Mara Gordon | Feminism - 'Cosmo' style

It seemed like the kind of high-powered event you'd expect during "Women's Week."

There were women sporting power suits and Hillary hairdos. There was a spread of catered fruit trays. There was the official logo of the Trustees' Council of Penn Women, promising us college girls wisdom from generations past.

But it wasn't a networking luncheon or an inspirational speech from a female CEO. Instead, this event was devoted to two extremely important contemporary women's issues: Facebook and dating.

I admit that Women's Week - an annual series of events organized by the Penn Consortium of Undergraduate Women - wasn't really on my radar screen until a friend invited me to the panel on Monday, an event aptly called "Facebookology." It promised to examine the "effects of social networking Web sites on relationships."

I didn't know something like this could be part of Women's Week until I took a close look at the invitation, which also informed me that a club called Women in Thought and the trustees' big bucks helped organize the panel of experts.

It was entertaining, if nothing revolutionary. An expert in communications warned us not to put too much personal information on our profiles. A psychologist bemoaned the death of human intimacy. When one professor referred to "Eric Zuckerberg," the audience twittered because we all knew exactly whose name she had gotten wrong. And a certain junior class president confessed his online stalking habits to the crowd.

The lectures felt like slightly academic dating advice.

"The complexities of having real relationships can be reduced to simple sound bytes" on Facebook, warned Penn psychologist Meeta Kumar. "But it's still really complicated."

Kumar is right, of course.

But I couldn't help thinking - is this really what 21st century feminism is all about? Surely Betty Friedan is rolling over in her grave.

I don't blame the organizers for making an event like this part of Women's Week. After all, they're just giving us what we want. We're "doing things that people find interesting," said PCUW chairwoman Lauren Lorberbaum, a College senior. "It affects our everyday lives, whether we know it or not."

Past Women's Week events focused on climbing the corporate ladder and networking, Lorberbaum said, but they suffered from low turnout and interest.

This year, organizers wanted an event that seemed more relevant to Penn girls' lives.

So I guess that's our generation's big "women's issue:" dating in the era of Facebook.

To PCUW's credit, not all of their events are devoted to the stuff of bad chick-lit novels.

The Vagina Monologues, as it is every February, was a huge success last week, raising $40,000 for Women Organized Against Rape.

Renowned activist Angela Davis is the Women's Week keynote speaker. As a former member of the Black Panther Party and vocal anti-prison advocate, Davis' speech will be anything but fluff.

And according to some of the trustees who sponsored Monday's event, maybe it's a luxury that Women's Week can feature presentations like "Facebookology."

"I think it's great," said Susanna Lachs, the chairwoman of the Trustees Council of Penn Women and one of the organizers.

Lachs is a lawyer who graduated in 1974, at the "height of the women's movement." Those years at Penn were filled with revolution, Lachs said, but she would trade it in a second for what young women have today.

"Let's face it - we live in a co-ed world," she said.

Lachs has a good point. I'm glad we don't have to spend our time burning bras and sneaking out of Hill College House, the former all-women's dorm on campus.

But that doesn't mean that feminists at Penn need to limit themselves to topics more relevant to Cosmo than an Ivy League school.

"Women's issues" go far beyond Facebook and dating, and Women's Week should reflect that.

Mara Gordon is a College senior from Washington, DC. Her e-mail is gordon@dailypennsylvanian.com. Flash Gordon appears on Wednesdays.

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