AACC students and administrators have planned speeches, performances and art exhibits in honor of Women’s History Month in March.

Women’s Institute film series

Women’s Institute events coordinator Carolin Woolson will show two films on campus during March about sexual violence.

While not officially part of AACC’s celebration of Women’s History Month—the institute shows a film series each semester—the institute is showing two of its three spring films in March. The third will be in April.

The films—“Anita: Speaking Truth to Power,” “The Hunting Ground” and “The Invisible War”—all deal with “speaking the truth” about sexual violence, according to Woolson.

Woolson said the event honors the #MeToo movement, a national conversation happening across social and other media about sexual harassment and assault.

Art of Women exhibit

AACC’s women art students and alumni will display their work in a variety of media in the Pascal Gallery from March 4-29.

Most artists will display from three to five works. Art department faculty members invited the artists in recognition of skillful work or work made using “interesting” or “strong” technique, according to art professor Dawn Bond, who is coordinating the exhibit.

‘Seen and Unseen: Sexual Harassment and Bystander Intervention’

A guest speaker from the Anne Arundel County YWCA will speak on March 7 about sexual harassment and how people can take action against it.

Dr. Takamitsu Ono, a sociology professor at AACC, said he organized the event in response to the #MeToo movement. He said he wants to “draw attention” to an issue that most people feel they must deal with privately.

“I strongly believe many AACC students have experienced [harassment] themselves or know [those] who have experienced it,” Ono said in an email to Campus Current. “This … issue needs to be discussed publicly so that we can deal with this better.”

Sister Settings

For the third year, AACC students will create artistic table settings to honor notable historic and mythical women.

Last year, place settings honored actress Mary Tyler Moore, poet Maya Angelou and the Greek mythological figure Medusa, among others.

Each place setting includes an abstract labia motif as something “specific to women,” according to Bond, the event’s coordinator.

“That doesn’t mean that transgender women … aren’t a part of that, too,” Bond said.

“The Dinner Party,” a 1979 art installation of 39 place settings by feminist artist Judy Chicago, inspired the project. The project traveled the world, and the Brooklyn Museum in New York hosts the work on a triangular table 48 feet long on each side.

Soapbox Sisters

AACC students, faculty and staff will deliver speeches by historic women activists from around the world on March 22.

Past performances have included Maya Angelou’s poem “Phenomenal Woman,” Adrienne Rich’s 1977 speech “Claiming an Education” and a speech by 1992 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Rigoberta Menchu, among others.

Taylor Meyers, a freshman physical therapy student who is considering performing at the show, said he especially enjoys “The Bitch Manifesto” by Jo Freeman.

“[I like] the fact that they take the word [b—-] so proudly, and they’re taking it into themselves and making it into something that they can be proud of,” Meyers said.

Podcaster Presentation

Podcaster Lina Misitzis will speak on March 22 about her work on various projects, including as producer of “The Butterfly Effect,” a podcast about the consequences to society of free pornography.

“She’s definitely a storyteller,” said Bond. “[‘The Butterfly Effect’ is about] taboo kinds of subjects … but the storytelling is what’s really interesting, looking at how one thing affects another thing.”