“I don’t think many of us imagine Jane Hoya kissing other girls, unless it’s in a Joe Hoya fantasy,” former GU Pride President Shamisa Zvoma (MSB ‘08) said during the panel discussion “Deconstructing Jane and Joe Hoya: Gender at Georgetown,” on Tuesday.
Organized by GU Pride as part of Gender Liberation Week, the panel and other events are part of an effort to bring attention to issues relating to sexuality and gender norms and identity.
“We want to highlight transgender issues, issues of gender norms as they apply to men and women, and to do a better job of representing the LGBTQI[ntersex] community,” GU Pride Advocacy Chair Jack Harrison (SFS ‘09) said. “I just really wanted to get these terms out there—I’ve explained what intersex means to more people than I can count.”
Intersexed people are those whose sex chromosomes, genitalia and secondary sex characteristics, such as breasts and beards, are not solely male or female.
Many of the events, which include a movie, workshop, lecture, passing out flyers and cross-dressing in Red Square, are co-sponsored by other organizations on campus.
“Take Back the Night was especially involved, and we felt that Mecha de Georgetown and the AIDS Coalition were very involved as well,” Harrison said. “We’re putting [Gender Liberation Week] on with great support from our co-sponsors.”
This is the first Gender Liberation Week, something the GU Pride board has been planning since spring semester.
“While the LGB is pretty well represented, the other letters are ignored,” GU Pride Secretary Carlos Leon Ojeda (COL ’10) said. “We never talk about the T. There’s actually a lot students who are T who never get their voices heard.”
Ellen Greer (SFS ’11), one of the participants at Tuesday’s panel discussion, said that while many Georgetown students profess to be tolerant, that’s not necessarily the truth.
“Georgetown is accepting in the sense of ‘Oh, we love gay people,’ but it’s only fine if you’re gay and behind the scenes,” Ojeda, who identifies as queer, said.
Dana Luciana, Assistant Professor of English, said that Joe and Jane Hoya are simply stand-ins to obscure the stereotypes behind them.
“People feel empowered to point to the crosses on the wall and say, ‘You can’t be here,’” she said.
