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Lee Ann De Reus is a BITCH and proud of it. On Oct. 22, approximately 50 female students and a few faculty members gathered in Neville Hall at the University of Maine to hear De Reus speak about her pride in being a Babe In Total Control of Herself.
The room was filled with chatting, giggling and lots of pink – one of the colors of Delta Zeta, the sorority that hosted the event. Other sponsors included the All Maine Women, Women in the Curriculum, Dean Angel Loredo, the Student Women’s Association, the Panhellic Council and Student Government.
De Reus was introduced by Ashley Hoskins, president of the UMaine chapter of Delta Zeta, who read De Reus’ bio and talked of how she inspired the sorority when some of them heard her speak at a regional conference in April. “She is best known for her ‘wild woman’ workshops,” Hoskins said.
De Reus – dressed in jeans, a black T-shirt and a pink jacket – joked about another translation for BITCH. “Boys, I’m Taking Charge Here,” she said.
De Reus is a self-described “wild woman,” associate professor at Penn. State University, mother and activist who spends part of her life lecturing around the U.S. with her “Bitches Without Borders: Daring to Make a Difference” lecture and workshop series.
De Reus admits that the title of the series, and her group, Bitches without Borders, is a bit shocking.
“If they can do the ‘Vagina Monologues,’ I can do Bitches without Borders,” she said during the lecture.
The title for the organization came to her late at night in a brainstorming session, she said. Instead of coming up with the organization first, she started with the name. Bitches without Borders was a play on Doctors without Borders, and she immediately secured the domain name on the Internet. She said the name does get people’s attention, but it sometimes turns people off.
“You know, it’s not like an organization like Bitches can sponsor an Easter egg hunt,” she said.
She asked the room what the word “bitch” meant and explained the context, how the word has gotten a negative connotation and how many women who are powerful are often associated with the term.
“In other words, ‘bitch’ is used to keep women in their place,” she said.
She read some statistics about women and children around the world. According to De Reus, 300,000 children in the world die every day, half of the world lives on less than $2.50 a day, and even though women are 51 percent of the population, they hold 16 percent of elected offices.
“This has got to stop,” she said. She talked about how lucky she felt. “I have a tremendous amount of privilege.”
De Reus advocates for women to “reclaim their authentic voice, resist limits and revolutionize their world,” according to her bio.
The lecture centered on De Reus’ activism and her travels to Darfur, Tanzania and the Dominican Republic. She cautioned against “hit-and-run” activism where groups do one project and never go back and continue to help, like buying a turkey for Thanksgiving, but never donating food the rest of the year.
She told stories about other “wild women” who took control of their lives and didn’t take no for an answer, including a group of teenage girls in Pennsylvania who took on Abercrombie and Fitch. The girls were upset about shirts the company was printing with slogans like, “Do I make you look fat?” so they started a media campaign that led them to meet with executives. They came up with alternative slogans like, “Your future boss,” but Abercrombie and Fitch said they weren’t interested.
“They said ‘screw you, we’ll make our own damn shirts,’” she said. Now the girls are selling their own shirts online.
Another anecdote was about a group of high school students who started their own Save Darfur chapter and raised $21,000 at a charity concert. When De Reus heard the total money raised, she was shocked by what they accomplished.
“Holy s—, we raised $21,000. Oh, and how much fun was it to write out those checks,” she said.
Her 15-year-old daughter often travels with her and is on board with her activism.
They don’t have a television, eat at McDonald’s or shop at Wal-Mart. She buys all her clothes at Salvation Army and Goodwill. “Nothing I have on tonight is new.”
Being a BITCH and doing good in the world doesn’t necessarily mean traveling halfway around the world.
“Maybe it just means that you do no harm in your own backyard.”
De Reus finished the lecture with a poem she found on the Internet.
“It’s amazing what happens when you Google the word ‘bitch.’”
After a short break, De Reus started her workshop; though it usually takes an entire weekend, it was squeezed into one hour.
She had participants list the qualities they liked about themselves and their dreams and create a plan to accomplish those dreams.
Kayla Fitch, a junior biology student, attended both the lecture and the workshop. “She’s a really great speaker, and she’s really inspirational,” she said.
She echoed one of De Reus’ messages, that women don’t support other women enough.
“It’s just nice to know that you can be the person you see yourself as,” she said. “It’s one of those things you can’t understand until you go.” She said the title did make her wary, but she was glad she went. “She’s a normal, everyday person who does extraordinary things.”
“If someone calls you a BITCH, you smile, you nod, you wink and you say thanks,” De Reus said.
