1986: Women Protest Inequity in Speakout
On March 19, 1986, female students at Gettysburg College hosted a speakout as part of Women’s Week. Clad in black and white, the women took to the post office steps (a place normally claimed by fraternity men), and voiced their experiences as women at Gettysburg via a microphone. While some people were supportive, multiple others tried to drown out the student’s voices. In her account of the event, Karen Sosnoski ‘86 detailed how she felt solidarity with the women speaking but was anxious to speak in front of an audience that was largely anti-feminist.
“I was frightened to be angry in front of people who I thought might not understand me. I was very frightened to express myself in front of male students, who, from the comments being made, were definitely hostile towards feminism”
At one point in the speakout, the mic went out. However, the women continued to shout their message over the crowd’s protests and refused to be silenced.
