Reed will eat itself
December 14, 2016 7:24 PM Subscribe
On Friday November 11th queer film director Kimberly Peirce, best known for her 1999 feature film Boys Don’t Cry, was scheduled to screen the film and do a Q&A at Reed College. Reed has been ranked as one of the most liberal colleges in the USA.
The screening and the Q&A were disrupted by protestors.
In the wake of the event the college administration has been asking “How Do We Want to Treat Our Guests” and publications have started to pick up the story.
Some say protestors are picking the wrong enemies. Others note that the way protesters expressed themselves shouldn’t take away from the validity of the points expressed.
In the wake of the event the college administration has been asking “How Do We Want to Treat Our Guests” and publications have started to pick up the story.
Some say protestors are picking the wrong enemies. Others note that the way protesters expressed themselves shouldn’t take away from the validity of the points expressed.
This post was deleted for the following reason: Framing something like this as a "did they protest correctly or not" is not going to lead to any sort of enlightening or, indeed, civil discussion, sorry. -- restless_nomad
colleges are really neat places for folks to practice how to organize protests and create activist organizations
the direction of protest probably is not super great but hey, go at it when and where you can is what I say
posted by runt at 7:40 PM on December 14, 2016 [2 favorites]
the direction of protest probably is not super great but hey, go at it when and where you can is what I say
posted by runt at 7:40 PM on December 14, 2016 [2 favorites]
Posters were put up in the lecture hall where she spoke saying things such as "Fuck Your Transphobia" and “Fuck this cis white bitch." Other students carried signs with similar messages. When Peirce appeared, some shouted those slogans or just "bitch" at her.
posted by gwint at 7:49 PM on December 14, 2016
posted by gwint at 7:49 PM on December 14, 2016
i'm trans and an alum of this ridiculous institution and fairly conservative in some outlooks and u know what this protest is fine. its fine. their points have merit. profs complaining about how people were rude and dismissive, tbh, idgaf at this point, the older i get the madder i get
also jack halberstam sucks but the jock halberslam twitter is evergreen
posted by beefetish at 7:49 PM on December 14, 2016 [3 favorites]
also jack halberstam sucks but the jock halberslam twitter is evergreen
posted by beefetish at 7:49 PM on December 14, 2016 [3 favorites]
In the comments on Bullybloggers is an account from an actual protester from Reed which contradicts Halberstam's account and which is much more in line with my experience of college protests. Halberstam's response to that polite, well thought out and dignified student comment is embarrassing and mean, which is no surprise, since Halberstam lives to handwring over the youth.
It sounds to me as though the protesters don't really get the political and social climate in which the film was made - I remember that time and the film quite well. But it seems like they are being accused of being really awful when actually the grown adults in the room were pretty badly behaved. The director herself seems to have said some really offensive things - genuinely offensive, not just offensive to college sensibilities. And that film has been getting criticism from queer and trans viewers since at least 2000 - I remember reading an essay which says many of the things the student protesters said.
Basically, it sounds like student over-reach which is being met by a bunch of overblown "you're all just a bunch of PC thugs" rhetoric from Halberstam and the administration. Which is completely in line with how marginalized students who protest get treated IME.
posted by Frowner at 7:55 PM on December 14, 2016 [2 favorites]
It sounds to me as though the protesters don't really get the political and social climate in which the film was made - I remember that time and the film quite well. But it seems like they are being accused of being really awful when actually the grown adults in the room were pretty badly behaved. The director herself seems to have said some really offensive things - genuinely offensive, not just offensive to college sensibilities. And that film has been getting criticism from queer and trans viewers since at least 2000 - I remember reading an essay which says many of the things the student protesters said.
Basically, it sounds like student over-reach which is being met by a bunch of overblown "you're all just a bunch of PC thugs" rhetoric from Halberstam and the administration. Which is completely in line with how marginalized students who protest get treated IME.
posted by Frowner at 7:55 PM on December 14, 2016 [2 favorites]
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posted by snuffleupagus at 7:30 PM on December 14, 2016 [1 favorite]