young women and mothers who came with their daughters.”
Given the Internet and fresh-voiced, accessible and lively young leaders like Valenti, feminism is entering a whole new chapter just in time, said Stacey McClure, 28.
“It's extremely important to mobilize young feminists because there is still so much work to do,” McClure said. “My generation has been brought up with the old-school feminists - our mothers and grandmothers - and I think there's a sense we take our reproductive rights and women's rights for granted.
“But if young women don't step up to the plate soon, it will be very easy for all of it to go backward.”
Among the issues that need the most attention nationwide, Valenti said: affordable child care and preventing violence against women.
“I'm excited for the future,” Valenti said. “With the advent of online outlets and blogs, the old and young feminists can come together in this incredible way around the nation and around the world.”
Limbach said she's keeping an eye closer to home.
“We want to mobilize young women today to start finding and shaping the political leaders of tomorrow,” Limbach said. “If people get involved in feminism and politics at a young age, they are more likely to be involved later.”
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