Imagine walking into a dark space that is totally enclosed. Inside there are pictures on the walls of abused women with bruised and bloody faces looking directly at you. A man is yelling, and a woman is crying and apologizing over and over again while she stares at the floor. You have just walked into a scene in the “Tunnel of Oppression.”
The Tunnel experience is somber, eye opening, and unlike any other. Designed to display the consequences of one group having power and privilege over another, rather than to make people feel depressed or guilty, the Tunnel’s goal is to highlight global issues of oppression such as domestic violence, immigration rights, stereotyping, marriage equality, and body image, through dramatic means.
Implemented on several U.S. campuses, the Tunnel of Oppression at Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) — the college that I attend — was such a success last year that it has become an annual event. PLU Tunnel visitors are led through in small groups by a guide. At the end of the Tunnel, visitors can write down their reactions in a public journal, as well as read the reactions of others. After their visits, visitors are encouraged to debrief with a counselor in a separate area.
Because we live in a country that has enormous wealth and opportunity, we rarely see what is happening around the world and even in some parts of the United States. The Tunnel of Oppression demonstrates the consequences of subtle forms of oppression, such as the exploitation of factory workers. For instance, a $10 T-shirt that you would buy at the mall may be the product of a company that exploits its workers — the majority of whom are women who are expected to work long hours for little pay in gruesome conditions.
The Tunnel of Oppression is a great experience for college students. It’s easy to get wrapped up in our campus cocoons, so it’s important to take a look at oppression throughout the world and recognize ways we can change it.
I was a Tunnel of Oppression attendee last year, and this year I designed a display about eating disorders. Tunnel of Oppression has changed my lens, and I hope it can change the lenses of many more people, too.
Hannah Febach is a member of the 2009–10 AAUW Student Advisory Council.
The Tunnel of Oppression sounds very powerful. It seems that some people need something like that to really face reality.
This is the first I have heard of the Tunnel of Oppression. It sounds like a powerful message, especially because it goes far beyond just words. But how does this happen? What universities offer this event? Is there a list? Should we locally be trying to encourage our colleges and universities to implement this program? It’s not that I am at a point where I want to take on yet another huge, or small, project; but there could be others in our branch or region who would be able to do that.
I have been retired for over a decade, and my public school and college experiences are a long time in the past. I remain an avid reader and one always interested in women’s rights; however, I am not directly involved in schools at any level. I am a lifetime AAUW member now, and in our chapter there are women very active in specific AAUW issues and actions, in the areas of law and education. I will certainly be talking with those local leaders re the Tunnel.
Consequences of sex trafficking would be a good entry for the Tunnel of Oppression. Does AAUW have a public policy position on this issue?
As I was a victim of domestic violence I think this display would be too painful for me. However, I am trying to get AAUW interested in the Women and Girls Sexual Trafikking project that some of the Soroptomists groups (Portland, OR and Lower Washington State in particular) are presenting. West coast ports are entry points for this activity for assorted reasons (compared to the east coast.
Pauline Flanagan Barrett
AAUW-WA Finance VP