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Letter
from the Division Chair
I am so honored
to have been voted the chair of the DWC! Ever
since the first ASC meeting I went to, as a
graduate student in 1983, the Division has been
such a source of both support and career building
for me. I remember going to my first ASC and
the Division was meeting in someone's hotel
room then (I think it was Nicky Rafter's). It
was amazing to see all these fabulous women
scholars, whose work meant the world to me.
On top of being wonderful scholars, they were
so welcoming.
Perhaps my most
profound experience with the DWC was when ASC
was in San Francisco, I think it was 1989. I
had just gone through a horrible experience
where four students had charged a star athlete
with rape and all were acquitted. Not only were
the victims' names dragged through the mud in
the courtroom, so was my own, simply for supporting
them. At one of the Division business meetings
I ended up spontaneously telling the story and
felt all the rage that had built up over this.
I got the most unbelievable support from so
many of the members (e.g., Helen Eigenberg,
Kim Cook, Meda Chesney-Lind, and Marjorie Zatz).
It really helped me reframe this experience
and learn to live with it in a way that I felt
more empowered.
The Division has
also offered me countless opportunities to publish
and do national service work. The bonds I've
made with my sisters in the Division have been
incredible and I hope that other feminist criminologists
have a similar experience. Just leading my first
business meeting in Atlanta for the Division
was a trip! I had the incredible shoes to fill
of Nancy Wonders-what a legacy she's left on
leading our fine division!
Unfortunately,
just after ASC this year (November 26th) I was
diagnosed with breast cancer. In December I
had a double mastectomy. Needless to say, this
has been very challenging. I am so grateful
to the other members of the DWC who have so
generously stepped in to cover things that I
haven't been able to do. In particular, huge
thanks to Kim Cook and Mona Danner!
Thank you to everyone
who is committed to our division and the impact
we have on feminist scholarship and activism.
Joanne Belknap,
Chair
Division on Women and Crime
Department of Sociology
Campus Box 327
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO 80309-0327
303-492-3312
e-mail: joanne.belknap@colorado.edu
Women's Studies
Campus Box 246
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO 80309-0246
303-735-2182
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