Comedienne’s humor makes assault issues easier to handle
Gail Stern has an original approach to getting students engaged in a discussion about the serious topics of rape and sexual assault.
She adds humor to the mix.
The former comedienne kicked of this year’s Take Back the Night events Wednesday in Moore Hall’s Townsend Kiva.
Stern told the roughly 200 in attendance how many people view women as sex objects. She said her presentation would be filled with profanity, but she wanted it kept in the room.
“What happens in Mount Pleasant, stays in Mount Pleasant,” Stern said.
She had the audience call out words used to describe women who have sex. They were almost entirely negative but one caught her attention.
“Ho, I like that one. It’s for people who want to say ‘whore’ but are too lazy,” Stern said.
She proceeded to exaggerate the word, drawing wild laughter, which was on steady supply throughout the performance.
Then Stern had audience members call out words used to describe men who have sex. Many of them were more positive, like ‘pimp.’
“Pimp, yeah, it’s hard out here for a pimp these days,” she said, referring to the Oscar-winning song by Three 6 Mafia. “Good movie, but I can’t believe that song won an Oscar.”
Stern’s message moved from humorous to a more serious tone as she continued, but she made the transition seamlessly.
Women are viewed in a more negative light than men and often are seen only as body parts, she said.
“We get used to hating women,” Stern said. “There’s some negative words for men, but they’re not nearly as shameful as those for women.”
Those in attendance seemed to agree with what she said.
“I just love the honesty and the boldness, and the organization of the event itself,” said Katie McKinnon, a 2005 alumna from Oxford. “It was well put together.”
Detroit senior Toya Glenn was impressed by Stern’s performance.
“I thought she was a really great speaker,” Glenn said. “It’s so real and people just don’t realize how bad it is. It kind of opened up my eyes.”
Stern has used her humor to discuss volatile subjects at campuses across the country. The graduate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has appeared on “Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher” as a citizen panelist and recently participated in the “World’s Funniest Cop” competition hosted by Jay Leno.
Sexual Aggression Peer Advocates and the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe sponsored the presentation.
