Joanne Marrow (January 22, 1945 – June 24, 2014) was an American

clinical psychologist Clinical psychology is an integration of social science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and persona ...

, author,

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

, and advocate of

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

rights. She was a tenured professor of psychology at California State University, Sacramento (CSUS), where she taught the

psychology of women Feminine psychology or the psychology of women is an approach that focuses on social, economic, and political issues confronting women all throughout their lives. It emerged as a reaction to male-dominated developmental theories such as Sigmund F ...

and

human sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...

for 30 years. She helped establish Women Escaping a Violent Environment (WEAVE), a Sacramento-based shelter for women who are victims of domestic abuse. Marrow became part of a nationwide discussion in the United States regarding the limits of

academic freedom Academic freedom is a moral and legal concept expressing the conviction that the freedom of inquiry by faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy as well as the principles of academia, and that scholars should have freedom to teac ...

, after a guest lecture she delivered to an undergraduate psychology class at CSUS in December 1994 resulted in a student filing a $2.5 million

sexual harassment Sexual harassment is a type of harassment involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome and inappropriate promises of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions fro ...

claim against the university due to its content and presentation.

Early life and education

Marrow was born on January 22, 1945, in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., to Albin and Genevieve Marrow. She had three sisters: Madeline, Celeste, and Claudia, and a brother, Philip. In 1964, after graduating high school, Marrow joined a

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

founded by the Maryknoll Sisters in

Valley Park, Missouri Valley Park is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 6,885 at the 2020 census. History Descendants of the Mississippian culture still had a settlement along the Meramec River in the mid-18th century, until the N ...

. She lived there as a Roman Catholic

novice A novice is a person who has entered a religious order and is under probation, before taking vows. A ''novice'' can also refer to a person (or animal e.g. racehorse) who is entering a profession A profession is a field of work that has ...

(nun-in-training) for over two years; according to Marrow, she left the convent after her

novice mistress In the Roman Catholic Church, a novice master or master of novices, lat. ''Magister noviciorum'', is a member of a religious institute who is responsible for the training and government of the novitiate in that institute. In religious institutes f ...

"told me it was God's will that I leave", returning to her family in Chicago on July 21, 1966. She went on to graduate from Chicago's

Mundelein College Mundelein College was the last private, independent, Roman Catholic women's college in Illinois. Located on the edge of the Rogers Park and Edgewater neighborhoods on the far north side of Chicago, Illinois, Mundelein College was founded and adm ...

with a Bachelor of Arts in sociology, and earned her PhD in clinical psychology from

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...

Tallahassee, Florida Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, Florida, Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In ...

Career

Starting from 1974, Marrow was a tenured professor of the psychology department at California State University, Sacramento (CSUS), where she taught classes on the

and human sexuality for three decades. She concurrently ran a private practice as a clinical psychologist. In 1997, she published the book ''Changing Positions: Women Speak Out on Sex and Desire''.

December 1994 guest lecture

In December 1994, Marrow delivered a guest lecture on human sexuality to an undergraduate psychology class at CSUS, in which she discussed

female masturbation Masturbation is the sexual stimulation of one's own genitals for sexual arousal or other sexual pleasure, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation may involve hands, fingers, everyday objects, sex toys such as vibrators, or combinatio ...

sex toy A sex toy is an object or device that is primarily used to facilitate human sexual pleasure, such as a dildo, artificial vagina or vibrator. Many popular sex toys are designed to resemble human genitals, and may be vibrating or non-vibrating ...

s, and her own sexual experiences; made jokes about male genitalia and

penis size Human penises vary in size on a number of measures, including length and circumference when flaccid and erect. Besides the natural variability of human penises in general, there are factors that lead to minor variations in a particular male, ...

; presented slides featuring images of female children's genitalia; and showed images of a

vulva The vulva (plural: vulvas or vulvae; derived from Latin for wrapper or covering) consists of the external sex organ, female sex organs. The vulva includes the mons pubis (or mons veneris), labia majora, labia minora, clitoris, bulb of vestibu ...

before and after childbirth. One of the students in attendance, 33-year-old Craig Rogers, filed a $2.5 million

claim against the university, stating that the lecture had caused him "mental anguish, pain and suffering, loss of concentration and emotional distress". He said that Marrow used the lecture to impose her views regarding "a certain type of lifestyle", and stated that he felt "raped and trapped", as he "was being

aroused Sexual arousal (also known as sexual excitement) describes the physiological and psychological responses in preparation for sexual intercourse or when exposed to sexual stimuli. A number of physiological responses occur in the body and mind as ...

y the content of the lectureand didn't want it". He also stated that the presentation affected him to the point that he sought counseling from his pastor. The course's regular professor, William Westbrook, reportedly prepared students weeks in advance for the lecture, and Marrow herself informed them that she uses "very blunt and direct language" and for students to leave the classroom if they felt they would be uncomfortable. Rogers initially left, but returned after learning that some of the material would appear on their final exam. Marrow stated that she received positive feedback on the lecture from around a dozen female students who were in attendance, who told her after the class had ended "what a wonderful lecture it was". Marrow's lawyer, John Poswall, argued that the intent of Marrow's lecture was to communicate "that not only should women learn to enjoy their bodies without shame or guilt, but men can learn to be better sexual partners to the women they love"; however, Rogers' lawyer, Kathleen Smith, referred to the lecture as being in violation of CSUS's sexual harassment code, which contained prohibitions on "sexually explicit or sexist" statements and "display of sexually explicit pictures". Once Rogers' claim against CSUS had been made public knowledge in March 1995, the incident became the subject of national newspaper, television, and radio news reports, and initiated discussions regarding the limits of

in universities. CSUS ultimately ruled against Rogers, finding that the content and presentation of Marrow's lecture was not severe enough to have constituted "an intimidating, hostile or offensive learning environment".

Personal life

Marrow was a lesbian, and married her wife Itara O'Connell on September 30, 2008. In 1995, Marrow stated that although she had attended Catholic schooling, she was no longer practicing Catholicism, saying instead, "My spirituality has evolved and transformed into something much more universal." She had an interest in

Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...

, and was a devotee of the Hindu spiritual leader

Mata Amritanandamayi Mātā Amritānandamayī Devī (born Sudhamani Idamannel; 27 September 1953), often known as Amma ("Mother"), is an Indian Hindu spiritual leader, guru and humanitarian, who is revered as 'the hugging saint' by her followers. In 2018, she w ...

. Marrow's hobbies included

watercolor painting Watercolor (American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the U ...

, gardening,

backpacking Backpacking may refer to: * Backpacking (travel), low-cost, independent, international travel * Backpacking (hiking), trekking and camping overnight in the wilderness * Ultralight backpacking, a style of wilderness backpacking with an emphasis on ...

, kayaking, science, and reading.

Death

Marrow died on June 24, 2014, in

Grass Valley, California Grass Valley is a city in Nevada County, California, United States. Situated at roughly in elevation in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, this northern Gold Country city is by car from Sacramento, from Sacramento I ...

, after living with metastatic

renal cell carcinoma Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a kidney cancer that originates in the lining of the proximal convoluted tubule, a part of the very small tubes in the kidney that transport primary urine. RCC is the most common type of kidney cancer in adults, resp ...

for 12 years.

References

Sources

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