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And if the Event Had Been Called "Dickfest"
Would There Have Been a Problem?
By Lisa Okey
Inga Muscio, author of Cunt: A Declaration of Independence, found
herself at the center of a maelstrom of controversy, pitting liberals
against conservatives, after taking part in what was supposed to be an
empowering day of celebration at Penn State. Women AND men were invited to
come and listen to music, poetry, take self-defense workshops and
learn how to operate out of respect and love for each other instead of
oppression and abuse. Cuntfest, Inga's project with performance artist
Jess Dobkin and Home Alive's Cristien Storm, took place on Saturday,
November 18th, and was sponsored by Womyn's Concerns and the Feminist
Majority Leadership Alliance, and had been approved by the University
Park Allocation Committee (UPAC distributes funds from both the student
activity fee and general funds, which includes some state tax money.)
From the beginning there was controversy. UPAC wanted the two sponsors to
change the event name and the Daily Collegian refused to print the ads which
said CUNTFEST in big bold letters. After a large banner that
read CUNTFEST had been hung, Penn State Police Services took it down and
the event organizers had to insist that the banner be rehung because
they had written permission to hang the banner from the Osmond Building
(how punk is that to be able read the word CUNTFEST as you walk to your
next class--now that's food for thought!) Finally the banner was stolen
and a second one also went missing.
Now, a certain Mr. Jeff Budney, chairman of the Penn State Young
Americans for Freedom, saw a flier for the event and was so outraged that he
decided to write a letter to State Rep. John Lawless, Republican-Montgomery,
and send him a copy of the flier so he could be outraged as well. Lawless
then sent a letter to Gov. Tom Ridge's office calling the event "an
inappropriate expenditure of state tax dollars" even though he had no
idea what the event entailed and what the main purpose of the event was.
Lawless sits on the House Appropriations Committee, which is partly
responsible for deciding how much money Penn State receives from the
state each year, so this could be a problem for Penn State in the
future. Michelle Yates, president of Womyn's Concerns, said anyone who
attended the event would realize it was an educational program that
covered topics such as sexual assault and domestic violence.
"This was based on a piece of literature," she said. Yates said she was
angry that Lawless or anyone from Young Americans for Freedom would try
to limit free speech.
Cuntfest never would have made its way to Penn State College were it
not for Michelle Yates, one of the main organizers. Yates contacted
Muscio after she read her book, Cunt, and had a strong desire to meet
her. Yates e-mailed her and invited Inga to speak because "Penn State is
such a conservative university situated in a conservative area. I felt
that it was important to bring Inga in to counteract the Phyllis
Schlaflys and Charlton Hestons that typically speak here." Cuntfest,
like the book Cunt, was created to inspire women to protect and empower
themselves and to reclaim the word "cunt" as a positive title of respect.
Cristien Storm from Home Alive, an anti-violence, self-defense
organization, described the event as "an amazing daylong example of the power
of creative minds coming together to inspire, motivate and create dialogue.
The event brought together different generations, men and women, teachers and
students, and folks from a wide variety of backgrounds. This is powerful."
Storm went on to say that "while most of the controversy is focused on the
word cunt, there was in fact an entire day devoted to men and women coming
together in a fun and inviting atmosphere to learn about how to create
communities that do not perpetuate rape, domestic violence and other forms of
abuse.... It is not often that we spend an entire day
learning how to take care of each other. It is not often that we spend a
Saturday talking about how to keep ourselves, our friends, our families
and our communities safe." And that is the beauty and wisdom of Inga's
pet project. Stay tuned for more information as it rolls in. Inga has
stated that she is "very excited about this whole thing and very
thankful that such completely foolish and ignorant people are picking on
me."
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