Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 28, 1992 TAG: 9202280326
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LISA SWIRSKY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
NOW CHAPTER REORGANIZES WITH ANGER
Some of the women who came to the reorganizational meeting Thursday night of the Roanoke chapter of the National Organization for Woman were professionals; some were homemakers.Some were seasoned activists; some were attending their first NOW meeting.
They all had one thing in common: They were angry.
"I was at a point where I wanted to stand in the grocery store and yell, `All women who are angry, meet me at the potato chips,'" Katherine Reed said to a group of about 35 people - including one man - at the Roanoke library.
Reed, a Roanoke resident, was hired by the state NOW to help reorganize the chapter, which had not met in two years.
Those who turned out for the meeting shared Reed's anger. During a round of introductions those in attendence explained why they were there. The reasons were varied but anger tinged them all.
Three women said they were motivated to come because they were victims of rape. One broke down and said her parents didn't even know she was raped.
Others cited reasons that ranged from personal experiences with harassment on the job to the movie "Thelma and Louise" - the summer hit about two women running from the law after shooting a would-be rapist. Many people hailed the movie as a feminist anthem.
The organization, which was very active in the early 1980s during the push for the Equal Rights Amendment, suffered during the late '80s. As women became caught up in the "superwoman syndrome" - the idea that women should be super achievers both at home and in the work place - feminism "went by the wayside," said Gayle Stoner, former co-president of the chapter.
Reed said one of the objectives of the chapter is to get people to call themselves feminists. "Lets re-own the `f' word," she said.