Feminists sit in on feminist lies

Ian Lindhartsen & Brooke Thames; Guest Writer & Editor-in-Chief;
indhaio@plu.edu, thamesbe@plu.edu

Pacific Lutheran University chapter of Students for Life hosted Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins on March 6 for a talk titled “Lies Feminists Tell: How Planned Parenthood Betrays Women.” The event marked a stop on Hawkins’s national college tour and was met with hesitancy and agitation from many PLU students, faculty and staff.

The speech presented points reflecting Hawkins’s opposition to mainstream feminism, abortion and hormonal contraceptives. The event drew a crowd of over 50 people, a majority of whom were students participating in a sit-in protestorganized by PLU Generation Action in support of Planned Parenthood.

THE EVENT

Senior Carly Stauffer said the club had discussed bringing Hawkins’s speech to campus in the past and was happy to accept an offer from its regional coordinator to host the event.

The date given to the club by Students for Life of America followed closely behind the “Out of Silence: Abortion Stories from the 1 in 3 Campaign” theater performance, which occurred March 2-3. Stauffer said the timing gave her pause.

“I did assume that there would be some confusion [and] people would think that this was intentionally scheduled,” Stauffer said. “It was all coincidence. It’s a weird coincidence, but that’s just how it happened to be.”

Shortly after confirming with the club, Students for Life of America created a Facebook event for the speech, titled “Lies Feminists Tell at Pacific Lutheran University.” Stauffer, who doesn’t have a Facebook account, said she was unaware of any controversy stemming from the page until she began receiving feedback from students and staff.

Student Life approached the club with concerns regarding the marketing materials posted online and the resulting reaction from the PLU community. Staff members, including Associate Vice-President for Campus Life Tom Huelsbeck, informed the club that the event was causing feminists on campus to feel excluded. Stauffer said Student Life also expressed unease about the club’s choice to host this particular speech, given its perceived hostility towards feminists.

Students for Life clarified the purpose of the event was to present arguments regarding mainstream feminism in general, not to target feminists on PLU’s campus.

“I think what people were concerned was going to happen was just an deliberate attack on PLU feminists personally. I was very confident that was not going to happen, given what I’d seen online and given the organization in general,” Stauffer said. “At the end of the day, they really are committed to coming from a place of not just truth but compassion and love.”

As a result of the unrest, Students for Life noticed the need to differentiate the club chapter from the national organization. While the club chapter supports the national organization’s philosophies and values regarding abortion, PLU Students for Life uses different tactics when engaging with the campus community.

Stauffer said the club sometimes edits its tabeling displays—which are provided to them by Students for Life of America—when they contain graphic images or other aspects that may be considered sensitive to students.

“Being a pro-life club at PLU, I think you have to be a little more creative sometimes. We walk this really challenging line of being true to our opinions, regardless of them being controversial, but also doing things in a way that the PLU community is receptive to,” Stauffer said. “We’re not going to soften our message […] just to appease people, but we also have to be really thoughtful about what people are going to listen to on this campus.”

PLU’s Division of Student Life assisted the club in considering practical concerns regarding the event, including alerting Campus Safety and preparing for the attendance of local community members. Huelsbeck also informed club members that he would be on site.

Stauffer said she was impressed by the support Student Life offered.

“I was encouraged by the fact that they didn’t ever say, ‘Turn down the volume on the pro-life message,’” Stauffer said. “They were showing a very genuine concern for all PLU students, including those who were offended by the title and our club members. They didn’t want us to feel like we didn’t have a voice.”

THE PROTEST

The PLU chapter of Generation Action planned a sit-in to protest the “Lies Feminists Tell” event. Created and supported by Planned Parenthood, Generation Action is a national network of young activists who promote progressive political action. According to its website, the network commits to “raising public awareness about reproductive health and rights, educating young people about sexual health and creating lasting change in those communities.”

The club also focuses on creating political change regarding equitable healthcare for undocumented immigrants, sexual assault and voter suppression.

“Abortion is a big issue that comes up a lot, but it’s also not the only thing we talk about,” sophomore and Generation Action co-President Deanna Hobbs said during a club meeting March 6. “We talk about all of these things, we lobby about all of these things, we care about all of these things.”

PLU Generation Action is led by co-Presidents Hobbs, sophomore Brianna Papish and Vice President first-year Laurel Stevenson.

The club officers sent an email Feb. 23 inviting students to attend their first club meeting March 6, an hour before “Lies Feminists Tell.” The email also detailed the plans for students from Generation Action, Young Democratic Socialists and Feminist Student Union to attend the event with the intent to “protest by being a presence.” Students were encouraged to wear pink to show support for Planned Parenthood and were instructed to be courteous during the event.

“If you do choose to do this with Generation Action, you have to agree to not be a disturbance to the event, meaning no calling out, ‘bullying,’ or rude comments/questions,” the email read. “This is because these actions ultimately reflect poorly on Planned Parenthood, therefore all volunteers of Planned Parenthood are asked to not engage with direct verbal protest.”

At the meeting prior to “Lies Feminists Tell,” the Generation Action club organizers and other attendees emphasized the sit-in as an opportunity to hear arguments from the other side, as to better craft the pro-choice debate.

Generation Action leaders later informed Stauffer of their plans to attend when she reached out to discuss the “Let’s Talk about Planned Parenthood” event. Stauffer emailed to express disappointment that Generation Action had scheduled “Let’s Talk about Planned Parenthood” during the same date and time as Students For Life’s “Stand with Unplanned Parenthood” panel.

During their correspondence, Generation Action informed Stauffer of the plans for the sit-in. Stauffer said the club leaders expressed concern for the comfort and respect of Students for Life members in relation to their protest.

Stauffer gladly extended an open invitation. Students who hold alternative perspectives, Stauffer said, are the exact attendees Students for Life wants at their events.

“This wasn’t an event for the pro-lifers to gather around and just be surrounded by pro-lifers and say, ‘Yeah, we feel really good about ourselves,’” Stauffer said. “We want to hold events that have diverse opinions so that we can converse with people, get better at [having] conversations and have those challenging questions answered.”

THE TALK

Hawkins’s hour-long talk revolved around the five “lies” of mainstream feminism, which she contends have been built upon harmful notions concerning sex, abortion and birth control. The “lies” outlined during the talk include: sex is without consequence; contraception is necessary for the advancement of women; abortion is needed for women to achieve their professional goals; abortion is harmless and safe; and women can have it all.

“I reject that lie that abortion somehow sets me free—that abortion is needed in order to ensure my freedom as a human person. That I have to pay someone to commit a violent act against somebody else in order to be free,” Hawkins said. “I would maintain that abortion has and always will be the opposite of empowerment and actually has no place in civil society, especially [in] the United States.”   

“A lot of learning can happen through conflict if it’s explored thoughtfully and respectfully. I think we need to be a place that is open and encouraging of that.”

– Tom Huelsbeck, Associate Vice-President for Campus Life

Hawkins described abortion as an oppressive industry that limits women’s choices regarding unplanned pregnancy and motherhood. Hawkins argued that the lack of support for women who unexpectedly become pregnant bears direct relation to the ease of abortion access.

“Instead of truly seeking to serve her in that moment of crisis and confusion, we just tell her to Google it—to call the Planned Parenthood, which is conveniently located close to the college and high school campus,” Hawkins said. “As she seeks advice from her boyfriend, her friends, her family, she hears that feminist mantra repeated over and over again: ‘It’s your body, your choice.’ The subtext of that mantra is, ‘Just get it taken care of.’”

Feminist lobbying for the right to abortion access, Hawkins contended, reflects the harmful societal idea that women must rebel against motherhood, pregnancy and biology to be successful. Hawkins pointed to birth control as a means of enforcing the the “lie” that women must suppress their biology to achieve equity to men. She challenged the notion of hormonal contraceptives by discussing adverse effects of birth control on women’s bodies, including increased risk of breast cancer and suicide.

“[We’re told] our fertility as women is not a gift but something that has to be suppressed—it has to be masked, it has to be controlled,” Hawkins said. “[…] Why do we as women feel like we have to become like men biologically? I can do something that half of you in this room cannot do, and I’m proud of it.”

The last half hour of the “Lies Feminists Tell” event featured a Q&A session, during which students and other audience members asked questions regarding Hawkins’s speech and Students for Life of America. Several questions attempted to investigate the pro-life community’s commitment to ensuring a suitable quality of life for children once they are born, especially those born to parents who cannot support them and those in the foster care system.

When asked why the audience should be against abortion based on her talk, Hawkins used clamp instruments and fetus dolls to demonstrate the way the unborn are “violently dismembered” during second trimester abortions.

Stauffer said she appreciated Hawkins’s use of statistics, quotes and facts throughout the event. She said she is confident the talk gave others a more comprehensive look at the pro-life movement as scientifically, historically and statistically founded.

“I really hope that people got a genuine sense of the fact that the passion and concern for abortion does come out of a place of sincere invested concern for women’s health,” Stauffer said. “Really, the pro-life movement is this fusion of women’s health and activism for human rights, which I’m sure the pro-choice [advocates] would call themselves as well. Except I’d argue that we actually pay attention to science and acknowledge the personhood of the child.”

Stauffer said she hopes that the content of the event eased and outshined any tension surrounding the title. She hopes all those in attendance thought the talk suitable to the PLU community.

“I understand if some people thought the title wasn’t appropriate for PLU,” Stauffer said. “I hope that people who came to the event and had a problem with the title at least felt that the talk, even if it didn’t abide by their viewpoints, was appropriate to have on campus.”

THE RESULT

Given the controversy surrounding “Lies Feminists Tell,” Stauffers said she was happy about the large attendance provided by Generation Action. The turnout, she said, would have likely been very small if the club had not been present.

“I was really encouraged that, instead of standing outside with signs, they actually came in and attended the event,” Stauffer said. “Frankly, it was like, ‘You guys can silent protest all you want. We usually get ten people to these things.’”

To Stauffer, it appears the title did its job in provoking opposition to take part.

“What I was trying to communicate to people [before the event occured] was I felt that the title was to deliberately attract people, provoke people, make people angry, make people feel upset so that they would come. And they did,” Stauffer said. “But I hope that people in attendance […] did not feel that they were attacked at the event.”

Stauffer also expressed approval regarding the overall demeanor of the Generation Action protesters. She said she felt proud of the respect and attention those in opposition showed toward the content and message of Hawkins’s speech.

“I know all of [them] in the room disagree with me, but in this way we [were] kind of there together as Lutes,” Stauffer said. “I had some people come up to me and say [they] were really impressed with how the PLU students as a whole interacted. I said, ‘Yeah, that’s PLU.’ It was like a weird PLU pride even though there were a ton of protesters.”

Following the event, Huelsbeck stressed the importance of establishing PLU’s campus as a place where tactful debate and conversation happens.

“[It’s amazing] for people to bring obviously conflicting ideas and values into conversation and to have the conversation happen in a way that is largely respectful and encouraging,” Huelsbeck said. “A lot of learning can happen through conflict if it’s explored thoughtfully and respectfully. I think we need to be a place that is open and encouraging of that.”

Hobbs and Stevenson declined to comment on Generation Action’s participation in the event. On March 6 Hobbs posted a message to a Facebook group requesting that those involved in the sit-in only speak for themselves—not on behalf of Generation Action.

“Generation Action and Planned Parenthood as a whole are not interested in being featured in an article with Students for Life, as it would imply that we believe that both arguments are equal, which we don’t,” Hobbs wrote. “We believe that the pro-life argument is dangerous and goes against PLU’s vales.”

Though she is glad to welcome opposing views into conversation, Stauffer said she sometimes doubts PLU’s commitment to supporting discourse about alternative perspectives. PLU, she said, can fall prey to counteracting its own mission of inclusivity, diversity and thoughtful inquiry.

 

“If we’re going to truly embrace alternate perspectives, […] sometimes people aren’t going to feel like we’re being inclusive. If we’re being entirely inclusive, some people are going to actually feel like we’re not engaging with alternate perspectives.”

– Carly Stauffer, Senior

“It almost sometimes feels like we’re putting an emphasis on inclusion and making sure everyone feels welcome almost at the cost of […] truth, justice and alternate perspectives,” Stauffer said. “If we’re going to truly embrace alternate perspectives, […] sometimes people aren’t going to feel like we’re being inclusive. If we’re being entirely inclusive, some people are going to actually feel like we’re not engaging with alternate perspectives. Frankly, the PLU mission statement leads to these conflicts sometimes.”

Stauffer said she is also sometimes skeptical about students’ willingness to engage with conflicting viewpoints and values. Stauffer said her opinions have often been ignored or rejected by others during Students for Life’s tabeling events. These experiences can make her feel unconvinced of PLU’s aims to foster diversity on campus.

“Part of me just feels like it’s not even about tactics [of engagement], it’s just about people themselves—if we are actually as Lutes, as citizens—interested in even engaging with alternative perspectives,” Stauffer said. “We say that we are. All the time that that’s what PLU is about, but I see a lot of hypocrisy on-campus.”

At the same time, Stauffer said she does see instances of cross-community engagement on campus. She noted a group of pro-choice students who frequent Students for Life meetings specifically to engage in dialogue.

Even so, Stauffer said “Lies Feminists Tell” is one of the most successful campus events thus far that has brought opposing attitudes into the same room.

“I think most people think it was marketed in such an un-PLU way. Yet, ironically, I think it was demonstrative of one of PLU’s most important goals, which is to get people with polar perspectives in the same room having what I thought was a generally respectful conversation,” she said.

For Stauffer, one of the keys to increasing constructive discourse on campus lies with students’ willingness to challenge their own ideas and beliefs. As a pro-life advocate, Stauffer said she has continually occupied spaces in which her opinions have been confronted and opposed.

Stauffer claims she has “been better because of it.” She encourages other students to take the same risk.

“As a fellow activist, I’m sure you’re confident enough in your viewpoint to be able to withstand opposition with grace and composure,” Stauffer said. “But I hope you’re passionate enough about truth and justice to take the risk of having your opinion changed.”

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