A panel of about a dozen women discussed poetry, body image, sexual assault and the difference between men's and women's experiences before an audience of about twenty women last night.
At "A Celebration of Womanhood," host Soojung Rhee '04 introduced the event as a way to reaffirm "how important we are to ourselves and to the women around us."
Susan Edwards '04 read a prepared statement about sexual assault, talking about both the extensiveness of assault on campus and her own experience of being raped in her senior year of high school.
Edwards said the experience had changed her completely. "I lost part of myself," she said, visibly fighting back tears.
For a long period after the assault, she had tried to blame herself or deny to others or to herself that the assault had happened. She was hesitant to talk about it because of embarrassment and feeling of guilt.
Edwards' speech received a standing ovation from the crowd.
Karen Kim, an exchange student from Cornell, presented shortly on body image in America, illustrating some research that showed that people generally consider themselves to be fatter than they are and desire a thinner body type.
Many of the presenters gave readings from poets such as Jane Kenyon and Maya Angelou.
Theatrical presentations also pervaded the evening.
Sarah Sirota '04 read from "Boy Gets Girl," a play performed this year at Dartmouth. Two other speakers read a speech given at an 1800s women's rights convention, "Ain't I a Woman?"
"Women are very complex, and that's what makes them so wonderful," said Rhee of the event, which was organized by the Panhellenic Council.