Volume XXIX, Issue 1 Fall 2022 The Tennessee Tech University Women’s Center and Commission on the Status of Women
Inside This Issue:
Political Drag drag performers standing up for their right to exist as they are without conforming to society’s expectations. PAGE 2
ALICE Established ALICE was born out of the desire to create a space for women in CEE to connect, support, and empower one another to successfully complete their degrees. PAGE 3
The Dangers of TN’s Abortion Ban the U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world PAGE 4
Glorifying Domestic Labor there is a distinct difference between functionality of a space and designing your space to make it photo worthy. PAGE 6
WC Library Book Reviews Ramey discovers other women who have been dismissed by medical professionals and are told the classic line, “It’s just hormones” PAGE 10
T H E
W O M E N ’ S
C E N T E R
J O U R N A L
Retrospective By Rachel Pearson
This summer, I read every single edition of Attune since 1994. Ok, well… read might be an exaggeration. But I did spend time going through all 50+ editions, perusing “My March on Washington” (Spring 2017), “Teaching Women “The Business”” (Spring 2007), and “Research Suggests the Glass Ceiling Endures” (Fall 1995), just to name a few. To help make all past editions of Attune accessible to our readers, I helped the University Archives digitize the past editions of Attune. I have been a student worker with the Women’s Center since spring of 2019. In my time working here, I have authored articles as well as co-edited several editions of Attune. This summer, however, my involvement looked a little different. As I helped sort old files in our office, I realized that the center has paper copies of all old versions of Attune since its first edition back in 1994. Our office decided that we needed to make these pieces of our history available to the public, so we reached out to the University Archives and planned to digitize all Attunes. This project required scanning every individual page of all the editions of Attune and skimming through articles to attach keywords and descriptions to each edition. It was an interest-
ing experience getting to see what students on campus cared about for the last 20-25 years and to see the themes that persist throughout. One of the first things I noticed was recurring topics and themes. Some include sexual assault on campus, interpersonal violence, body image, women in politics and other leadership positions, women’s history, health, sexism, and campus news and resources. It was interesting to see that today, we as a campus community still have a lot of the same interests and passions as those who wrote for Attune almost 30 years ago. Attune has also had some recurring columns, including a section featuring the accomplishments of women on campus and a section on books which included recommendations, reviews, and books recently added to the Women’s Center’s library. Personally, I would love to see these columns return to Attune in some form. I was also amazed at the enormous number of people who have contributed to Attune. As I worked through all the Attunes, I made a list of everyone who ever wrote for Attune. Attune has had over 200 contributors since 1994! Many of the contributors have authored multiple articles across several editions with some contributing as many as 10-15 articles. I had no idea that so many people had been involved through the years. Another observation I made during my work was that Attune has started to return to the types of content featured RETROSPECTIVE
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