Yale women of all kinds

On the back of my friend's T-shirt, there is a quotation that reads, "Speak up for what you believe in, even if your voice shakes." The day I feared that my voice was too shaky to speak alone, I walked into the Women's Center and found some reinforcement.

Located next to Durfee's Sweet Shoppe, the Women's Center has served as a support and activity center for women at Yale since the University went co-ed in 1969. The Center holds weekly coffee hours, organizes outreach programs, and houses feminist publications like Aurora. Staffed completely by students, the Center serves as an umbrella organization for groups like BiWays, Prism, and YaLesbians.

It seems as though the Center has always been a part of my life, even though I have only been at Yale for two years. It is a home to me--home because it always offers a sense of belonging that is never half-hearted. And even now, when I try to think of the exact reason I stepped inside the Center's doors, I get lost in the possibilities. I certainly wanted to get involved in political action, and I knew someone on the staff. And then again I also joined because I wanted to know someone who could relate to me, and I wanted to have someone to listen to me complain about my ex-boyfriend and men in general. And because I wanted to let everyone know that some of my male friends are feminists too. And it was also because I had heard about the pathetic male-to-female ratio of tenured faculty at this institution, and because one of my best friends was raped by a "friend," and because I wanted to learn about proper health care for women so that I wouldn't have to lose another loved one to breast or cervical cancer. And as I became more committed at the Center, I soon understood that this list of reasons went on and on.

I am not your "typical" Yale feminist. Come to think of it, there is no such thing. We come in all shapes, colors and sizes. We have one thing in common: we stand for each other and for all women, even though our voices might shake. Most people think that to be a feminist is to be a femi-Nazi. I don't believe it at all. Don't get me wrong--the Women's Center has its share of femi-Nazis. And I am proud to know them. But I, too, am a feminist, though I wear short skirts, make-up, perfume, and barrettes in my hair. I don't stand outside of big buildings with my picket sign shouting "Hell no, we won't go!" But I certainly will if I have to. And all of my feminist comrades will back me up.

I have also seen the Center bravely tackle sexual assault and harassment, tenure reform, sweatshop labor, police brutality, and a plethora of other issues that many women don't have the sinew to stand up to on their own. I know that I didn't.

The Women's Center was established so that all Yale women could find a place to call home, and a voice to back up their own. We are a meeting place for groups that don't have the means to support themselves, and we are a support group for women who can't cope with a sometimes misogynistic world. We are conservative, liberal, heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual and transgendered. We are the women of Yale.

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