Prominent alumna Regina Barreca '79 discussed women's experiences in a world dominated by males and addressed how well her years at Dartmouth prepared her for the "world out there" to an audience consisting mainly of women at a luncheon on Saturday at Leede Arena.
Barreca -- an English professor at the University of Connecticut who says she writes non-fiction because "if you listen carefully enough, you won't have to make things up" -- initially directed the spotlight not at herself, but at a different group of Dartmouth women.
Speaking as part of the College's 25th anniversary of coeducation celebration, Barreca asked the 50 "invited women leaders" -- mostly juniors and seniors -- to stand and be recognized for their impressive achievements at Dartmouth.
Barreca, known for her sense of humor and her vivacious and energetic way of speaking in public, then began her speech, which dealt with a brand of feminism utterly different from that which is commonly denoted by the term.
"The definition of feminism is the radical belief that women are human beings," she said, but added that being a feminist does not necessarily mean being militant, radical or aggressive.
She peppered her speech with a multitude of personal anecdotes which called forth frequent bursts of explosive laughter and spontaneous applause from the audience.
Going on to speak about her Dartmouth experience, she recalled how intimidated she felt at first -- being rated an "8" on a scale of ten by a group of her male peers, and feeling out of place in a female community which seemed to her to exist entirely of tall, blonde women.
"I didn't think a place could scare me," Barreca told The Dartmouth in an interview after the speech, but she said that encountering adversity from her male classmates was unnerving -- not to mention demeaning -- at first.
However, Barreca said she ended up having was a "fabulous experience" and called Dartmouth the right choice.
Women's lives, she said in the speech, are very similar, and that is why women bond instantly, making their life stories known to each other in three-minute conversations. "Men just don't have these conversations," she added.
Women embrace and compliment each other, Barreca said, but pointed out that their way of responding to compliments is to play them down and to be self-critical. Furthermore, women support each other and act very differently in each other's company than they do in the presence of a male, she said.
"The idea of women coming together to form a community I think is a crucial thing," Barreca added.
She then went on to describe how different male humor is from what is regarded by females as entertaining, saying that women are often insulted by men's humor, and are then accused of lacking a sense of humor.
"Culture decides what is funny," Barreca said, "And the masculine experience is still considered the universal experience."
She recalled a joke targeting men she had made as an undergraduate, and depicted the surprise with which it was received. Men laughing at women was considered common, she said, but "the idea that women can joke back was an astonishing thing." Learning to answer back was a large part of her Dartmouth education, she said.
Barreca called to mind the way women behave around men -- suppressing their laughter, and trying to be quiet, sweet, timid.
But she said it is important for women to be self-assertive and natural in a relationship. Women don't have to fight, she said, they need only be honest, real and not afraid to laugh.
Women should find their voices and attempt to get their stories out without making radical declarations, she added. Women's stories are all alike, Barreca said, and called making them known a "really good beginning".
