BY LAUREN MENDOZA

In print | October 25, 2007

It’s Coming Out Week at Swarthmore, a week for students who self-identify as queer to celebrate their sexual and gender identities. During the wee,k there are discussions, panels, exhibits and some very explicit sidewalk drawings that explore the subject of sexuality. Unlike previous years, however, the explicit chalkings this year have been restricted to Magill Walk and Kohlberg Courtyard. These new constraints are meant to prevent the divisive issue from becoming hostile, but seem to be another form of oppression of the chalkers and their free speech.

During the campus’ Coming Out Week in Fall 2006, many students criticized the graphic images drawn in front of Sharples and several campus buildings. Drawings included images of anal sex, genitalia and masturbation. For some students, the drawings were a symbol of queer sexuality, which is often kept silent, while others were offended by their explicitness. The Swarthmore Queer Union also organized an open meeting so students could express their points of view on the controversial topic, but the meeting ended without resolve for many students. For me, last year’s chalking episode was a chance for students to come out as an ally to the queer community. I was outraged that certain students would object to an activity that, for some students, is a powerful demonstration of self-expression. But the reality was that some of the students complaining were victims of sexual abuse who felt uncomfortable with the sexual nature of the drawings or queer students who didn’t feel the sexual chalkings expressed what Coming Out Week meant to them. To try to be an ally to Swat Survivors, SQU decided to draw explicit chalkings only in designated areas on campus that could be avoided by those who chose to.

Tatiana Cozzarelli ‘08, who has leadership roles in SQU and COLORS, said that she felt it was important to be an ally to the students who felt the chalkings triggered memories of sexual abuse, but many of the objections to last year’s chalkings were rooted in homophobia. Shouldn’t students try to offer the same support given by LGBTQ students by being allies to their community? Feeling uncomfortable with explicit sexuality because of sexual abuse is a valid objection, but the purpose of the chalkings isn’t to make anyone feel threatened or oppressed by sex. The chalkings use sex as an empowering form of liberation and self-representation for the individual chalkers. Chalkings enable queer students participating in Coming Out Week to put queer sex out into the public realm for people to see as something that’s neither shameful nor obscene. For some queer students, chalkings act as a tool of communication to unite them as a community. Chalkings act as a declaration that sex doesn’t have to be repressed, and I don’t see the problem with that.

We go to a liberal arts college that prides itself on tolerating the different values and views of others, however the queer community endures their fair share of discrimination. If people are telling them what they do is abnormal from the rest of our society, aren’t we supposed to be the ones who know better? The chalkings promote awareness of queer issues to the entire campus so that it can get the necessary attention in order to progress. During this week students should offer their support to anyone who asks for, or in this case, demands it. Treating lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered sex as something that should be kept hush-hush is what is truly offensive and oppressive. During the Clothesline Project, few students objected to offering their support to victims of sexual abuse. Why should it be any different when it comes to supporting victims of sexual oppression?

One of the most important aspects of Coming Out Week is making queer and questioning students aware of support networks available to them on campus, to make sure the campus stays a safe and welcoming place for queer students. But when people object to the actions that are supposed to empower the LGBTQ community, what kind of message does that send? By censoring where the chalkings are and what they represent, we risk the escalation from a divisive issue to a flat- out denial of the sexual individuality of the LGBTQ community. This censorship acts as another way of telling chalkers to keep quiet and to feel ashamed about what they are trying to say.

I am aware that, for some people, seeing an image of female genitalia in front of Sharples on the night of their favorite bar might set off their appetite just a bit. That’s fair, and I have gone through the trouble of figuring out some creative ways to avoid this situation. If it is bothersome enough, just use the back entrance to the dining hall for a few days. If that’s too much of an inconvenience for you, how about pretending its one of those fancy paintings by Georgia O’ Keefe? Or think of this week as a vacation from Sharples and check out the appetizing selections hot off the grill from Essie Mae’s. And when you are on your way to class and come across a chalking, well what better way to wake up for class than having your inhibitions shaken?

But in all seriousness, the free speech issue goes both ways. If Coming Out Week is something that truly disturbs you, you have as much right to speak out as those who speak in favor of it. All I ask is that during this week all students try to be aware of the needs of the other individuals involved. For chalkers, the drawings portrayed throughout campus represent something they desperately need to get off their chests. Acknowledge the tension that exists during this week and be considerate to everyone who needs help, including both queer students and survivors.

Sure, some of the events during Coming Out Week are very much in your face, but they do not stray from the persisting effort to make Swat a safe and accepting place for its LGBTQ population. As the campus and country culture as a whole transform, you can’t simply close your eyes and hope explicitness and sexuality will fade away. You can’t censor the real world, so why try to do it here? If you feel uncomfortable in a situation where you are asked to deal with this topic, realize that you are here at Swat because you want to help make the world a better, more understanding place. To do that sometimes you have to be a little radical and outspoken. To make progress, sometimes we need to step out of our comfort zones, and if we are just going to censor everything that makes us feel uncomfortable, what’s the point?

Lauren is a sophomore. You can reach her at lmendoz1@swarthmore.edu

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