OWL 'pleasure seminar' canceled, protests planned

After a turbulent day in the face of inclement weather and planned protests, OWL yesterday postponed its "pleasure seminar" featuring Cake, an entertainment company "devoted to the promotion of female sexual culture", which was originally set to take place at 8 p.m. in the Whig senate chamber. OWL President Jessica Brondo '04 said weather caused the event's move.

The co-founders of Cake, Melinda Gallagher and Emily Kramer, had contacted OWL and arranged a discussion on sexual fantasy, orgasm and pleasure. Female passivity, the science of the female orgasm, and individual desires and pleasures were main topics, Brondo said.

"I think it's a great event and there has been more than enough interest. More than 200 students RSVP'd," Brondo said. "It's not only an issue that a select group are interested in."

In response to the planned event, Cason Crosby '03 and Alicia Clermont '03 organized a mix of students, including members of the College Republicans and the Tory magazine, to protest last night.

Crosby said that the grassroots group was "very concerned about the seminar's content and the detrimental effects it might have on the Womens' Movement," as well as "worried that [Cake's] coming to Princeton would legitimize their program."

The protesters expressed concerns that the pleasure seminar would offend and detract from OWL's mission of promoting leadership among women.

"It's entirely inconsistent for the Organization of Women Leaders to sponsor a group that explicitly promotes the self-objectification of women," Clermont said.

The group first learned of the planned seminar when a "concerned OWL member" notified the Tory of the event. Tory staffer John Andrews said there is dissent within the ranks of OWL as to whether or not the event should take place.

"I think it's extremely inappropriate, and to some degree degrading to women," Andrews said. "It's indecent, obscene and it's unnecessary."

Other protesters objected to the explicit subject matter.

"Having a workshop on sexual masturbation is vulgar and nasty whether or not you believe in some ideology of sexual liberation or not," Carlos Ramos-Mrosovsky '04 said. At least several hundred people were informed of the protests, he added.

The protest was registered with public safety and approved by Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Students Thomas Dunne, said Evan Baehr '05, vice president of the College Republicans. The seminar was moved to Terrace Club and then back to Whig, added Baehr, and certain OWL members were told to arrive at Whig by 7:20 p.m., soon before the planned arrival of protesters.

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"I don't think they wanted members to be counterprotesting," Baehr said. "I think it was a way to avoid confrontation and substantive discussion over whether this should happen."

The event has been rescheduled for the first week of March, Brondo said.