Ongoing Events
University Art Gallery
UC San Diego
October 23 until December 12, 2009
For the new exhibition season the University Art Gallery, UC San Diego presents an international exhibition entitled Off The Beaten Path: Violence, Women and Art. The exhibition brings together artists from around the world to explore the global ramifications of gender-based violence. The exhibition, curated by Randy Jayne Rosenberg executive director of Art Works For Change, features twenty-one artists from nineteen countries.
Off The Beaten Path: Violence, Women and Art
Events in November 2009
Roundtable Discussion Panel:
Transnational Feminism and Analysis of the U.S. Military Sexual Assault in Japan
Saturday, November 14, 2009
4:00 – 5:15 pm
Annual Conference of the National Women’s Studies Association
November 12-15, 2009
For complete information about the conference: http://www.nwsaconference.org/cms/
This roundtable will include Dr. Linda Pershing, a folklorist and women’s studies scholar whose research has looked closely at the role of women as political activists, Dr. Natalie Wilson, a scholar of women’s studies who has written about social change movements, Col. Ann Wright, a political activist with a long career in the military, whose efforts on behalf of victims of military violence and sexual assault are widely recognized, and students at California State University San Marcos who are working with the aforementioned on an ongoing research project.
Each participant will give a short presentation on a different aspect of the project. We will then open to a broader discussion, inviting audience participation.
For more information about the panel participants, review their biographies here.
Events in October 2009
Veterans for Peace
PRESS CONFERENCE and Action for Rape in the Military Awareness Week
Time: 10:30am, Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Location:
In front of the Armed Forces Recruiting Station, Times Square, Broadway and 42nd, New York City, NY
For further information call:
Ann Wright, event coordinator, 808-741-1141;
Michael McPherson, Executive Director of Veterans for Peace, 314-303-8874
Mike Ferner, National President, Veterans for Peace, 419-360-3621
Leah Bolger, National Vice-President of Veterans for Peace, 541-207-7761
Sandy Kelson, National Rape Awareness week coordinator, 814-382-4887
Participants:
Ann Wright, Colonel, 29 year veteran of the US Army and US Army Reserves
Leah Bolger, retired US Navy Commander and National Vice President of Veterans for Peace
Sandra Lee, US Army soldier survivor of sexually assault while in the military
Due to the incredible epidemic of rape in the military in which 1 in 3 women in the military have been raped or sexually assaulted, Veterans for Peace, a national veterans organization has designated October 12-16 as “Military Rape Awareness Week.”
http://www.veteransforpeace.org/Email_blast_september2_2009.vp.html
VFP chapters will have actions during that week at Armed Forces Recruiting stations around the country to demand that military recruiters alert women who are thinking about joining the military about the high possibility they will be raped while in the controlled, highly disciplined military environment.
Retired Army Colonel Ann Wright said, “It is a responsibility of us as veterans to warn young women that according to Veterans Administration studies, one in three women are sexually assaulted or raped while they are in the military.”
On Tuesday, October 13 at 10:30am members of Veterans for Peace, Iraq Veterans against the War, Granny Peace Brigade, Codepink: Women for Peace, World Can’t Wait, Artists Response Team and We will not be Silent will warn potential women recruits at the Armed Forces Recruiting Station in Times Square about the alarming rates of sexual assault and rape of women in the military. Several victims of military rape may speak.
Following the press conference, members of Veterans for Peace and other organizations will warn women thinking about joining the military by plastering the windows of the recruiting station with stickers that state: “1 in 3 women are raped while in the military.”
Background:
Sexual assault and rape of women and men in the US military increased so dramatically during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that in 2005 then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld formed a task force on sexual assault-however, the task force did not meet until 2008.
Nearly one-third of a nationwide sample of women veterans who sought health care through the Veterans Administration said they experience rape or attempted rape during their service. Of that group, 37 percent said they were raped multiple times and 14 percent reported they were gang-raped. Department of Defense has been reluctant to release statistics on sexual assault of men in the military, but anecdotal evidence indicates that the statistics are alarmingly high.
Over the past 10 years, more than 700 US Army Recruiters have been accused of sexual misconduct or rape.
60 years of US military studies and task forces since women began entering the military in larger numbers have not lessened the incidents of assault and rape.
We call on the Department of Defense and the US Military Recruiting Commands and the Military Entrance Processing Stations to formally notify women and men of the statistics on the incidence of the criminal acts of sexual assault and rape of women and men in the military committed by fellow members of the military, many in their chains of command.
Combat to Connection
A Retreat for Female Service Members and Veterans
October 8-11, 2009
For complete information see http://www.cominghomeproject.net/
Combat to Connection is a four-day retreat for female service members and veteran, focusing on healing, connecting and finding our inner strength. There is no cost for participants. All women who have served in the military since September 11, 2001 are eligible to attend. The application deadline is September 8th, 2009.
Events in September 2009
The Lonely Soliders Monologues (Women at War in Iraq) ,
Helen Benedict’s acclaimed play about women soldiers serving in Iraq
is coming back to New York for two Sundays in September!
September 20th and 27th
La Mama E.T.C.
74A East 4th Street, NYC
Box Office: (212) 475-7710
http://www.lamama.org
For complete information : www.lonelysoldierplay.com
To read a review of the play published in the New York Times, click here.
Events in March 2009
Theater for the New City – New York City, New York
The Lonely Soliders Monologues (Women at War in Iraq)
March 5 To 22, 2009
For complete information see http://www.lonelysoldierplay.com/
William Electric Black will direct The Lonely Soldier Monologues (Women at War In Iraq) by Helen Benedict, author of The Lonely Soldier: The Private War of Women Serving in Iraq (Beacon Press, April 200)9. It contains monologues of seven soldiers which were gathered through interviews and correspondence for the book.
Ms. Benedict’s book is an intimate, unflinching, and sometimes disturbing portrait of women in today’s military. Audiences will have the thrilling experience of being face-to-face with the characters, adding the immediacy of theater to what is already a rich literary experience.
The actors are Allison Troesch, Athena Colon, Cara Liander, Julia A. Grob, Kim Weston-Moran, Macah Coates and Verna Hampton. Set and lighting design are by Federico Restrepo. Costume design is by Tilly Grimes. Production Coordinator/Manager is Chriz Zaborowski. Sound Design/Drums are by Jim Mussen. Choreography is by Jeremy Lardieri.
Events in February 2009
Security Without Empire
National Organizing Conference on Foreign Military Bases
On the campus of American University, Washington, D.C.
February 27 to March 2, 2009
http://www.afsc.org/cambridge/ht/d/sp/i/72158/pid/7215
Organized by the American Friends Service Committee, this was an important conference in Washington, D.C., focusing on the effects of militarization on societies around the world. Several of the speakers and panels specifically addressed U.S. military violence against women and girls.
