RECENT EVENTS

SEXUAL ASSAULT AWARENESS MONTH APRIL 2012

Fenway Health’s Community Summit
Friday, April 6th 9am-4:30pm

Movie Night: Searching for Angela Shelton
Tuesday, April 10th 7-9pm 6-120 [trigger warning]

Boston Area Rape Crisis Center Walk
Sunday, April 22nd
Registration: 9:30am Walk: 11am CambridgeSide Galleria

MIT White Ribbon Project
Wear a white ribbon to show your support! Pick one up In Lobby 10 : Tabling Tuesdays + Wednesdays 10am-2pm
+ Johnson Lobby of Z Center Thursday 11:20-1:30, 5-7pm

MIT Residence Parties
Sunday, April 8th Ashdown 7pm
Sunday, April 22nd Sidney-Pacific 7pm
Sunday, April 29th Tang 5pm
plus various FSILGs
check website for complete listings

Take Back the Night
+ Project Unbreakable
Photo Exhibition: April 25th-26th 9am-5pm
Reception: Thursday April 26th 4-7pm
both in Stata balconies

MIT Clothesline Project
ongoing throughout month

For help or more info, email Kelley at Violence Prevention and Response: adam@med.mit.edu

BARCC's 7th Annual Walk for Change
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Registration begins at 9:30 am
Walk begins at 11:00 am
Canal Park, Cambridge

Online registration is now OPEN!

Conversations You Can’t Have On-Campus:
Being a Woman at MIT

Friday, April 6 from 6pm to 8pm in the R&D Common Dinner with faculty and staff, including our keynote speaker Professor Dr. Evelyn Wang, MIT ’00

Friday, April 7 from 9am to 5pm at the Sloan School, E62 Daylong retreat with meals and refreshments provided.

Open to all currently registered undergraduate and graduate MIT students who identify as women.
Apply/Sign-up: studentlife.mit.edu/women/programs/retreatapp
Space is limited, apply early!

WOMEN TAKE THE REEL
OPENING NIGHT!
THURSDAY - MARCH 1, 2012
MIT - 77 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE, RM [6-120] 7PM

"Women Making Democracy"
Thursday, March 29, 2012–Friday, March 30, 2012

Radcliffe Gymnasium,
10 Garden Street, Radcliffe Yard,
617-495-8600

The conference is free and open to the public. Registration is required.

Registration for the Thursday and Friday conference events must be completed separately.

Registration for the artistic performance on Thursday, March 29, is required by March 15. Click here to register for March 29.

Registration for the full day of panel discussions on Friday, March 30, is required by March 23. Click here to register for March 30.

Each year, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University hosts a conference that explores from many perspectives the role of gender in a significant aspect of the human experience. This year’s conference, titled "Women Making Democracy," will consider the role of women specifically—and gender more generally—in movements for democratic change. Activists, journalists, and academics from different fields and disciplines will examine and analyze recent events in countries affected by the democratizing efforts often described as “Arab Spring” and compare women’s experiences of these events with those of women in other moments of democratic change around the world, including Eastern Europe, South Africa, and Latin America.

For more information, visit http://www.radcliffe.edu/events/calendar_2012democracy.aspx

IAP OFFERING! The non-Book Club Book Club: Negotiating Femininity and Masculinity Thursdays in January —10th, 17th, 24th and 31st See our Book Club link
Additional meetings may be held during the Spring semester. Please check back for more information

Download the flyer

Miss Representation: A Sundance Film Monday
a documentary film by Jennifer Siebel Newsom

Monday, November 21st
Monday, November 21 at 7:00pm
Room 26-100
Reception to Follow

The documentary, Miss Representationn, written, directed and produced by Jennifer Siebal Newsom, premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, and aired on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network in October. The film explores how the media’s misrepresentation of women has led to the underrepresentation of women in positions of power and influence.

Miss Representation uncovers a glaring reality we live with every day but fail to see. The film exposes how mainstream media contribute to the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence in America. The film challenges the media’s limited and often disparaging portrayals of women and girls, which make it difficult for women to achieve leadership positions and for the average woman to feel powerful herself.

In a society where media is the most persuasive force shaping cultural norms, the collective message that our young women and men overwhelmingly receive is that a woman’s value and power lie in her youth, beauty, and sexuality, and not in her capacity as a leader. While women have made great strides in leadership over the past few decades, the United States is still 90th in the world for women in national legislatures, women hold only 3% of clout positions in mainstream media, and 65% of women and girls have disordered eating behaviors.

Stories from teenage girls and provocative interviews with politicians, journalists, entertainers, activists and academics, like Condoleezza Rice, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Rachel Maddow, Margaret Cho, Rosario Dawson and Gloria Steinem build momentum as Miss Representation accumulates startling facts and statistics that will leave the audience shaken and armed with a new perspective.

It's not too late to submit your awesome, progressive costume design.
First Place Prize: iPod Touch 8
Second Place: $50
Third Place: $25

Send your photos to feministsoccupyhalloween@gmail.com
Photos will be displayed at feministsoccupyhalloween.tumblr.com

Thursday, November 3, 2011
5:30 PM - 7:00 pm

Join photographer Stephanie Sinclair and writer Cynthia Gorney to discuss their work
investigating the underground world of prearranged child marriage,
where girls as young as five are forced to wed.

Boston Public Library
700 Boylston Street
Boston Room
Free and Open to the Public
Presented by Boston University School of Public Health, Boston University College of Communication, Boston University Center for Global Health and Development and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting

For more information, go to http://www.bu.edu/cghd/news/calendar/childbrides/

MIT Program in Women's and Gender Studies in collaboration with Women in Film and Video/New England present a CHICKS MAKE FLICKS film screening...

No Way Out But One
a film by Garland Waller
Thursday - October 27th, 2011
6 - 120
7PM

In 1994 Holly Collins became an international fugitive when she grabbed her three children and went on the run. It all happened because a family court had ignored Holly’s charges, the children’s pleas, Holly’s broken nose, Zackary’s fractured skull, and other medical evidence of domestic violence and had given full custody of Zackary and Jennifer to Holly's ex-husband. Holly came to believe she and the children had No Way Out But One.

No Way Out But One tells the story of one woman and her family that is emblematic of a larger heartbreaking national scandal. In Child and Family Court systems across the country, those who abuse their children are often awarded custody of them by the very courts charged with protecting them. It is estimated that 58,000 children a year are ordered into unsupervised contact with physically or sexually abusive parents following divorce in the United States.

Though No Way Out But One is the story of one remarkable woman and her extraordinary efforts to protect her children, in far too many ways, Holly’s story is like thousands of others. It is the story of a national scandal, and it exposes a system that is dysfunctional and dangerous and must be radically changed.

Q&A with director to follow

Free & open to the public

Tuesday April 26-Thursday April 28, 2011

WOMEN IN CONFLICT ZONES: A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

Tuesday April 26: Film Screening. Impunity or Violence? Sexual and Gender-based Violence in Kenya.

Refreshments will be provided. Discussion to follow with director, Alexander Smith.

Location: MIT 4-231

Time: 7-9 PM

Wednesday April 27: Panel Discussion. Violence on the Home Front: Women in Boston.

Panelists: Fran Froehlich, Community Works (moderator)

Carline Desire, Executive Director of the Association for Haitian Women

Our Bodies Ourselves (Speaker TBA)

David Adams Ed.D., Co-Director, Emerge

Location: MIT 2-105. Enter at 77 Mass Ave, use Whereis-MIT for directions.

Time: 7-9 PM

Thursday April 28: Discussion with WGS Prof. Abha Sur Cultural Imperialism in the Global Feminist Discourse.

Join us for some light dinner and discussion about gendered violence, paternalism, and cultural imperialism in feminism conversations and power structures. This dinner discussion, led by Dr. Sur, will bring together themes introduced in the programs on Tuesday (Kenya movie) and Wednesday (Boston panel).

Professor Abha Sur: http://web.mit.edu/wgs/people/sur.html

Location: MIT TBA

Time: 7-9 PM

Please email end_violence@mit.edu for more information.

Sunday April 10, 2011

Boston Area Rape Crisis Center 6th Walk for Change

Location and Time: Registration at 9:30 AM, walk at 11 AM, Canal Park at Cambridgeside Galleria

Route: 5k Loop along DCR's Charles River pathways

Visit BARCC to learn more. Register early and walk with us in the MIT Team Change Beavers. We hope to see many of you there!

Thursday March 31, 2011

Film Screening: Budrus by Julia Bacha

Location and Time: TBA, MIT Room 6-120

It takes a village to unite the most divided people on earth.

Budrus is an award-winning feature documentary film about a Palestinian community organizer, Ayed Morrar, who unites local Fatah and Hamas members along with Israeli supporters in an unarmed movement to save his village of Budrus from destruction by Israel's Separation Barrier. Success eludes them until his 15-year-old daughter, Iltezam, launches a women's contingent that quickly moves to the front lines. Struggling side by side, father and daughter unleash an inspiring, yet little-known, movement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories that is still gaining ground today.

In an action-filled documentary chronicling this movement from its infancy, Budrus shines a light on people who choose nonviolence to confront a threat. While this film is about one Palestinian village, it tells a much bigger story about what is possible in the Middle East.

Closing Reception to follow.

This event is co-sponsored with MIT Center for International Studies

Saturday March 19, 2011

QWOCMAP Film Festival

Location and Time: 1-6 PM, MIT Room TBA

Join us for a day of short and feature length films curated by the Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project.

This event is co-sponsored with lgbt@MIT

Friday March 18, 2011

Film Screening: Women Without Men by Shirin Neshat

Location and Time: 7-9 PM, MIT Room 32-141

In her feature-film debut, renowned visual artist Shirin Neshat offers an exquisitely crafted view of Iran in 1953, when a British- and American-backed coup removed the democratically elected government. Adapted from the novel by Iranian author Shahrnush Parsipur, the film weaves together the stories of four individual women during those traumatic days, whose experiences are shaped by their faith and the social structures in place.

With a camera that floats effortlessly through the lives of the women and the beautiful countryside of Iran, Neshat explores the social, political, and psychological dimensions of her characters as they meet in a metaphorical garden, where they can exist and reflect while the complex intellectual and religious forces shaping their world linger in the air around them.

Discussion with author of the novel Women Without Men, Shahrnush Parsipur, to follow.

This event is co-sponsored with MIT Amnesty International

Tuesday March 15, 2011

MIT Women's and Gender Studies Lecture

Iraqi Women in the "New Iraq": Law, Violence, and Mobilization with Professor Nadje Al-Ali

Location and Time: 3-4:30 PM, MIT Room 4-237

Iraq is not news anymore except during suicide bombings and targeted attacks of religious minorities, politicians and professionals. But what happened to Iraqi women who were promised liberation, greater rights and an important role in the �new Iraq�? In this talk, Prof. Al-Ali will critically reflect on the legal, political and social conditions and developments in post-invasion Iraq. She will pay particular attention to various forms of increasing gender based violence and discuss the mobilization against it. In this context she will address the importance of transnational feminist solidarity that takes an intersectional approach as its basis for mobilization.

Nadje Al-Ali is Professor of Gender Studies and Chair of the Centre for Gender Studies, at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. Her main research interests revolve around gender theory; feminist activism; women and gender in the Middle East; transnational migration and diaspora mobilization; war, conflict and reconstruction. Her publications include "What kind of Liberation? Women and the Occupation of Iraq and Iraqi Women: Untold Stories from 1948 to the Present." Nadje is currently President of the Association of Middle East Women�s Studies (AMEWS).

Thursday March 10, 2011

Film Screening: Body and Soul: Diana and Kathy by Alice Elliott

Location and Time: 7-9 PM, MIT Room 32-141

Body & Soul: Diana & Kathy, directed by Academy Award-nominee Alice Elliott, is a rare look at an unusual, symbiotic relationship between two people some would call profoundly disabled. Two of the country's most remarkable advocates for people with disabilities, Diana Braun, who has Down Syndrome, and Kathy Conour, who has cerebral palsy, met three decades ago and vowed to fight to live independent lives. Told in an intimate style, the film is a story of a compelling, creative friendship, as Diana and Kathy model a grand experiment in independent living.

Discussion to follow.

This event is co-sponsored with MIT Student Disabilities Services

Thursday March 3, 2011

Film Screening: Never Perfect by Regina Park

Location and Time: 7-9 PM, MIT Room 6-120

In 2006, there were 11 million cosmetic plastic surgery procedures performed in the United States, constituting an $11.4 billion industry. How are ideals of beauty influenced by race, history, and geopolitics? With a rich selection of film clips and archival footage,Never Perfect examines the dramatic rise in popularity of cosmetic surgery among Asian-American women.

 Never Perfect follows the complex journey of a young Vietnamese-American woman - as she struggles with her decision to undergo a cosmetic procedure known as double eyelid surgery. In the process, this incisive documentary considers historical and contemporary examples of beauty, stereotypes and iconography within Asian and popular cultures in exploring the factors that influence body image and self-perception - as well as what it means to be an ever-evolving, multi-faceted woman living in today's global society.

Discussion with MIT Professor Chuong-Dai Vo to follow.

Tuesday November 9, 2010

48 HOURS* (*The amount of time it takes a young runaway to be approached by a pimp). Exploring the Myths and Facts of Sexual Exploitation. Speaker Nikki Valila, ACT Program Director of the Germaine Lawrence Home in Boston specializes in working with sexually exploited girls and has been working with this population for over 7 years.

Location and Time: 5:30-7:00 PM, Stata Center 32D-461

The ACT (Acknowledge, Commit, Transform) Group Home exclusively serves girls who have been, or are at risk for being commercially sexually exploited. The group home offers therapeutic services in a warm, nurturing environment to help girls develop a positive identity, healthy connections to their family and community, and skills to live a healthy and independent lifestyle.

Co-Sponsored with Women and Gender Studies at MIT.

Thursday November 4, 2010

FOR NEDA: A FILM SCREENING. FOR NEDA reveals the true story of Neda Agha-Soltan, who became another tragic casualty of Iran's violent crackdown on post-election Iranian in 2009.

Time and Location: 7:30 PM, Room 4-163

Co-Sponsored with MIT Amnesty International and sponsored by Technology & Culture Forum.

Friday October 22, 2010

Hijabi Monologues performance.

Saturday October 16, 2010

Barakat Walk for Literacy: http://barakatworld.org/Walk.html. The cost is $25/person. If enough people are interested, we could form a team and do a quick fundraiser. Please email end_violence@mit.edu.

Thursday October 14, 2010, and every other week

The book club is back! Every other Thursday, 4-251.

Thursday April 1, 2010

The book club is ongoing! We have a few more copies of Ayaan Hirsi Ali's "Infidel" left. Email end_violence@mit.edu for more info. Book club is in room 4-251 from 5-7 PM. Next meeting will be on April 1st.

Tuesday March 30, 2010

Come join us for a big networking event ("Party with a Purpose") on the 30th of March from 7 to 9 PM in Ashdown House's Hulsizer Room! Everyone in the Boston/Cambridge area interested in joining the cause and working with various women's organizations is welcome. We're planning to have representatives from women's shelters and the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center present. Omega Phi Beta, a Boston-area organization, is also running a book drive and will be accepting book donations for victims of domestic violence. Email end_violence@mit.edu for more information.

For directions, go to Ashdown's Directions Page

The Hulsizer Room is located on the first floor right next to the Thirsty Ear Pub. See the right hand side of the floorplan.

Tuesday March 16, 2010

Humaira Awais Shahid will give a talk at MIT on March 16th in Room 1-190 at 5:30 PM. She is the first parliamentarian in the history of Pakistan to make successful legislations as an individual member. She prohibited private usury in her law which exploited the down trodden and was a source of an exploited tool to force women into brothels and forced marriages, her law was adopted and replicated by N.W.F.P Parliament (the most conservative, tribal Parliament). As a legislator, she successfully grounded resolutions against Acid Attacks and Forced Marriages (customary practice VANI), which became the basis of The Criminal Law(Amendment) Act, 2005. During her 5 year strenuous struggle she succeeded despite extreme opposition from criminal mafia, cabinet and administrative departments.

Ms. Shahid as a journalist exposed the oppression and discrimination facing women and children. She highlighted countless stories of stove burnings, child prostitution, rapes, acid attacks etc. She was editor of The Post, an English Daily, from 2007-2009, and from 2000-2007 was editor of the women�s section of Daily Khabrain. Currently a scholar at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, Ms. Shahid is researching violence against women in the context of political Islam and tribal culture.

This program is co-sponsored with the MIT Program in Human Rights and Justice and MIT Program in Women's and Gender Studies.

Location: MIT Campus Room 1-190

Event starts at 5:30 PM

Thursdays during IAP 2010

Join us for an IAP book club in Room 1-215 every Thursday between 5 and 7 PM. For more info, check out the Book Club page.

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

Malalai Joya comes to MIT to talk about women's rights, her work, and the struggle for women's rights in Afghanistan.

Called "the bravest woman in Afghanistan", Joya is a member of the Afghan parliament who has repeatedly stood up to the warlords, for women's rights and democracy. Despite having had four assassination attempts against her, she refuses to remain silent and continues to fight for women's rights.

Location: MIT Campus Room 10-250

Event starts at 7 PM

Event is free and open to the public. Donations for the costs of bringing Joya here and for the Defense Committee for Malalai Joya are encouraged and appreciated.

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

Film screening: A Walk to Beautiful

The award winning feature-length documentary A Walk to Beautiful tells the stories of five Ethiopian women who suffer from devastating childbirth injuries and embark on a journey to reclaim their lost dignity. Rejected by their husbands and ostracized by their communities, these women are left to spend the rest of their lives in loneliness and shame. They make the choice to take the long and arduous journey to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in search of a cure and a new life.

Location: MIT Campus Room 6-120

Event starts at 7 PM

Co-sponsored by MIT Amnesty International

Event is free and open to the public.

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

Film screening: Making Waves, Saving Lives

Making Waves, Saving Lives tells the story of Dolphin Anti-Rape, an organization that teaches Kenyan women and girls rape awareness and self-defense. With no government funding, a 1985 Toyota that�s constantly in the shop, and unreliable public transportation, four dedicated volunteers find a way to overcome adversity to get into the classrooms of Nairobi to empower young women. These girls learn that they have the right to say no to unwanted advances and they gain the courage to fight back and run away. Ten years since the founding of Dolphin Anti-Rape, its volunteers are affecting not only students but also a whole generation of young Kenyans, giving them confidence filling them with empowerment, and helping them preserve their innocence. Witness how the dedicated volunteers of Dolphin Anti-Rape enable young women to walk the streets of Nairobi with pride instead of fear.

Filmmaker Golzar Selbe (from Dolphin Anti-Rape, VDay) will be in attendance for a discussion afterwards.

Location: MIT campus Room 6-120

Event starts at 7 PM

Event is free and open to the public. Donations for Dolphin Anti-Rape are encouraged and appreciated.

Monday, October 26th, 2009

Film Screening: Holly

Free screening of "Holly" to raise awareness about sex trafficking in Southeast Asia. Info about "Holly": "Set in Cambodia, depicts child prostitution through the non-sexual, complex relationship between Holly, a beautiful 12-year-old Vietnamese girl, and Patrick, an obsessive 40-year-old American stolen artifacts dealer." Location: MIT Campus Room 66-110

Time 7:15pm-9:00pm

Event is free and open to the public

Friday, October 16th, 2009

Zoya from the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), a group that has been doing daring education, relief, and organizing work in Afghanistan and in refugee camps in Pakistan, talks about women�s rights and RAWA�s work and mission.

Location: MIT Campus, TBA

Event starts at 7 PM

Co-sponsored by the MIT South Asia Forum and the Programming Committee of Women's Studies

Event is free and open to the public. Donations for the costs of bringing Zoya here and for the Defense Committee for Malalai Joya are encouraged and appreciated.

Monday, October 5th, 2009

Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn discuss �Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.�

Location: Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St, Cambridge (Harvard Square)

Event starts at 6 PM

Co-sponsored by MIT's Center for International Studies

Tickets online at The Harvard Bookstore

More events to follow! Come back to this site for more updates.