Opinions

Sager disassociates from Genderfuck Party

In print | March 5, 2009

To the Editor:
Since September, the Sager Symposium Planning Committee has been working to put together a weekend of events entitled “Intersections of Queer: Coalition Building Across Our Communities,” being held on March 27 and 28. While the Genderfuck Party may have been originally nicknamed the “Sager” Party because of its role as a culminating event for the symposium, the party and the symposium have been growing increasingly apart both in mission and attendance.

The Symposium’s mission is to foster queer community building in a safe and supportive environment, which the committee feels is not possible given the atmosphere of Swarthmore’s campus on the day of the Genderfuck Party. Incidents of abuse and harassment, especially for women and queer people, are highest during this event, making the party an unsafe space to truly experiment with gender. This year, we would like to refocus our energies and the attention of the campus on the activism and coalition building that are central to the Sager Symposium. As a result, after considering many possible options, we are disassociating ourselves from the party, which is not related to the broader goals of the events, and should no longer be known as “Sager.” While the party and symposium are no longer affiliated, we look forward to the party on April 4, which we hope will be a night that continues to foster gender bending and is safer and more consensual than it has been in years past.

Sasha Raskin ’09
Sasha Wijeyeratne ’12
On behalf of the 2009 Sager Symposium Planning Committee