Rachel Simmons

Women's History Month at Emory, March 2003
Women Imagining a World of Peace and Freedom

In March every year, the Emory Women's Center sponsors a wide-ranging celebration of Women's History Month. Attracting nationally recognized keynote speakers such as the Boston Women's Health Collective, Michael Kimmel, Naomi Wolf, Rebecca Walker, Faye Wattleton, Lani Guinier, Wilma Mankiller, Natalie Angier, Carol Moseley Braun, Rachel Simmons, and Helen Thomas.

Women's History Month events at Emory open a window onto women's cultural, intellectual and social lives.

Keynote Speaker: Rachel Simmons, author of The New York Times best-seller Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls, was this year's Women's History Month keynote speaker. A native of Washington, DC, Simmons graduated from Vassar College with a degree in women's studies and political science. Awarded a Rhodes Scholarship in 1997, Simmons went on to work for New York City mayor Rudolph Guliani and on NY Senator Charles E. Schumer's 1998 campaign. After the election, Simmons attended Oxford University, where she began studying female aggression.

In Odd Girl Out Simmons drew on her own personal experiences, as well as her extensive interviews with 300 girls ranging in age from 9 to 15 to present a fascinating and at times bleak portrait of contemporary female relationships. Simmons skillfully drew out both bullies and victims by assuming that many girls would be mean and not expecting them to be "nice" or "sweet"as most adults would do. From her subjects, she gleaned accounts of girlhood interactions that many women will find achingly familiar.

Simmons revealed that while boys work out conflict openly, often with physical aggression, girls are expected to avoid open conflict and to appear as carefree and perfect as possible. This results in covert aggression, hidden ostracism and emotional cruelty, which is often invisible to outsiders. Simmons makes it her project to reveal this hidden culture of aggression, in the hope that girls will be persuaded to follow suit. She believes that if girls were encouraged to acknowledge their aggression, this would empower them to negotiate conflicts and define relationships in "new and healthier ways."

February 27
Opening reception for "Picturing Peace," an exhibit of photographs from Women in Focus, juried by Nancy Marshall, 5 p.m, The Art Gallery at Dobbs University Center. Sponsored by the L.E.A.D. Team and Emory Women's Center

March 2
University Worship, Women’s History Month Sunday Celebration - 11:00 a.m., Cannon Chapel. Sponsored by Emory Office of the Dean of the Chapel and Religious Life and Emory Women’s Center

March 3
"Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls," KEYNOTE ADDRESS by Rachel Simmons, Rhodes scholar and author, 7:30 p.m., Cannon Chapel. Book signing and reception to follow in Brooks Commons. Sponsored by Emory Women's Center, Institute for Women's Studies Jessica Glasser Memorial Lecture, Hightower Lecture Fund, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, President's Commission on the Status of Women at Emory, Department of Psychology and Violence Studies Program

March 5
"Peacemaking: Women in Activism Around the World," roundtable discussion facilitated by Yamini Atmavilas, PhD candidate in Women's Studies, in honor of International Women's Day, 4 p.m., Winship Ballroom, DUC. Sponsored by the International Student and Scholar Programs Office and Emory Women's Center

March 8
International Women's Day

March 17
"Selections from the Alternate Encyclopedia: The Works of Sue Johnson." Guest artist lecture and opening reception with Sue Johnson, 5:30–7:30 pm, Joseph W. Jones Room, Woodruff Library. Sponsored by Schatten Gallery, Emory Women's Center, Friends of the Emory University Libraries, and Oxford College of Emory University and with the generous support of TIAA-CREF

March 21
Sixth Annual National Black Herstory Conference 12:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m., 208 White Hall. Emory students, faculty, and staff are admitted to conference sessions free with ID. For more information, contact Mozella Galloway, (404) 508-8040. Sponsored by National Black Herstory Task Force, Emory Women's Center and Institute for Women's Studies

National Black Herstory Awards Banquet 7:00 p.m., Cox Hall Ballroom. Annual awards presentation with musical guest. Dinner ticket $35; limited seating. Contact Mozella Galloway, (404) 508-8040. Sponsored by National Black Herstory Task Force

Opening night of "Room" 8 p.m., Mary Gray Munroe Theater, DUC, 3rd floor. "Room" is a theatrical work created by the SITI Company from a sampling of Virginia Woolf's writings, featuring Ellen Lauren. $25 general admission. Discounts are available for most of the ticketed events during the season: 60% off for Emory students with ID; 20% off for Emory faculty & staff, PBA members, TCG members, & Arts Card holders; and10% off for alumni under 30, seniors over 65, Friends of Theater Emory, and groups of 10 or more.

March 22
Sixth Annual National Black Herstory Conference 10:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m., 208 White Hall.

"Room" featuring Ellen Lauren, 8 p.m., Mary Gray Munroe Theater, DUC, 3rd floor. Talk back with artists after the performance. $25 general admission.

March 23
"Room" featuring Ellen Lauren, 3 p.m., Mary Gray Munroe Theater, DUC, 3rd floor. $25 general admission.

March 24
Candler Women's "Women's Week: Women Proclaiming Peace" (March 24 through March 28) begins. For more information on Candler Women's Week events, email switty@learnlink.emory.edu or call (404) 727-4180.

Colloquium with author Susan Straight - 2:30 p.m., Joseph W. Jones Room, Woodruff Library. Sponsored by Creative Writing Program, Emory Women's Center, and Institute for Women's Studies

Reading with author Susan Straight - 8:15 p.m., Joseph W. Jones Room, Woodruff Library. Sponsored by Creative Writing Program, Emory Women's Center, and Institute for Women's Studies

March 25
Female Director Film Series continues with "The Day I Became a Woman" directed by Marziyeh Meshkini at 8pm in the Emory Women's Center. Co-sponsored by Emory Women's Center, Office of Residence Life, Multicultural Programs and Services, Arab Cultural Association, and Muslim Women's Literary Society.

March 26
Luncheon, Lecture and Dance with Hyun Kyung Chung, internationally renowned scholar and professor of theology at Union Theological Seminary, with Melvin Miller, theologian and dancer for the Alvin Ailey Company. Sponsored by Candler Women's Week

Healthy Women 2000: "When Sex Doesn't Work" with Sally Lehr, RN, MCCS-FAACS, Noon, Emory Women's Center Conference Room. Sponsored by Emory Women's Center

March 27
Women's History Month Dance Presentation featuring choreography by Anna Leo, Martha Donovan, and Dana Phelps Marschalk, 12 p.m., Schwartz Center Dance Studio. Sponsored by Emory Dance Program and Emory Women's Center

Month-long
Emory Women's Center Exhibit - "A Chronicle of Significant Events in the Lives of Women at Emory University," featuring vintage photos from the Woodruff Library's Special Collections. Sponsored by Woodruff Library Special Collections and Emory Women's Center

Campus Life Gallery Exhibit "Picturing Peace," a group show of photographs by Women In Focus. The Art Gallery at Dobbs University Center. February 27, March 28, 2003. Sponsored by the L.E.A.D. Team and Emory Women's Center

Schatten Gallery Exhibit "To Change Things for the Better’: Women at Emory in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries," an exhibit of photographs and memorabilia drawn from the Emory Archives that serves as a visual scrapbook of women's history at Emory College and University. March 15–May 31, 2003. Sponsored by Emory University Archives, Special Collections and Archives Division of the Robert W. Woodruff Library, Friends of the Emory University Libraries, Emory Women's Center, and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and with the generous support of TIAA-CREF

Schatten Gallery Corridor Exhibit "Selections from the Alternate Encyclopedia: The Works of Sue Johnson." March 17–May 31, 2003. Sponsored by Emory Women's Center, Friends of the Emory University Libraries, and Oxford College of Emory University and with the generous support of TIAA-CREF