By Ann Driscoll
Associate Editor
Berklee senior Lisa Forkish is on a mission to stop sexual violence, and bring a spirit of activism to the Berklee community. This past winter, Forkish started MASSIVE, Musicians against Sexual Violence, and the group has already organized seven campus-wide events, culminating in tonight’s Take Back The Night rally, an international march raising awareness about sexual violence.
Forkish describes MASSIVE as a “student initiative, not a club,” since the group consists of faculty and staff. The core leadership includes staff Laurel Kilbourne and Keppie Coutts, and students Rebecca Perkins and Bri Crawford.
Their events have been frequent and diverse, and always emphasize discussion. “The main goal of MASSIVE is to get people talking,” said Forkish, an Oregon native, who is a professional music major with a songwriting emphasis.
MASSIVE’s first event, Break the Silence was a benefit concert held on February 5 at a small chapel owned by Residence Life on Commonwealth Ave. The show featured Berklee musicians Julia Easterlin and Katerina Polemis, who catered their respective sets to the theme of social equality and ending sexual violence. Proceeds benefited the Elizabeth Stone House, a women’s shelter in Jamaica Plain.
This past Valentine’s Day, a 17-woman cast, comprised of faculty, students, and staff performed Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues, organized and presented by MASSIVE.
The Cast of 'Vagina Monologues'
The internationally famous monologues packed the chapel, but prior to the production, Forkish met some raised eyebrows. “I got a little bit of ‘Oh, is that just a guy-bashing thing? Are guys allowed to come? Is it just a bunch of chicks standing around, talking about their vaginas?”
According to Forkish, the monologues, which are based on true stories, is about empowering women and empowering women’s bodies. “It’s definitely not a man-bashing show,” she said.
The performance raised money for BARC, the Boston Area Rape Crisis area as well as V-Day, a non-profit that attempts to end sexual violence globally.
MASSIVE presented two film screenings with subsequent discussions at the Media Center: V-Day: Until the Violence Stops and Tough Guise: Violence, Media and the Crisis in Masculinity. The latter film dealt with sexist media portrayals, a relevant topic to female musicians.
“As women in music, it’s a male-dominated industry; and all you have to do is turn on MTV to see a certain kind of sexual violence going on,” said Forkish. “I’ve seen so many music videos where women are actually being abused as part of the visual narrative. The way women are expected to look and dress and act definitely relates to the violence that goes. I don’t think any of that is disconnected in any way.”
MASSIVE has brought together many different entities at Berklee to put on events: the Media Center, the Office for Cultural Diversity, Counseling & Advising Center, Liberal Arts Department. Berklee counselors have attended the events to provide support for attendees affected by the frank content, which has dealt with rape and sexual abuse.
Support from various Berklee institutions has helped MASSIVE overcome inherent disadvantages in staging events, namely the overwhelming male to female ratio and absence of a campus Women’s Center. “I’m not implying that Berklee is a sexist community, necessarily, but just the fact that there are less women than men means that the community of students at Berklee is already less inclined toward putting on these kinds of events and having these kinds of discussions just by nature of the numbers.”
Forkish’s efforts all culminate in the rally tonight. The first Take Back the Night was held in 1976 in Belgium, and now thousands of colleges and universities around the U.S. and the globe hold a march every year. “The idea is to get a lot of Berklee folks out, men and women. We want to make sure that men know that this is not just women marching. The more men, the better. This is a solidarity march.”
Gina Mamone of Riot Grrl Ink, a New York-based LGBTQ artist label, will be the guest speaker after having conducted a workshop this past week on building affecting business models for artists and activists. Though tonight will be the first year that an organization of Berklee students participates, Forkish hopes it’s not the last.
She hopes that her efforts will be replicated annually, much like the Latin Music celebration, which is a month of concerts and events put on every year by Berklee.
The energetic Forkish has bridged the gap between music and activism in her life, and hopes others do the same.
“Historically, musicians have been those who reflect on what’s going on in contemporary times, and represent cultural changes and revolution even. I believe that musicians have the responsibility to be socially aware and pay attention to the world around us.”
Take Back the Night rally will be tonight, Friday, March 26. MASSIVE will be meeting at the corner of Hereford and Commonwealth Ave at 7pm.
