{"id":255,"date":"2011-01-02T02:29:10","date_gmt":"2011-01-02T02:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/researchbdev.wpengine.com\/forty-years-the-history-of-women-at-bowdoin\/?p=255"},"modified":"2011-12-09T01:14:37","modified_gmt":"2011-12-09T01:14:37","slug":"deborah-manns-commencement-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.bowdoin.edu\/forty-years-the-history-of-women-at-bowdoin\/process-of-coeducation\/deborah-manns-commencement-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Deborah Mann Speaks at 1975 Commencement Ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deborah Mann\u2019s 1975 commencement address offers a unique insight into the day-to-day experience of a Bowdoin woman in the first full graduating class (Document AK, 30). Mann describes some of the more flagrant misogyny remaining on the formerly all-male campus as well as the remarkable tenacity and courage with which this prejudice was met by these early Bowdoin women.<\/p>\n

Mann includes an intriguing anecdote that demonstrates some of this discrimination: \u201cAn upperclassman, somewhat put out, once told me that he hoped I didn\u2019t misunderstand \u2013 he didn\u2019t hate me personally, he simply hated me as a co-ed.\u201d As disturbing as this comment may seem, Mann\u2019s real message is that, \u201cThe courage of those first cheerleaders, actresses and champions of the cause of women\u2019s liberation cannot be overestimated.\u201d She laments the \u201cfish bowl\u201d nature of the still male-controlled community at Bowdoin, claiming that \u201cVisibility was something to be avoided [\u2026] but notoriety invited instant and universal derision, fame or whatever was deemed warranted by the male student body.\u201d Mann also discusses the tremendous party and alcohol scene \u2013 so often cited as a partial impetus behind coeducation in the first place \u2013 plus the tenuous dynamic between Bowdoin women and women attending nearby Westbrook College who arrived on weekends to participate in social events, only to leave again each Sunday.<\/p>\n

Gratefully, Mann eventually writes, \u201c[\u2026] the female portion of the student body was becoming too large to be teased and taunted with such nonchalance.\u201d With this shift came a lessening of some female solidarity, as the common male enemy, as it were, was no longer behaving quite so terribly. Interestingly, many of the men with whom we have spoken for this project have indicated that while coeducation was important, many other issues eclipsed coeducation as the issue of the day, such as social unrest, the Vietnam war, and the growing drug culture. Mann, however, puts it differently: \u201cThose of us who had had no serious concern with women\u2019s liberation were forced into having no other preoccupation in that first year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AK30a
AK30a - Deborah Mann Speaks at 1975 Commencement Ceremony<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"AK30b
AK30b - Deborah Mann Speaks at 1975 Commencement Ceremony<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"AK30c
AK30c - Deborah Mann Speaks at 1975 Commencement Ceremony<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"AK30d
AK30d - Deborah Mann Speaks at 1975 Commencement Ceremony<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"AK30e
AK30e - Deborah Mann Speaks at 1975 Commencement Ceremony<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Deborah Mann\u2019s 1975 commencement address offers a unique insight into the day-to-day experience of a Bowdoin woman in the first full graduating class (Document AK, 30). Mann describes some of the more flagrant misogyny remaining on the formerly all-male campus as well as the remarkable tenacity and courage with which this prejudice was met by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15,3],"tags":[136,95,71,94],"class_list":{"0":"post-255","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-documents-process-of-coeducation","7":"category-process-of-coeducation","8":"tag-136","9":"tag-ak30","10":"tag-commencement-address","11":"tag-deborah-mann","12":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.bowdoin.edu\/forty-years-the-history-of-women-at-bowdoin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.bowdoin.edu\/forty-years-the-history-of-women-at-bowdoin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.bowdoin.edu\/forty-years-the-history-of-women-at-bowdoin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.bowdoin.edu\/forty-years-the-history-of-women-at-bowdoin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.bowdoin.edu\/forty-years-the-history-of-women-at-bowdoin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/research.bowdoin.edu\/forty-years-the-history-of-women-at-bowdoin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.bowdoin.edu\/forty-years-the-history-of-women-at-bowdoin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.bowdoin.edu\/forty-years-the-history-of-women-at-bowdoin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.bowdoin.edu\/forty-years-the-history-of-women-at-bowdoin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}