… Lee and I were on the same wave length when our daughters were in Berkeley High School at approximately the same time; and rapes of girls in the school and on the grounds were occurring alarmingly. I was working on a doctorate in Criminology (after a Masters degree in Social Work) and had chosen the issue of rape for my dissertation topic. I think Lee and I met after a Berkeley City Council meeting when the Women’s Health Collective let it be known that they were raising the issue at the meeting. Afterward I went to Collective meetings to help and heard about Lee’s interest in doing something. No-one else was available to go to her house to talk about it, so I volunteered to be the group’s representative. She and I decided to set up a meeting and try to recruit attendees.
At the same time I was preparing my research. I contacted classes at UCB that had numerous women students and offered to make a presentation and teach a class what I knew about rape. There was very little written about rape at the time but I found some material in law journals and anthropology readings. After each class, I distributed a questionnaire which ended with a request for personal information about their experiences with sexual assault. I announced the meeting that Lee and I had set up and I invited women to meet with me personally to discuss their experience and assured anonymity to them and those who filled out the questionnaire. Some stayed after class to meet me and others called me on the phone. Most of the victims had never discussed their experience with anyone else and they were glad to finally have a sympathetic woman to talk to. These and other victims and concerned women became involved in our group which was soon named BAY Area Women Against Rape (BAWAR).
Within a short period of time we accompished a whole lot. Although we didn’t change the world or end rape incidents, we exposed it as a crime, as something people could talk about in the open, and that society was full of dangerous myths about it: like it was the woman’s fault for wearing what she was wearing, for going to a bar, in other words that she had asked for it. We also forced out the doctor at the head of the emergency room who was treating victims as if they were a piece of meat; In addition we pushed through police sensitivity training sessions on how to relate to rape victims; we distributed street sheets on light poles, in women’s bathrooms urging hitch hikers to watch out for the “Yellow Fiat Rapist”, as one example. We also made speeches on TV and at meetings. Finally, we empowered women to believe in themselves and that they could do something to change the way things were.
Personally, your mother and I also had good times together. We rolled dolmas and smoked a turkey for a party as we chatted and held many “happy hours” together. We set up and announced a hot line for women to call and we took turns answering it. We did numerous other things and generally enjoyed eachother’s company for many years. Lee and I met in an unhappy moment but turned it into something remarkable. Before we knew it, there were BAWAR spinoffs all over the country and even the world.
With regrets, your friend,
Julia Schwendinger