Author: Brenda McNary
The Center for Gender Equity (CGE), located on the bottom floor of Stewie Hall, was full of students at lunch on Wednesday, Sept. 23, for the first of many dialogues in the Feminist Faculty Speaker Series.
Associate Professor of English Writing Julie Prebel explored a number of issues confronting femininity and motherhood in her talk titled “Mother Women, Hip Mamas & Octomoms: Maternal Metaphors & Politics of Reproduction.” The CGE will be hosting more speakers in this series throughout the semester.
Acknowledging her personal connection to the project, Prebel began the talk by noting her own struggle to separate motherhood from her academic career. Turning toward the institutionalization of motherhood, Prebel used the personal story of her pregnancy during graduate school to provide an example.
According to Prebel, she knew she was making the right decision to have a child and pursue her PhD at the same time, but her advisors, friends and colleagues weren’t so sure. The advice Prebel received from others during her pregnancy gave her new insight into the ways in which maternity presents a unique problem for career-driven women in society. “To the world around me, I had changed somehow,” Prebel said.
Prebel addressed the issue of the perceived societal boundaries placed upon motherhood. She posed the question of whether or not “mother” can be a woman’s only source of identity. This debate is not new. Explaining the “cult” of femininity that was pervasive at the turn of the century, Prebel drew on literary examples ranging from novels like Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening” and William Faulkner’s “A Light in August” to illustrate women confronting social expectations of domesticity and submissiveness.
Prebel was also concerned with the political side of the issue, suggesting that in these discourses, motherhood was seen less as a choice and more as an obligation to produce valuable offspring for the growing country. More modern discourses from the “Hip Mama” book series by Ariel Gore present a different, post-feminist vision of motherhood where a woman’s personal identity isn’t compromised or curbed when she has a child.
Despite these reformed thoughts, however, Prebel looked to modern examples of motherhood to show just how this modern vision of the “mother and . . . ” (referring to motherhood as only part of a woman’s identity) might not be so prevalent.
Prebel cited Nadya Sulemon, otherwise known as “Octomom.” Giving birth to octuplets in Jan. 2009, in addition to her six other children, Sulemon has been under a constant storm of media attention, most of it negative. As a single mom on welfare, she is a contrasting model to John and Kate Gosselin of the television series “John and Kate Plus Eight.” Critically examining the vilification of Octomom, Prebel opened up the talk to a question and answer session with the audience, where students brought up hot button issues like responsibility, child exploitation and fame. Although the lecture drew more questions than answers, the role of mothers in society is being re-evaluated just as it was 100 years ago.
The Feminist Faculty Series promises more pertinent and engaging topics throughout the semester. CGE Programming Assistant Jacob Goldstein (senior), emphasized his desire to raise more awareness about the CGE on campus. “As a new campus organization, many students are still unaware of the CGE or unsure what exactly the Center does,” he said. “Through events such as the Feminist Faculty Series, I hope to establish the CGE as a programming presence on campus, much like the Intercultural Community Center.”
Fellow CGE advisory board member Morgan Flake (sophomore) agreed, “I think many students don’t know about the CGE or even how to find it in upper campus. I hope that students see it as a safe, open space where they can be comfortable asking for assistance or just taking advantage of the comfy couches and air conditioning.”
In addition to the continuation of the Feminist Speaker Series, the CGE will be hosting its largest event of the semester from October 15-23, Masculinities Week, bringing five prominent scholars to Oxy to speak critically about masculine identity and modern culture. The CGE also hosts Women!, QSA and Project SAFE.
Visit the CGE’s online calendar to see upcoming events at http://www.oxy.edu/x7969.xml.
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