This November, Bryn Mawr College has been celebrating LGBTQIA+ History Month with numerous events, including presentations, speeches, discussions, and performances. One of these events was “The History of Gender Identity and Expression at Bryn Mawr College”, a presentation of an internship project by Emmett Binkowski ’16 (he/him). Emmett is a Psychology major with a minor in Gender and Sexuality. He interned with The Pensby Center for Community Development and Inclusion two years ago and created this project.
In his project, he divided Bryn Mawr history into 30 year segments since its founding in 1885. All of the information was exclusively from public publications, which he noted did not necessarily tell the whole story. He discussed how feminism has been present throughout Bryn Mawr history and how it has changed over time. He also looked at the inclusion of queer students, especially those who are transgender and how the admissions policies have changed to allow these students to apply.
It was very interesting to see how the past relates so much to Bryn Mawr’s future. In 1919, students had already started to discuss the trend we now call “The Bryn Mawr chop”, where many students start wearing shorter haircuts. By the 1980s, students were discussing homophobia, intersectionality, and racism, which are common topics on campus today.The presentation was a great reminder of how far the college has come and how much has changed while also showing how much has stayed the same.
To view the project, go to http://genderatbrynmawr.omeka.net/exhibits