WGSS Allushuski Fellow Presentation | April 21

Dr. Julie White (left), Director of WGSS and Dr. Kim Little, WGSS associate director and lecturer

All are invited to attend the final meeting of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Reading Group on Friday, April 21, at 11:50 a.m..

The meeting will feature a presentation by Belen Marco Crespo, one of this year’s Allushuski Fellows, titled “Communicating with conservative audiences about sex and pleasure: the experiences of a feminist independent media writer in Guatemala.”

Belen is currently working toward a Master’s of Visual Communication at Ohio University, examining the intersection of research, education, arts and design. She holds a Master’s in Communication and Development and a Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies Certificate from Ohio University. She describes herself as “a feminist who writes, and enjoys doodling and illustrating unapologetic women.”

Abstract: I have spent most of my life interacting with women who have taught me about compassion and love. Despite living in different contexts and experiencing different problematics, they all have something in common: they are resilient. Resilient in a world that condemns women’s sexual pleasure and sexuality unless it is for male consumption. In a world that denies women’s right to take decisions over their bodies. In one that defines women as a bitches if they wear a skirt “too short” and defines them as a “boring” if they wear it “too long.”

I write about these topics in a country that has one of the highest femicide rates in the world. One where women suffer violence exercised by the state, the police and the bureaucracy on a daily basis. One that condemns abortion. Guatemala, in Central America, is “no country for sex,” yet the country currently faces a considerable rise in early pregnancy (the main cause of maternal and infant mortality) and high rates of rape.

I’ll talk about my experience as a feminist writer in Guatemala. About the intricacies of writing for the Global South as a woman who lives in the Global North. What I have learned. The contradictions.