March 14, 2016
SETON HALL UNIVERSITY
Dear Diary,
In 2004, Guerrilla Girls
On Tour! appeared at John Carroll University - a private,
coeducational, Jesuit Catholic university located in University Heights, Ohio. Weeks
before our show the University received
emails protesting our booking, namely because we were pro-choice co-sponsors of
the March For Women’s Lives held in Washington,
D.C. the same year. John Carroll’s PR department decided that in order to quell
the protests they would issue a statement, explaining to concerned students and citizens that Guerrilla Girls
On Tour! is “wholesome and fun, with a decidedly Christian message.”
Guerrilla Girls On Tour’s
mission is to advocate for equality and justice, two basic principles of
Christianity. Our message, however, is that reproductive rights are human
rights. Unlike the Roman Catholic
Church we are pro-choice and support Planned Parenthood.
So, what’s a Guerrilla
Girl On Tour! to do when booked, twelve years later, at another Catholic
University (Seton Hall) and, four days before you are to appear, discover that the
University has “lost” your paperwork and demands you sign a brand new contract
with new stipulations which are impossible to follow? (They wanted, among other
things, for us to provide our own insurance in the amount of three million
dollars and to list Seton Hall as an additional insured).
Was the University
playing politics? Did they wish to censor Aphra Behn’s scheduled talk at Seton
Hall entitled, “Act Like A Feminist Activist?” Was someone afraid of the “F”
word?
Statue on campus of Seton Hall University
Guerrilla Girl On Tour!,
Aphra Behn’s talk, is about her early work as a member of the Guerrilla Girls.
In 1997 Aphra led the GG’s foray into
addressing gender parity in theatre. The contents of Aphra’s talk would
be deemed by any layperson, priest or nun to be anything but controversial.
Universities are
supposedly institutions of free speech. Censorship is in direct opposition to
the search for knowledge. What was going on at Seton Hall?
After summarizing and
submitting the content of Aphra’s talk to the Dean she was able to proceed with
her talk as scheduled The students and faculty who attended were open to ideas.
During the Q and A one student asked if Guerrilla Girls On Tour! believed in
LGBTQ rights. Yes! Absolutely, we do. Another asked about
transgender rights. Yes! Yes, again. Transgender people are discriminated
against in all aspects of their lives and deserve equality on a range of
issues.
In the end the Seton Hall
talk was an eye opener. The search for knowledge continues, even in places with
policies that attempt to thwart free speech. Our experiences as activists and
artists and feminists teaches us that we are enriched as human beings by sharing
our ideas. We are reminded that there are women and men on the front line of the
fight for equality, working for the free and open exchange of concepts, even within
the sacred walls of colleges and universities where ideas are supposed to
flourish.
Yes, Guerrilla Girls On
Tour! certainly are fun; some of us are even wholesome. Our message remains:
the end of sexism will mark a more peaceful, just and equal world.
Love,
The GGOT’s
