YOUR VOICE HAS POWER.
This website is a catalogue of stories, rants, and experiences of everyday sexism, misogyny, and patriarchal violence.
Sexist and patriarchal violence exist on a spectrum: whether it’s sexist language, a joke, a comment, a name/label, slurs, harassment, cat-calling, leering, groping, unwanted touch, boundary violations, spatial invasions, stalking, abuse, revenge porn, assault, exploitation, violence, trafficking, coercive control, being propositioned, doxxing, online abuse, objectification, anti-feminism, taking/sharing intimate or nude images without consent, misogynoir, racialized fetishizing of women of color, gaslighting, victim-blaming, purity/modesty culture, pornification, sexual shaming, double standards, rape/prostitution jokes, invisibility of women, mansplaining, gender roles and stereotypes, male entitlement, rape culture, mother-shaming/blaming, reproductive coercion, and other examples…
Your story and experiences are valid. Sexism does not have to be severe, shocking, or obvious to be harmful and create a hostile environment for women.
Though sexism is often normalized as “just the way things are,” this is not the way things have to be. We have the power to create and transform our community.
This is why we are also encouraging submissions of anti-sexist stories and courageous acts of resistance, support and validation for women, pro-feminist acts, and bystander intervention that we can share to inspire others to step up, say something, and/or take action!
The personal is political.
Thank you for sharing your story! Follow our social media accounts to see if your story gets posted! You are welcome to submit whenever you’d like… even multiple times a day.
Sincerely,
The St. Cloud State University Women’s Center
#DearPat #SexistStoriesSC
Dear Pat was driven by SCSU Women’s Center students and began in summer/fall of 2021.
You can submit a story online or drop it off in our secure Dear Pat mailbox located in the Atwood building in the hallway next to room 214!
E-mail womenscenter@stcloudstate.edu to request an 8.5×11 or 11×17 PDF or hard copy version to put up a Dear Pat poster in your classroom, building, business, agency, organization, faith community or school?
Who is Pat?
During the 1980s, Patricia “Pat” Samuel was the first tenured Professor and Director of the SCSU Women’s Studies Program. Women students flooded Pat’s office and shared their personal experiences of violence, harassment, and sexism. The stories first disclosed to Pat pushed movement forward for women at St. Cloud State and the broader community.
We honor Pat through this project as we continue to call attention to issues of sexism, misogyny, antifeminism, and gender injustices that continue to occur today on both interpersonal and systemic scales.
The stories disclosed here will continue to embolden, enrage, and ignite us forward as we uproot systems of sexist oppression and build a world where women and girls are safe and respected.
Together, we will fight for a world where women can experience true freedom and collective liberation from the chains of patriarchy, violence, and all systems of oppression.
Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.
Dear Pat 