University Shuts Down Women’s Center After ‘How to Be a Lesbian’ Controversy

Posted on | May 19, 2014 | 88 Comments

Controversy flared in March when it was reported that the University of South Carolina Upstate (USCU) Center for Women’s & Gender Studies would host Leigh Hendrix’s one-woman show, “How to Be a Lesbian in 10 Days or Less.” Now, USCU officials have announced that the Center for Women’s & Gender Studies will be closed:

The University of South Carolina Upstate eliminated the center that sponsored a gay culture symposium this spring as part of $450,000 in cost cuts for next year. School leaders said that sponsorship did not lead to the 15-year-old center’s demise. . . .
The decision to close Upstate’s Center for Women’s and Gender Studies on July 1 was not related to sponsoring a symposium this spring that examined “New Normals, Old Normals, Future Normals in LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer) Community,” chancellor Moore said. The symposium scheduled a play, called “How to Be a Lesbian in 10 Days or Less,” that was canceled after an outcry . . .
Cutting the center will save $45,000 a year, a school spokeswoman said. The center’s director will return to the school’s full-time faculty.
“Not only is this decision not punitive or a response to external pressure, it is part of an effort to be consistent and systematic across academic affairs in how we administer and support various programs,” Moore said.
Women’s and Gender Studies is the only interdisciplinary minor at Upstate that has a dedicated center, the school said.

Despite official statements that the lesbian controversy was not a factor in the decision to close the Center for Women’s and Gender Studies at the USCU campus in Spartanburg, some faculty members told Charleston City Paper columnist Alison Piepmeier that USCU is now “a hostile environment,” a climate they find “terrifying.” Trudy Ring at the feminist site SheWired.com suggested “retaliation” motivated the decision.

The web page of the Center for Women’s and Gender Studies has no statement about the decision, nor have press accounts about the decision quoted the Center’s director, Professor Merri Lisa Johnson.

Professor Merri Lisa Johnson.

Professor Johnson is a self-described radical “queer feminist”:

The director of the University of South Carolina Upstate (USCU) Center for Women’s and Gender Studies (CWGS) suffers from a “serious mental illness” and in 2010 described herself as a “newlywed lesbian” whose partner was apparently her former student.
Professor Merri Lisa Johnson published a 2010 book about her struggles with borderline personality disorder. The description of her partner in that book appears to fit a young “butch” lesbian who graduated from USCU in 2008, two years after Professor Johnson joined the faculty of the school in Spartanburg, S.C. . . .
In her 2010 book, Girl in Need of a Tourniquet: Memoir of a Borderline Personality, Professor Johnson describes herself as a “psycho girlfriend” with a history of dysfunctional relationships with both men and women: “Johnson combines her late-in-life coming out story (between ages 31-37) with the story of what amounts to a nervous breakdown as the result of an affair with a married lesbian colleague.” That affair “prompted her to seek professional help,” apparently around the time Professor Johnson left Coastal Carolina University to become director of USCU-CWGS in 2006. . . .
In an article last fall, Professor Johnson described her “queer feminist insistence on the importance, validity, and complexity of women’s pleasure” and her “Marxist feminist distrust of pleasure under patriarchy,” adding that “teaching Women’s and Gender Studies 101 since fall 2006 . . . has firmed up my radical side.”

Feminism’s hostility toward men and toward heterosexuality has often been expressed as lesbian advocacy:

“Feminism is the theory, lesbianism is the practice.”
— Ti-Grace Atkinson, 1971

“The simple fact is that every woman must be willing to be identified as a lesbian to be fully feminist.”
— Sheila Cronan, 1988

“Heterosexual intercourse is the pure, formalized expression of contempt for women’s bodies.”
— Andrea Dworkin, 1989

“Men have been creating ideologies and political practices which naturalize female heterosexuality continuously in every culture since the dawns of the patriarchies. . . . Female heterosexuality is not a biological drive or an individual woman’s erotic attraction . . . Female heterosexuality is a set of social institutions and practices.”
— Marilyn Frye, 1992

“Male supremacy is centered on the act of sexual intercourse, justified by heterosexual practice.”
— Sheila Jeffreys, 2005

Comments

88 Responses to “University Shuts Down Women’s Center After ‘How to Be a Lesbian’ Controversy”

Quartermaster
May 19th, 2014 @ 1:25 pm

This is so unjust. Imagine wanting to be a Lesbo and there’s no one to teach you how.
John Bradley
May 19th, 2014 @ 1:26 pm

Anyone who finds a college campus a “hostile envirnoment” and “terrifying” really needs to get out more often. Like, I don’t know, South Chicago or most of Detroit.

Perspective. It’d be a fine thing for a teacher to have.
John Bradley
May 19th, 2014 @ 1:27 pm

“You just put your lips together and blow.”

Or something.
ariyadesai01
May 19th, 2014 @ 1:28 pm

RT @smitty_one_each: TOM University Shuts Down Women’s Center After ‘How to Be a Lesbian’ Controversy http://t.co/qyIAOG69OC #TCOT
Julie Pascal
May 19th, 2014 @ 1:36 pm

They’re keeping Women’s and Gender Studies, just stopping funding a promotional “center.”

I sort of wonder if they shouldn’t have done it the other way around… but then I’m less than impressed about the academic understanding of “theory” in the humanities, which is essentially the study of a subject through the lens of a deliberate bias, a purposeful interpretive method that does not attempt or pretend to be objective.

Religious people do the same sort of thing… Say I’m studying 20th Century History, for example, except that I’m studying “How Biblical prophecy is fulfilled by 20th Century History.” So any event isn’t looked at as an event and how it fits into the politics and social interpretation of the time, but is interpreted by applying prophecies to it from the starting point that *of course* the Bible is true so finding evidence of it is a given. Which might be interesting, but isn’t the same thing as History.

“Theory” applies the same way to “Studies”. If the “given” is that women are oppressed by the patriarchy, all of History is viewed with this pre-set conclusion and all events interpreted in ways that support the “theory” and contrary information is dismissed. No “big picture” or alternative explanations need apply.

It’s as if an *author* said… this book I wrote is a satire… so no one bothers to examine if it might not be a satire.

When a Women’s Studies department comes forward and says… you know what?… these societal things that oppressed women were even worse at oppressing and taking away the rights of males… someone can tell me I’m wrong… but it’s not going to happen.
PeterP
May 19th, 2014 @ 1:46 pm

Sex has nothing to do with anatomy, biology or the drive to propagate the species. <——– left-wing science.
PeterP
May 19th, 2014 @ 1:47 pm

I saw a male lizard humping a female lizard in my back yard and immediately crushed the male lizard’s head. There shall be no rape on my watch.
Kirby McCain
May 19th, 2014 @ 1:53 pm

The problem here is that women like Andrea Dworkin believe that their vagina belongs them. This is an idea that as a society we must discard because a vagina is far too important to waste. For the betterment of our society and humanity itself we must begin to conceptualize that the vagina belongs to us all and should be used wisely. (and often)
Dana
May 19th, 2014 @ 1:56 pm

You hero, you!
Matt_SE
May 19th, 2014 @ 2:01 pm

It takes a village to use a vagina.
Cactus Ed
May 19th, 2014 @ 2:05 pm

Shame that rad fems have sovereignty over the vagina. Curses!
ThePaganTemple
May 19th, 2014 @ 2:06 pm

A vagina is a terrible thing to waste.
Matt_SE
May 19th, 2014 @ 2:06 pm

Running out of money (and the subsequent starvation and homelessness) tends to focus the mind. With a stagnant or shrinking pie, it was only a matter of time before the cuts started happening. Now that it’s obvious that real cuts are on the table, we’ll be treated to various groups campaigning against other groups for the privilege of not being cut first.
As an old saying goes, “When the money runs out, you’d better watch out!”
Break out the popcorn.
Kirby McCain
May 19th, 2014 @ 2:07 pm

Use it or lose it, I always say.
robertstacymccain
May 19th, 2014 @ 2:07 pm

If I’m reading you correctly, brother, what you’re advocating is vagina socialism — that is to say, understanding that the capitalist bourgeois have made the vagina a privately-owned resource, the goal of a Marxist critique should be to de-privatize the vagina, thus to make it more widely available as a community resource.
Kirby McCain
May 19th, 2014 @ 2:08 pm

THIS
Kirby McCain
May 19th, 2014 @ 2:10 pm

Making all women empowered sex workers!
RKae
May 19th, 2014 @ 2:14 pm

Correct. It is only for entertainment or political purposes.
JeffS
May 19th, 2014 @ 2:41 pm

TRIGGER WARNING! WE NEED A TRIGGER WARNING!

There’s something in this post that’s offensive to somebody.
John Bradley
May 19th, 2014 @ 2:46 pm

Serious question for our esteemed host (or anyone else): are lesbians who use strap-ons, vibes or even their fingers to engage in any sort of penetrative activity also rapists? Seems only fair, though I realize ‘fairness’ isn’t especially in vogue with the modern-day Leftist.

I mean, I’m a dude, so what do I know, but it seems as if vaginas were especially designed to have various cylindrical objects inserted into them. And then removed, and then re-inserted. Repeat for quite a while.
John Bradley
May 19th, 2014 @ 2:48 pm

The very phrase “trigger warning” is designed to intimidate and terrify the anti-gun Left. Ahh! The triggers are coming from inside the trigger warnings!
JeffS
May 19th, 2014 @ 3:06 pm

Even better, “Trigger Warnings” is an idea pushed by lefties!

The irony, it burns, it burns! 🙂
ThePaganTemple
May 19th, 2014 @ 3:14 pm

Check out the Personal Space Dress http://jezebel.com/this-inflatable-dress-will-preserve-your-personal-subwa-1578522665?utm_campaign=socialfow_jezebel_twitter&utm_source=jezebel_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow
Art Deco
May 19th, 2014 @ 3:35 pm

My inside dame in the skunkworks compiled some statistics on the distribution of diplomas at her institution. They handed out just south of 700 degrees per year at that particular institution. Over a 16 year period, they handed out a mean of two (2) degrees in women’s studies per annum. The faculty and administration are not and were not responding to popular demand with the institution of these programs or with their maintenance. They freeze faculty hiring into unprofitable molds and there’s an opportunity cost to the space dedicated to the women’s center. It’s all about striking attitudes and lulling a particular sort of faculty member (“one who needs therapy as much as she needs a job” as one cynical Brooklyn College professor put it).

Read KC Johnson (a perfectly mainline Democrat) on what’s happened to the study of American history: the obsession with race-class-gender has used up all the oxygen and has left students of military and diplomatic history reliant on research done a generation ago.

Academe may have been a serious place at one time. What we need is trustees elected by alumni (not selected by standing trustees) who take an interest in something other than budget, physical plant, and athletics. We also need state legislators to get busy. The first thing to do should be to close arts-and-sciences programs without a constituency. Without a doubt, the victimology programs would go (sadly, a number of foreign language programs would also go); the next should be to shut down the pseudo-professional programs (social work and library administration); the third should be to build a serious teacher training program, one in which education degrees are limited to special education and the remainder complete certificate programs which involve some classroom study of methods but consist primarily of internships and apprenticeships.
Art Deco
May 19th, 2014 @ 3:43 pm

Say I’m studying 20th Century History, for example, except that I’m
studying “How Biblical prophecy is fulfilled by 20th Century History.”

You might find that at a tiny Bible college. It’s not a problem for academe in general. Where I grew up, baccalaureate-granting tertiary institutions enroll over 200,000 students. Institutions of the sort which might conceivably offer classes structured that way do not enroll more than 2,500 students, if that).
John Bradley
May 19th, 2014 @ 4:04 pm

“This is your vagina. This is your vagina on drugs! Any questions?”
Dana
May 19th, 2014 @ 4:05 pm

You cisheteronormative patriarchist! Someone ought to denounce you!
John Kerry’s Big Speech | Regular Right Guy
May 19th, 2014 @ 4:06 pm

[…] University Shuts Down Women’s Center After ‘How to Be a Lesbian’ Controversy […]
PCachu
May 19th, 2014 @ 4:12 pm

“This is a buncha crap! I been lickin’ this carpet for three hours, an’ I still don’t feel like a lesbian!”
Neo
May 19th, 2014 @ 4:35 pm

Almost makes me go Trans-Racial
John Bradley
May 19th, 2014 @ 5:11 pm

Well, I feel like a lesbian. Someone fetch me a lesbian… on second thought, better make it two.
pabarge
May 19th, 2014 @ 5:40 pm

I’m already a Lesbian trapped in a man’s body. How do I get out?
University shuts down “How to be a Lesbian” Program and some bonus Rule 5 for @wombat_socho | Batshit Crazy News
May 19th, 2014 @ 5:41 pm

[…] TOM: University Shuts Down Women’s Center After “How to be a Lesbian” Controversy […]
Evi L. Bloggerlady
May 19th, 2014 @ 5:45 pm

An appropriate Rule 5 for this post…
CrustyB
May 19th, 2014 @ 5:46 pm

First, stop seeing your psychiatrist. Then…
RS
May 19th, 2014 @ 5:47 pm

There’s no question that for public universities, the state legislatures should take a more active role in policing what goes on in taxpayer funded institutions. The problem is, Humanities programs cost comparatively little to run compared with schools of Engineering, Vet Medicine, and other such programs. Further, humanities departments, especially English and History provide “service courses,” i.e. Freshman and Sophomore Comp and U.S. History courses which are required for all students in order to graduate. They cannot be defunded. It’s really a question of the structure of the university which goes back centuries. Moving money around the system is not likely to remedy the problem. As someone above pointed out, the Center may be closing but the professors and the major still exists.
Adjoran
May 19th, 2014 @ 5:54 pm

The Cartman is strong with this one.
Adjoran
May 19th, 2014 @ 5:55 pm

Kaitlyn Hunt could not be reached for comment.
Adjoran
May 19th, 2014 @ 6:04 pm

A mathematician friend did some figuring, noting that the average vagina accommodates eight inches, while the average penis is only six inches long. He calculated that in the United States alone, there is over 1900 miles of unused vagina.

This is a national problem.
John Bradley
May 19th, 2014 @ 6:06 pm

Upon further research, it appears there are two types of lesbians: the ones that characterize all penetration as ‘rape’, and the regular kind.

It’s quite the dykeotomy.
Adjoran
May 19th, 2014 @ 6:08 pm

This is why thieves tend to get caught.

They had hornswaggled a nice budget for “Gender Studies” nonsense, but could not keep quiet about it and just suck taxpayer money quietly at that. No, they had to create a “center” with more money AND put on controversial programs which were absolutely guaranteed to get the attention of the state legislature on one of those days when some of them sober up.

This is only the first budget shot across the bow for Upstate. They will be squeezed tighter now, and will end up having to choose between keeping “tenured” faculty and administrators in other departments or cutting that waste for “Gender Studies” altogether.
Kirby McCain
May 19th, 2014 @ 6:17 pm

That reminds me, I need to get by TattleTales this week.
Wombat_socho
May 19th, 2014 @ 6:32 pm

An illustration of the theory:
Zohydro
May 19th, 2014 @ 6:45 pm

The buffet at the Pink Pony is excellent, I hear…
Quartermaster
May 19th, 2014 @ 6:45 pm

I denounce you for that lesbophobic post.
Quartermaster
May 19th, 2014 @ 6:51 pm

Quit passing the buck. You saw it first, now do your duty!
Quartermaster
May 19th, 2014 @ 6:51 pm

You forgot those that are trapped in men’s bodies.
Steve Skubinna
May 19th, 2014 @ 7:11 pm

You know, I wanted to be a lesbian but I flunked the physical.
RS
May 19th, 2014 @ 7:21 pm

But, but, but . . . gasp . . . that means the English Department will have to go back to teaching “Dead White Guys,” i.e. Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Melville, et. al. Unfortunately, none of the faculty have read any of them either.
RS
May 19th, 2014 @ 7:29 pm

“Theory” applies the same way to “Studies”. If the “given” is that
women are oppressed by the patriarchy, all of History is viewed with
this pre-set conclusion and all events interpreted in ways that support
the “theory” and contrary information is dismissed. No “big picture” or
alternative explanations need apply.

Yep. It’s called Critical Theory/Postmodern Deconstruction. It started becoming fashionable in the late seventies as the hippies who avoided Vietnam started getting Ph.D.s in the liberal arts. Fortunately, when I was getting my degrees in literature and philosophy, my departments were still staffed with “Old Guard” who thought such pursuits were solely a means to camouflage shoddy thinking and subpar writing.

I still remember the first time one of my colleagues requested that the professor lead a discussion of works of Jacques Derrida in one of my graduate literature courses. He received a very pronounced eye roll an a terse “not in my lifetime” and that was that.