Common Speaking, May 1983, volume 2 number 4

the newsletter of the





Almost every woman | know has a problem with eating. Although
eating disorders affect both women and men, women are much
more apt to suffer from anorexia nervosa and bulimia (binging and
purging). | will discuss these problems as stemming from a common
cause (following Boskind-Lodahl | will refer to the problem as
‘bulimarexia’). Bulimarexia is an emotional problem but it is
ultimately a social problem which must be seen in light of the
position of women in society.

How can you tell if you or someone you know ve anorexia or
bulimia? Bulimia is characterized by eating binges followed by
purging (fasting, vomiting, or abuse of laxatives) and may occur in
women of normal, above, or below normal weight. Symptoms of
anorexia, although a woman may not have all of them,
include: severe weight loss (25% of body weight); ammenorhea
(interruption of menstrual cycle); obsession with food; denial of
hunger; bizarre, often ritualistic eating patterns; hyperactivity and
denial of fatigue; devotion to work or studies; binging and
purging. There is a thin line between anorexia and bulimia—
common symptoms include withdrawal and depression, a desire to
eat unrelated to hunger and distorted body image. Bulimarexics
have a desire to be thin as well as a strong urge to eat. Binges often
accompany feelings of anger, panic and emptiness and result in
feelings of shame, guilt, and self-loathing.

The young woman torn between two roles—achievement,
independence and discipline and the passive dependent female
role-has no feeling of power or self-worth and she gets her self-
validation from men. Cultural and social pressures combine to make
the image of these women rest on acceptance by men and
consequently they are obsessed with their body image. Because they
depend on male approval, bulimarexics are particularly vulnerable
to rejection. Often a male rejection, real or perceived, starts the
cycles of fasting and binging. Unable to express their feelings of rage
and inadequacy because they fear social sanctions against strong
emotion, bulimarexics binge to release this anger. Food fills the
emptiness of worthlessness and lack of identity they feel. Shame and
fear of rejection once again take over and purging follows as a
reassertion of control. Anorexics continue to diet in hopes of
approval for their slim (though often emaciated) bodies.























S108 ALAR “tea TEU CONST yu TONNE! BRETT PTET HE TENTIN oR e848 AER SEN ety

Bulimarexia uses tremendous amounts “of energy and leads to
social isolation. Food becomes a fetish and a way of filling up without
needing others. Fears of rejection lead to: problems with sexuality
and close relationships. The bulimarexic feels she must be attractive,
successful and independent yet she feels helpless. Bulimarexic
behavior makes her feel further isolated and unworthy yet food is
her only release from the struggle to fulfill a role.

Women who are bulimarexic or who have less severe eating
problems need to feel their own sense of identity and worth. These
needs cannot be fulfilled by a dependent love relationship or by a
male therapist who replaces the male approval. Bulimarexics need to
see that other women have the same problem and that they are not
awful or shameful; they need to talk, to share their rage and feelings
of inadequacy. A female therapist can act as a role model for young
women struggling to achieve a sense of power.

Women can get help with eating problems at Psychological
Services at Swarthmore or by contacting the American Anorexia
Nervosa Association (AANA) in Philadelphia at the Philadelphia
Child Guidance Center, 34th St. and Civic Center Blvd. The AANA
has a hotline for people who need to talk at (215) 387-1919 and the
Center can provide counseling, self-help groups, information, and
referrals. My own experience with this problem has made clear to
me the need for women to have a safe place to talk about their fears
and to feel as if they are not out of control or bad. | urge women to
contact me or psychological services for more information or help
with bulimarexia.

Bulimarexia is ultimately a social problem. As women we get
double messages about how we ought to lead our lives—we are not
given a space to be our selves. We need as models women who have
a sense of their own worth as women, not only as successfu! or
attractive to men. Ultimately we need a society which does not first
tell a woman to achieve, judge her by her body—and then stifle her
anger.

Sources: Marlene Boskind-Lodahl, “Cinderella’s Stepsisters: A
Feminist Perspective on Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia,’ Signs 1976,
vol. 2, no.2, pp 342-356.

Hilda Bruch, Eating Disorders (New York: Basic Books, 1973).

Pam Dorries










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Staff

Kate Bond
Wendy Cheek
Pam Dorries

Susan Elliot
Nancy Goldston
Jackie Haskins
Wendy Hoben
Debbie Hollander
Fran McMillian
Mary Meinicke
Wendy Merson
Donna Mullarkey
Eliza Newlin
Holly Scheider
Ruth Sergel

Amy Sinden
Susanna Stern
Juliet Sternberg
Lise Wagner

The Alice Paul Women’s
Center is located on the
second floor of Sharples |. In
addition to this newsletter, we
maintain a library, have regular
staffing hours, and meet
regularly for political work and
support.

Common Speaking is typeset
by our staff members on
Student Council equipment,
coordinated by Bill Cohen. It is
set in Chelmsford type sizes 9
and 11 and is printed by The
Bailey Printing Co. of Delaware
County.

The views expressed in this
publication are solely those of
the individual authors and do
not necessarily represent the
views of either the staff or of
the members of the Alice Paul
Women’s Center.

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Center laws

The Women’s Center meetings
of January 23rd and 30th and of
February 6th and 13th made the
following decisions concerning
projects that involve the Center
as an organization with the
community and concerning the
way in which meetings are run:
Meeting Time: Meetings will
take place as usual from nine
p.m. until eleven p.m. in
Sharples |. (The first hour of the
meeting pertains to the Center’s
“business,” that is, to such
decisions as are listed below.
After a break, there is a fifty
minute discussion of a topic
phrased the week before.
Discussion draws collective
theorization about women’s
issues and experience).

Phone Number at Sharples
1: 447-7380

Staffing Hours:The Women’s
Center is staffed Monday,
Tuesday and Thursday every
week from seven-thirty p.m. to
nine-thirty p.m. and on
Saturdays from two p.m. to four
p.m.

Library: Located on the top
floor of Sharples I, the library is
catalogued and open to the
college community. Books are
due every two weeks.

New Books: How to Stay Out of
the Gynecologist’s Office, This
Bridge Called My Back: Writing
by Radical Women of Color.
Coffee House: Regularly open
every Saturday from nine p.m. to
one a.m. Two women staff and
coordinate the entertainment,
food and drink for each week.
These positions rotate. Contact
People: Wendy Cheek and Eliza
Newlin.

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Decisions About Proc-
ess: Meetings will be run
according to the following
changes in process: 1) the
“facilitator” is responsible for
getting the center key and
starting the meeting on time, 2)
she is responsible for opening
the meeting with, an explana-
tion of her function as
“facilitator” and of the rules of
procedures if people are present
who have never been to a
Center meeting before, 3) late-
comers will get a chance to
“check-in,” that is, introduce
themselves, only between items
of business, 4) if people arrive in
the middle of a discussion, it is
the facilitator’s responsibility to
make sure that a brief summary
of the issues occur, 5) -the
discussion topic for the
following week will be decided
at some time during the first
hour of the meeting and it is an
automatic item of the agenda,
6)people leaving at the end of
the business portion of the
meeting or people coming into
the discussion portion of the
meeting are given the
opportunity of making personal
commentary, that is, the
opportunity of “checking-out”’
or “checking-in.”

Discussion Topics: Jan. 23—
“Brainstorming of Ideas for the
Weekend to Celebrate the
Center’s Tenth Anniversary; ”
Jan. 30—‘“The Feminist in a Class
on Feminism; ”

Feb. 6—“Feminism and Issues of
Non-Registration for the
Draft; ”

Feb. 13—“The Relation Between
Joking and Physical Assault.”

2)










Women’s Workshop For
Choosing a Major: Women
majoring in most disciplines at
Swarthmore spoke about their
experience to an audience
gathered the 16th of February.
Contact Person: Deborah
Hollander.
Admissions Handbook to
Political Groups on Cam-
pus: The Center collectively
authored the statement for the
Handbook. It describes the
Center’s political goals, projects
and the process by which it is
run.

Escort Service: Several women
met with hired escorts at dinner
on February 21st to discuss 1)
more lighting on campus,
2)available escorting as soon as it
grows dark, and 3) women
escorts. Contact Person Lise
Wagner. —

Common Speaking: Newletter
“coordinators” (that is people
with responsibility for recruiting
assistance in production) change
every issue. Coordinators for
next issue will be decided on
March 15th. Revue of the
current issue will occur on that
date.

Network of Pennsylvania
Women’s Centers: Planning
and letter-writing is underway to
facilitate communication
between women’s centers.

Contact Person: Kate Wilson.
Tenth Anniversary Week-

end: Planning is underway for a
weekend of intensive celebra-
tion of the tenth anniversary of
the Center’s founding. Projects
include: photography and art
exhibits; discussions with
alumnae members of the
Women’s Center, about
Women’s Studies, political
action and the history of the
Center; an all-women’s
party; a documentary film of
Simone de Beauvoir; and a
concert given by Canadian
feminist musician, Ferron, which
the Center is co-sponsoring.
Contact People: Ann Dibble,
Suzanne Perkins, Amy Sinden,
Susanna Stern and Kate Wilson.

Wendy Cheek

(tice Pauls Coffee House

When | returned to Swarthmore after a year away, one ofthe
things | most looked forward to was rejoining the Women’s Center. |
had not had access to such a place during my time off, and |
appreciated its existence more than ever. Here was the ideal way to
involve myself once again in the community, as well as experiment
with ideas in a non-academic setting. Beyond the personal sphere,
however, | sensed the need among members for more integration
with Swarthmore as a whole, for activities drawing students from all
interest groups. Wendy Cheek and | discussed various projects, such
as a Women’s Music Cooperative, aimed at providing entertainers
with a supportive atmosphere in which to perform. We also felt there
was a need for feminists to discuss their political views, as well as
express their artistic talents.

The most effective way to meet all these needs seemed to be to
open a coffee house. This would have other advantages as well. For
instance, feminists not directly involved with the center, in addition
to students unfamiliar with but curious about women’s issues could
become acquainted with the Women’s Center in the coffee house
setting. A coffee house would also provide students with a place in
which to relax and converse without having to compete with loud
music and crowds.

Alice Paul’s Coffee House was accordingly opened below the
Women’s Center in Sharples | towards the end of the fall semester.
Initially the responsibility of Wendy and myself, the Coffee House is
now staffed on a rotating schedule involving the efforts of a growing
number of women. Given its framework, the Coffee House has the
capacity to continue providing the campus with entertainment,
refreshment, and political inspiration for years to come.

Eliza Newlin

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4

Now If You Are True Instead Of Real: Being ’Racially
Incorrect’

Two Stories: Wilmington, DE 1978

Five years ago they started busing for desegregation in
Wilmington, Delaware. | was a junior in a private high school. My
sister was to enter the 7th grade in a public junior high school after
being in private school all her school life. New Castle County had
tried to avoid desegregation for years, but in 1978 they had to
through with it.

My sister was in the unfortunate position of being a stranger to
most of the kids in the neighborhood, they assumed she was one of
the Black kids from the ‘inner city.’ But the ‘inner city’ kids thought
she was strange too. She didn’t dress right. She didn’t talk right. She
listened to the wrong music. To ‘inner city’ Blacks she acted
white; to white suburbanites she looked Black. She got it from both
sides. She couldn’t win.

Swarthmore College, 1982:

They’re having the schedule unveiling meeting at WSRN-FM. I’m
jazz music director—the first Black that’s been on WSRN’s board in at
least three years. For a while there | was one of two Black Dj’s, but
looking at the crowd | see progress has been made; at least six
Black faces are out there.

When it comes time to give my priorities as jazz director | make a
plea for reviewing jazz album, a plea for help in strengthening the
station’s experimental music connections, and a plea for reviewing
‘soul’ albums. (A lot of Black music is received by WSRN, buta lot of it
gets ‘lost’ because there are no interested parties to review it). After
the meeting, a Black man comes up to me and says: ‘I’ll review the
FUNK records—! don’t know WHERE you got SOUL from!’

My first response is to feel guilty. After all, | made a grave
mistake; | said SOUL instead of FUNK. My other sin is that | am a
black DJ doing new music. Then | get angry, | amas black as he is—
only different.

There is a pain that you feel when you hear that you’ve been talked
about by your own kind. It’s worse than the pain you get when
somebody you barely know calls you a nigger; at least you can avoid
them. You accept a little support from your black peers, but in order
to get it there are rules that you have to follow: listen to the right
music, sit in the right place, talk to the right people. All the rules are
pretty superficial. Nobody cares about YOU particularly.

True, there is a black bourgeoisie that’s swallowed the dominant
white male whole. They’re the kind that will invest their hard-earned
dollars in Kruggerands without ‘batting an eyelash. They are the
people that have forgotten where they ‘came from.’

But all black people don’t come from the same place.

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| came from a house in suburbia with a two car garage. | graduated
from a high school that if the three of us got sick it was an all-white
school. | listened to Joni Mitchell and Yes during high school. | had
Delaware mall kid accent you wouldn’t believe.

But | never forgot | was black; the world wouldn’t let me. There
were always things | couldn’t do. | never was integrated into the high
school social scene because interracial dating was out. There was
always a wall I ran into. No matter how free | thought I was, there was
still ‘the wall,’ there were still places | couldn’t go. Very seldom was
oppression cut and dry; it mostly was the subtle kind that creeps
under your skin and stays there.

So what did | do? | had two choices. | could have created a black
world all my own; in high school that would have meant that! hada
quiet universe of five people, thrée of whom were members of my
immediate family. | could have immersed myself in white society
which meant I would have to be alone. Not only wouldn’t whites on
the whole not accept me as completely human, my black peers
would disown me. | would be a woman without a country.

So what do | do? | operate on the assumption that | am human and
can be anything | damn well please. There’s a whole world out there,
so | might as well explore it. Sometimes this means integrating
recitals at Lang; other times it means attending a SASS meeting. I’ve
decided to be true to myself instead of really black.

If that’s being an oreo, so be it.


Didion on Women.

Both the cover of The White Album and that of Slouching Towards
Bethlehem advertise their contents as ““Nonfiction.”’ These essays are
not creations of Joan Didion’s imagination, but factual accounts of
first-hand experiences. Naturally her personal judgement of the
people, places and events described cannot be omitted, in fact it
forms the core of her writing. There are times, however, when we
wonder whether Didion’s personal bias is not encroaching on the
factuality of the account. Occasionally a statement or event stands
out which sounds implausible, causing us to glance once more at the
cover and reaffirm that this is, in fact, “Nonfiction.” Certainly
Didion’s writing would lack its power, its ability to shock the reader
into recognition, if the voice of her own personality were
suppressed. However, one ‘wants to believe that the events
described actually occurred, and this becomes difficult when the
narrative tends toward overstatement or oversimplification.

This tendency is particularly marked when Didion addresses the
question of women. In her essay “The Women’s Movement” from
The White Album her invective threatens to run away with itself. Her
first criticism of feminism is based on a quotation from Time
magazine, which expresses confidence that the movement will
successfully bring about “fewer diapers and more Dante.” Didion
rightly belittles this statement, remarking on the forcelessness of the
image of “idle ladies sitting in the gazebo and murmuring, ‘lasciate
ogni spreranza.’ ”’ But she wrongly assumes that a quotation from a
_ relatively conservative magazine can be held up as representative of
feminist thought. Here Didion makes her first mistake, that of
allowing her conception of the women’s movement to be shaped by
the stereotypes imposed upon it by men.

Though Didion maintains that the extremist views she parodies
were shared by “Even the brightest movement women,” her
examples, which range from assertions that “many women” had
their toes amputated as a result of wearing pointed shoes to accounts
of sleeping “huge portions” of the day to forestall wrinkling, make
this seem unlikely. Not only are even the “brightest” feminists mired
in such trivializing and radicalism, but the majority are also lesbians.

-

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5

Didion bases this assumption on the lesbian accounts which
appeared “from time to time in movement literature.” She leaps
from a critique of these articles which appeared, as she says,
occasionally, to an attack on the “several million women too delicate
to deal at any level with an overtly heterosexual man.” Where does
she come up with her figures, her quotations? | have no objection to
her satirizing the women’s movement. Perhaps taking such liberties
is considered necessary to the writing of satire. But if not, | have
trouble with the classification of her work as “Nonfiction.”

Didion runs into trouble not only in her characterization of the
feminist movement, but of individual women as well. In her
vehement assault on Doris Lessing, she focuses on the very elements
which most dominate her own style. Even more than her writing
style, Didion objects to Lessing’s attitude toward literature, her
determination to see writing as something more chan simply an
“artistic problem.” She contrasts Lessing with Flaubert who, though
he certainly approached Madame Bovary as an artistic problem, told
us more about the bourgeoisie than any Marxist. Lessing’s failure,
she insists, is her preoccupation with the problems of society and
culture. Didion denounces her as “a woman of determinedly
utopian and distinctly teliological bent assaulted at every turn by
fresh evidence that the world is not exactly improving as promised.”
nd yet, what could better describe Didion’s own attitude toward
writing? She is constantly exposing the absurdity of social trends and
of the California culture. Her unfortunate attack on Lessing smacks
of the defensiveness of one female author toward another
characterized as brilliant, powerful, and an unqualified success.

This kind of subjectivity detracts from the credibility of Didion’s
equally unflattering portraits of women like Joan Baez and Georgia
O'Keeffe. On the other hand, a perfectly factual report is not what
this author is after. She seems untroubled by the apparent
discrepancy between events and her portrayal of them, confessing
that she has little “instinct for reality” and joking abut her inaccurate
recollections of family events. In the preface to Slouching Towards
Bethlehem she makes no bones about admitting that her presence
always runs counter to the best interests of those she interviews. In
this moment of candor, we get a sense of Didion’s personality which
is this time believable. “Since | am neither a camera eye,” she writes,
“nor much given to writing pieces which do not interest me,
whatever | do reflects, sometimes gratuitously, how | feel.’”’ Perhaps
it is not necessary for a writer to justify his or her point of view. It may
be dangerous, however, to profess factuality while leading the
reader down the garden path of one’s imagination.

, Eliza Newlin.

The oozing sand--why must it
fill my highly-heeled summer shoes?
Why must I stand so lady-like,
so stiff and starched
on the endless summer beach.

Why can’t I run across the sand;
why can’t I splash about the sea?

If | could do what | always wish
| would tear my stiff harnesses off
and run free above the sand
| know why this lady-like position must be me.

It must be because of my generation.

-Cathy Tong

This poem is by the twelve year old friend of a Women’s Center

member.


Resources and Services
Hers, Mid-Atlantic (Higher
Education Resource Services).
3601 Locust Walk—Univ. of
Pennsylvania

Phila., PA 19104

243-5426

This is a national group
interested in improving
opportunities and the status of
women working in higher
education. This group offers
leadership and management
training, which concentrates
on the development of skills,
and career networking.

Jewish Employment and
Vocational Services.

Center for Career Services
1624 Locust St., 6th Fl.

Phila., PA 19103

893-5900

This non-profit, non-sectarian
agency provides job placement
for semi-skilled, skilled, and
professional persons. There is
counseling and _ vocational
testing, and counseling for
women interested in returning
to work. Also available are
resume workshops and
workshops to develop
assertivenes skills for job
interviews, and for examining
career development. The fee
may be adjusted, depending
on income.

Lifelong Learning Center.

Free Library of Philadelphia
Logan Square

567-4352 3-5 p.m. weekdays
This agency offers free
workshops in career planning
at the Central Library and three
regional libraries. Included in
the workshops are the Career
Directions Series, Skills
Identification, Resume
Writing, Job Interviewing, and
Skills and Career Resources. To
receive workshop descrip-
tions, schedule, and registra-
tion postcard, send a stamped,
self-addressed envelope to the
address given above.

New Jobs For Women.

1605 Catherine St.

Phila., PA 19146

545-2700

This agency offers free skills
training in building trades or
electronics in order to prepare
women to enter these
traditionally male fields.
Unemployed women or those
in low-paying, or part-time
jobs, living in Philadelphia, are
eligible for the services.
Counseling and job develop-
ment and placement for
trainees are provided, in
addition to an hourly stipend
while in the program. Available
are small grants for transporta-
tion, child care, special tools,
and equipment.

Options For Women.

8419 Germantown Av.

Phila., PA 19118

242-4955

Career and educational
counseling is available from
this agency. Workshops for
employed women in career
development, as well as
interviewing and job search
counseling for employed and
unemployed women. There is
a free orientation, weekly, and
services are available in
Chestnut Hill and Center City.

Pennsylvania Bureau of
Employment Security.
238-7600

This agency provides free
placement service and
processes claims for unem-
ployment compensation.
There are local offices.

Resources for Women,
Christian Association Bldg:
Univ. of Pennsylvania

3601 Locust Walk

Phila., PA 19104

243-5537, weekday mornings
only

Available from this group is a
Job Bank ($5 registration) and
employment counseling.
There are life and career
planning workshops offered
for a nominal fee.

Urban League of Philadelphia
Skills Bank.

1930 Chestnut 5t., Suite 200
Phila., PA 19103

561-0700

All applicants receive free
employment services. There
are some job placement,
counseling/training programs
available. Professional
applicants must bring 5 copies
of current resume. Interviews
are held Mon.-Thurs. 9-11 a.m.
Call 988-0881 for training
information.

V.1.C.S. (Vocational Informa-
tion’ through Computer
Systems).

.Free Library of Philadelphia
Logan Square

Phila., PA 19103

686-2860 Computer Based Info.
Center

843-9803 Northeast Regional
Library

686-1776 ext. 75-531 Northeast
843-7433 West Phila.

V.I.C.S. offers free computer-
ized vocational information.
Descriptions included in this
material are job requirements,
training, schools, and
scholarship information. Each
individual may have up to 3
careers researched

All information is taken from
Women’s Resource Guide to
Philadelphia & Vicinity
prepared by the Women’s
Switchboard, 1981.


(0 myion

vol. Ly no.4

A Fermupst Look at Anorexia

Almost every woman | know has a problem with eating. Although
eating disorders affect both women and men, women are much
more apt to suffer from anorexia nervosa and bulimia (binging and
purging). | will discuss these problems as stemming from a common
cause (following Boskind-Lodahl | will refer to the problem as
‘bulimarexia’). Bulimarexia is an emotional problem but it is
‘ultimately a social problem which must be seen in light of the
position of women in society.

How can you tell if you or someone you know has anorexia or
bulimia? Bulimia is characterized by eating binges followed by
purging (fasting, vomiting, or abuse of laxatives) and may occur in
women of normal, above, or below normal weight. Symptoms of
anorexia, although a woman may not have all of them,
include: severe weight loss (25% of body weight); ammenorhea
(interruption of menstrual cycle); obsession with food; denial of
hunger; bizarre, often ritualistic eating patterns; hyperactivity and
denial of fatigue; devotion to work or studies; binging and
purging. There is a thin line between anorexia and bulimia—
common symptoms include withdrawal and depression, a desire to
eat unrelated to hunger and distorted body image. Bulimarexics
have a desire to be thin as well as a strong urge to eat. Binges often
accompany feelings of anger, panic and emptiness and result in
feelings of shame, guilt, and self-loathing.

The young woman torn between two roles—achievement,
independence and discipline and the passive dependent female
role-has no feeling of power or self-worth and she gets her self-
validation from men. Cultural and social pressures combine to make
the image of these women rest on acceptance by men and
consequently they are obsessed with their body image. Because they
depend on male approval, bulimarexics are particularly vulnerable
to rejection. Often a male rejection, real or perceived, starts the
cycles of fasting and binging. Unable to express their feelings of rage
and inadequacy because they fear social sanctions against strong
emotion, bulimarexics binge to release this anger. Food fills the
emptiness of worthlessness and lack of identity they feel. Shame and
fear of rejection once again take over and purging follows as a
reassertion of control. Anorexics continue to diet in hopes of
approval for their slim (though often emaciated) bodies.





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Alic € Paul

Women's Center

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Bulimarexia uses tremendous amounts of energy and leads to
social isolation. Food becomes a fetish and a way of filling up without
needing others. Fears of rejection lead to-problems with sexuality
and close relationships. The bulimarexic feels she must be attractive,
successful and independent yet she feels helpless. Bulimarexic
behavior makes her feel further isolated and unworthy yet food is
her only release from the struggle to fulfill a role.

Women who are bulimarexic or who have less severe eating
problems need to feel their own sense of identity and worth. These
needs cannot be fulfilled by a dependent love relationship or by a
male therapist who replaces the male approval. Bulimarexics need to
see that other women have the same problem and that they are not
awful or shameful; they need to talk, to share their rage and feelings
of inadequacy. A female therapist can act as a role model for young
women struggling to achieve a sense of power.

Women can get help with eating problems at Psychological
Services at Swarthmore or by contacting the American Anorexia
Nervosa Association (AANA) in Philadelphia at the Philadelphia
Child Guidance Center, 34th St. and Civic Center Blvd. The AANA
has a hotline for people who need to talk at (215) 387-1919 and the
Center can provide counseling, self-help groups, information, and
referrals. My own experience with this problem has made clear to
me the need for women to have a safe place to talk about their fears
and to feel as if they are not out of control or bad. | urge women to
contact me or psychological services for more information or help
with bulimarexia.

Bulimarexia is ultimately a social problem. As women we get
double messages about how we ought to lead our lives—we are not
given a space to be our selves. We need as models women who have
a sense of their own worth as women, not only as successfu! or
attractive to men. Ultimately we need a society which does not first
tell a woman to achieve, judge her by her body—and then stifle her
anger.

Sources: Marlene Boskind-Lodahl, “Cinderella’s Stepsisters: A
Feminist Perspective on Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia,” Signs 1976,
vol. 2, no.2, pp 342-356.

Hilda Bruch, Eating Disorders (New York: Basic Books, 1973).

Pam Dorries












VVVV TPT VY:

PYVVIPTUVY

Staff

Kate Bond
Wendy Cheek
Pam Dorries

Susan Elliot
Nancy Goldston
Jackie Haskins
Wendy Hoben
Debbie Hollander
Fran McMillian
Mary Meinicke
Wendy Merson
Donna Mullarkey
Eliza Newlin
Holly Scheider
Ruth Sergel

Amy Sinden
Susanna Stern
Juliet Sternberg
Lise Wagner

The Alice Paul Women’s
Center is located on the
second floor of Sharples |. In
addition to this newsletter, we
maintain a library, have regular
staffing hours, and meet
regularly for political work and
support.

Common Speaking is typeset
by our staff members on
Student Council equipment,
coordinated by Bill Cohen. It is
set in Chelmsford type sizes 9
and 11 and is printed by The
Bailey Printing Co. of Delaware
County.

The views expressed in this
publication are solely those of
the individual authors and do
not necessarily represent the
views of either the staff or of
the members of the Alice Paul
Women’s Center.

hhh hhbbbbbhS Bb DEAD R PAAR ADRADA

|

Center Nas —

The Women’s Center meetings
of January 23rd and 30th and of
February 6th and 13th made the
following decisions concerning
projects that involve the Center
as an organization with the
community and concerning the
way in which meetings are run:
Meeting Time: Meetings will
take place as usual from nine
p.m. until eleven p.m. in
Sharples |. (The first hour of the
meeting pertains to the Center’s
“business,” that is, to such
decisions as are listed below.
After a break, there is a fifty
minute discussion of a topic
phrased the week before.
Discussion draws collective
theorization about women’s
issues and experience).

Phone Number at Sharples
I: 447-7380

Staffing Hours:The Women’s
Center is staffed Monday,
Tuesday and Thursday every
week from seven-thirty p.m. to
nine-thirty p.m. and on
Saturdays from two p.m. to four
p.m.

Library: Located on the top
floor of Sharples I, the library is
catalogued and open to the
college community. Books are
due every two weeks.

New Books: How to Stay Out of
the Gynecologist’s Office, This
Bridge Called My Back: Writing
by Radical Women of Color.
Coffee House: Regularly open
every Saturday from nine p.m. to
one a.m. Two women staff and
coordinate the entertainment,
food and drink for each week.
These positions rotate. Contact
People: Wendy Cheek and Eliza

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a

Ly

i uo

Decisions About Proc-
ess: Meetings will be run
according to the following
changes in process: 1) the
“facilitator” is responsible for
getting the center key and
starting the meeting on time, 2)
she is responsible for opening
the meeting with, an explana-
tion of her function as
“facilitator” and of the rules of
procedures if people are present
who have never been to a
Center meeting before, 3) late-
comers will get a chance to
“check-in,” that is, introduce
themselves, only between items
of business, 4) if people arrive in
the middle of a discussion, it is
the facilitator’s responsibility to
make sure that a brief summary
of the issues occur, 5) the
discussion topic -for the
following week will be decided
at some time during the first
hour of the meeting and it is an
automatic item of the agenda,
6)people leaving at the end of
the business portion of the
meeting or people coming into
the discussion portion of the
meeting are given the
opportunity of making personal
commentary, that is, the
opportunity of “checking-out”
or “checking-in.””

Discussion Topics: Jan. 23—
“Brainstorming of Ideas for the
Weekend to Celebrate the
Center’s Tenth Anniversary; ”
Jan. 30—“The Feminist in a Class
on Feminism; ”

Feb. 6—“‘Feminism and Issues of
Non-Registration for the
Draft; ”

Feb. 13—“The Relation Between
Joking and Physical Assault.”

M2) {


Women’s Workshop For
Choosing a Major: Women
majoring in most disciplines at
Swarthmore spoke about their
experience to an audience
gathered the 16th of February.
Contact Person: Deborah
Hollander.

Admissions Handbook to
Political Groups on Cam-
pus: The Center collectively
authored the statement for the
Handbook. It describes the
Center’s political goals, projects
and the process by which it is
run.

Escort Service: Several women
met with hired escorts at dinner
on February 21st to discuss 1)
more lighting on campus,
2)available escorting as soon as it
grows dark, and 3) women
escorts. Contact Person Lise
Wagner.

Common Speaking: Newletter
“coordinators” (that is people
with responsibility for recruiting
assistance in production) change
every issue. Coordinators for
next issue will be decided on
March 15th. Revue of the
current issue will occur on that
date.

Network of Pennsylvania
Women’s Centers: Planning
and letter-writing is underway to
facilitate communication
between women’s centers.

Contact Person: Kate Wilson.
Tenth Anniversary Week-

end: Planning is underway for a
weekend of intensive celebra-
tion of the tenth anniversary of
the Center’s founding. Projects
include: photography and art
exhibits; discussions with
alumnae members of the
Women’s Center, about
Women’s Studies, political
action and the history of the
Center; an all-women’s
party; a documentary film of
Simone de Beauvoir; and a
concert given by Canadian
feminist musician, Ferron, which
the Center is co-sponsoring.
Contact People: Ann Dibble,
Suzanne Perkins, Amy Sinden,
Susanna Stern and Kate Wilson.

Wendy Cheek

3
(tice Pauls Coffee House

When | returned to Swarthmore after a year away, one of,the
things | most looked forward to was rejoining the Women’s Center. |
had not had access to such a place during my time off, and |
appreciated its existence more than ever. Here was the ideal way to
involve myself once again in the community, as well as experiment
with ideas in a non-academic setting. Beyond the personal sphere,
however, | sensed the need among members for more integration
with Swarthmore as a whole, for activities drawing students from all
interest groups. Wendy Cheek and | discussed various projects, such
as a Women’s Music Cooperative, aimed at providing entertainers
with a supportive atmosphere in which to perform. We also felt there
was a need for feminists to discuss their political views, as well as
express their artistic talents.

The most effective way to meet all these needs seemed to be to
open a coffee house. This would have other advantages as well. For
instance, feminists not directly involved with the center, in addition
to students unfamiliar with but curious about women’s issues could
become acquainted with the Women’s Center in the coffee house
setting. A coffee house would also provide students with a place in
which to relax and converse without having to compete with loud
music and crowds.

Alice Paul’s Coffee House was accordingly opened below the
Women’s Center in Sharples | towards the end of the fall semester.
Initially the responsibility of Wendy and myself, the Coffee House is
now staffed on a rotating schedule involving the efforts of a growing
number of women. Given its framework, the Coffee House has the
capacity to continue providing the campus with entertainment,
refreshment, and political inspiration for years to come.

Eliza Newlin

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7 «4 i


Lf

Now If You Are True Instead Of Real: Being ’Racially
Incorrect’

Two Stories: Wilmington, DE 1978

Five years ago they started busing for desegregation in
Wilmington, Delaware. | was a junior in a private high school. My
sister was to enter the 7th grade in a public junior high school after
being in private school all her school life. New Castle County had
tried to avoid desegregation for years, but in 1978 they had to
through with it.

My sister was in the unfortunate position of being a stranger to
most of the kids in the neighborhood, they assumed she was one of
the Black kids from the ‘inner city.’ But the ‘inner city’ kids thought
she was strange too. She didn’t dress right. She didn’t talk right. She
listened to the wrong music. To ‘inner city’ Blacks she acted
white; to white suburbanites she looked Black. She got it from both
sides. She couldn’t win.

Swarthmore College, 1982:

They’re having the schedule unveiling meeting at WSRN-FM. I’m
jazz music director—the first Black that’s been on WSRN’s board in at
least three years. For a while there | was one of two Black DJ’s, but
looking at the crowd I see progress has been made; at least six
Black faces are out there.

When it comes time to give my priorities as jazz director | make a
plea for reviewing jazz album, a plea for help in strengthening the
station’s experimental music connections, and a plea for reviewing
‘soul’ albums. (A lot of Black music is received by WSRN, buta lot of it
gets ‘lost’ because there are no interested parties to review it). After
the meeting, a Black man comes up to me and says: ‘Ill review the
FUNK records—! don’t know WHERE you got SOUL from!’

My first response is to feel guilty. After all, | made a grave
mistake; | said SOUL instead of FUNK. My other sin is that | am a
black DJ doing new music. Then | get angry; | am as black as he is—
only different.

There is a pain that you feel when you hear that you've been talked
about by your own kind. It’s worse than the pain you get when
somebody you barely know calls you a nigger; atleast you can avoid
them. You accept a little support from your black peers, but in order
to get it there are rules that you have to follow: listen to the right
music, sit in the right place, talk to the right people. All the rules are
pretty superficial. Nobody cares about YOU particularly.

True, there is a black bourgeoisie that’s swallowed the dominant
white male whole. They’re the kind that will invest their hard-earned
dollars in Kruggerands without ‘batting an eyelash. They are the
people that have forgotten where they ‘came from.’

But all black people don’t come from the same place.

I came froma house in suburbia with a two car garage. | graduated
from a high school that if the three of us got sick it was an all-white
school. | listened to Joni Mitchell and’ Yes during high school. | had
Delaware mall kid accent you wouldn’t believe.

But I never forgot | was black; the world wouldn’t let me. There
were always things | couldn’t do. | never was integrated into the high
school social scene because interracial dating was out. There was
always a wall | ran into. No matter how free | thought I was, there was
still ‘the wall,’ there were still places | couldn’t go. Very seldom was
oppression cut and dry; it mostly was the subtle kind that creeps
under your skin and stays there.

So what did I do? | had two choices. | could have created a black
world all my own; in high school that would have meant that! hada
quiet universe of five people, three of whom were members of my
immediate family. | could have immersed myself in white society
which meant I would have to be alone. Not only wouldn’t whites on
the whole not accept me as completely human, my black peers
would disown me. | would be a woman without a country.

So what do | do? | operate on the assumption that am human and
can be anything I damn well please. There’s a whole world out there,
so | might as well explore it. Sometimes this means integrating
recitals at Lang; other times it means attending a SASS meeting. I’ve
decided to be true to myself instead of really black.

If that’s being an oreo, so be it.


Didion on Women

Both the cover of The White Album and that of Slouching Towards
Bethlehem advertise their contents as “Nonfiction.” These essays are
not creations of Joan Didion’s imagination, but factual accounts of
first-hand experiences. Naturally her personal judgement of the
people, places and events described cannot be omitted, in fact it
forms the core of her writing. There are times, however, when we
wonder whether Didion’s personal bias is not encroaching on the
factuality of the account. Occasionally a statement or event stands
out which sounds implausible, causing us to glance once more at the
cover and reaffirm that this is, in fact, “Nonfiction.” Certainly
Didion’s writing would lack its power, its ability to shock the reader
into recognition, if the voice of her own personality were
suppressed. However, one wants to believe that the events
described actually occurred, and this becomes difficult when the
narrative tends toward overstatement or oversimplification.

This tendency is particularly marked when Didion addresses the
question of women. In her essay “The Women’s Movement” from
The White Album her invective threatens to run away with itself. Her
first criticism of feminism is based on a quotation from Time
magazine, which expresses confidence that the movement will
successfully bring about “fewer diapers and more Dante.” Didion
rightly belittles this statement, remarking on the forcelessness of the
image of “idle ladies sitting in the gazebo and murmuring, ‘lasciate
ogni spreranza.’ ” But she wrongly assumes that a quotation from a
relatively conservative magazine can be held up as representative of
feminist thought. Here Didion makes her first mistake, that of
allowing her conception of the women’s movement to be shaped by
the stereotypes imposed upon it by men.

Though Didion maintains that the extremist views she parodies
were shared by “Even the brightest movement women,” her
examples, which range from assertions that “many women” had
their toes amputated as a result of wearing pointed shoes to accounts
of sleeping “huge portions” of the day to forestall wrinkling, make
this seem unlikely. Not only are even the “brightest” feminists mired
in such trivializing and radicalism, but the majority are also lesbians.

. m Cam Dari raras fo.

5

Didion bases this assumption on the lesbian accounts which
appeared “from time to time in movement literature.” She leaps
from a critique of these articles which appeared, as she says,
occasionally, to an attack on the “several million women too delicate
to deal at any level with an overtly heterosexual man.” Where does
she come up with her figures, her quotations? | have no objection to
her satirizing the women’s movement. Perhaps taking such liberties
is considered necessary to the writing of satire. But if not, | have
trouble with the classification of her work as “Nonfiction.”

Didion runs into trouble not only in her characterization of the
feminist movement, but of individual women as well. In her
vehement assault on Doris Lessing, she focuses on the very elements
which most dominate her own style. Even more than her writing
style, Didion objects to Lessing’s attitude toward literature, her
determination to see writing as something more shan simply an
“artistic problem.” She contrasts Lessing with Flaubert who, though
he certainly approached Madame Bovary as an artistic problem, told
us more about the bourgeoisie than any Marxist. Lessing’s failure,
she insists, is her preoccupation with the problems of society and
culture. Didion denounces her as “a woman of determinedly
utopian and distinctly teliological bent assaulted at every turn by
fresh evidence that the world is not exactly improving as promised.”
nd yet, what could better describe Didion’s own attitude toward
writing? She is constantly exposing the absurdity of social trends and
of the California culture. Her unfortunate attack on Lessing smacks
of the defensiveness of one female author toward another
characterized as brilliant, powerful, and an unqualified success.

This kind of subjectivity detracts from the credibility of Didion’s
equally unflattering portraits of women like Joan Baez and Georgia
O'Keeffe. On the other hand, a perfectly factual report is not what
this author is after. She seems untroubled by the apparent
discrepancy between events and her portrayal of them, confessing
that she has little “instinct for reality” and joking abut her inaccurate
recollections of family events. In the preface to Slouching Towards
Bethlehem she makes no bones about admitting that her presence
always runs counter to the best interests of those she interviews. In
this moment of candor, we get a sense of Didion’s personality which
is this time believable. “Since | am neither a cameraeye,” she writes,
“nor much given to writing pieces which do not interest me,
whatever | do reflects, sometimes gratuitously, how | feel.” Perhaps
it is not necessary for a writer to justify his or her point of view. It may
be dangerous, however, to profess factuality while leading the
reader down the garden path of one’s imagination.

~

se TS , Eliza Newlin.

(

A Generation Early

The oozing sand--why must it
fill my highly-heeled summer shoes?
Why must | stand so lady-like,
so stiff and starched
on the endless summer beach.

Why can’t I run across the sand;
why can’t | splash about the sea?

If | could do what | always wish
| would tear my stiff harnesses off
and run free above the sand
| know why this lady-like position must be me.

It must be because of my generation.

-Cathy Tong

This poem is by the twelve year old friend of a Women’s Center

member.


Resources and Services
Hers, Mid-Atlantic (Higher
Education Resource Services).
3601 Locust Walk—Univ. of
Pennsylvania

Phila., PA 19104

243-5426

This is a national group
interested in improving
opportunities and the status of
women working in higher
education. This group offers
leadership and management
training, which concentrates
on the development of skills,
and career networking.

Jewish Employment and
Vocational Services.

Center for Career Services
1624 Locust St., 6th FI.

Phila., PA 19103

893-5900

This non-profit, non-sectarian
agency provides job placement
for semi-skilled, skilled, and
professional persons. There is
counseling and_ vocational
testing, and counseling for
women interested in returning
to work. Also available are
resume workshops and
workshops to develop
assertivenes skills for job
interviews, and for examining
career development. The fee
may be adjusted, depending
on income.

Lifelong Learning Center.
Free Library of Philadelphia
Logan Square

567-4352 3-5 p.m. weekdays
This agency offers free
workshops in career planning
at the Central Library and three
regional libraries. Included in
the workshops are the Career
Directions Series, S«ills
Identification, Resume
Writing, Job Interviewing, and
Skills and Career Resources. To
receive workshop descrip-
tions, schedule, and registra-
tion postcard, send a stamped,
self-addressed envelope to the
address given above.

New Jobs For Women.

1605 Catherine St.

Phila., PA 19146

545-2700

This agency offers free skills
training in building trades or
electronics in order to prepare
women to enter these
traditionally male fields.
Unemployed women or those
in low-paying, or part-time
jobs, living in Philadelphia, are
eligible for the services.
Counseling and job develop-
ment. and placement for
trainees are provided, in
addition to an hourly stipend
while in the program. Available
are small grants for transporta-
tion, child care, special tools,
and equipment.

Options For Women.

8419 Germantown Av.

Phila., PA 19118

242-4955

Career and educational
counseling is available from
this agency. Workshops for
employed women in career
development, as well as
interviewing and job search
counseling for employed and
unemployed women. There is
a free orientation, weekly, and
services are available in
Chestnut Hill and Center City.

Pennsylvania Bureau of
Employment Security.
238-7600

This agency provides free
placement service and
processes claims for unem-
ployment compensation.
There are local offices.

Resources for Women,
Christian Association Bldg.
Univ. of Pennsylvania

3601 Locust Walk

Phila., PA 19104 :
243-5537 weekday mornings
only

Available from this grouip is a
Job Bank ($5 registration) and
employment counseling.
There are life and career
planning workshops offered
for a nominal fee.

Urban League of Philadelphia
Skills Bank.

1930 Chestnut St., Suite 200
Phila., PAA 19103

561-0700

All applicants receive . free
employment services. There
are some job placement,
counseling/training programs
available. Professional
applicants must bring 5 copies
of current resume. interviews
are held Mon.-Thurs. 9-11 a.m.
Call 988-0881 for training
information.

V.I.C.S. (Vocational Informa-
tion through Computer
Systems).

.Free Library of Philadelphia
Logan Square

Phila., PA 19103

686-2860 Computer Based Info.
Center

843-9803 Northeast Regional
Library

686-1776 ext. 75-531 Northeast
843-7433 West Phila.

V.I.C.S. offers free computer-
ized vocational information.
Descriptions included in this
material are job requirements,
training, schools, and
scholarship information. Each
individual may have up to 3
careers researched

All information is taken from
Women’s Resource Guide to
Philadelphia & Vicinity
prepared by the Women’s
Switchboard, 1981.