Women's Action Coalition (New York, N.Y.)

The Women's Action Coalition was a direct action organization founded in 1992 in support of women's rights.

From the description of Women's Action Coalition records, 1992-1997. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 122606975

On January 28, 1992, a group of ten to fifteen friends from the New York art world called a meeting, entitled "Women strategizing in the 90's". There were many reasons these women felt frustrated and angry, but the chief catalyst for the meeting was the recent confirmation of Clarence Thomas as a Supreme Court Justice after Anita Hill's testimony that he sexually harassed her. Between seventy-five and one hundred women came to this meeting, and the group decided to become a direct-action organization, similar to ACT-UP (the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) and the Women's Health Action Coalition (WHAM). They immediately voted on the initials "WAC". After a dispute over whether the "A" should stand for "Action" or "Artists", their name officially became Women's Action Coalition.

WAC's first action, at a sexual assault trial involving students from St. John's University, took place six days later. At that time, WAC created its signature "blue dot" logo (see examples in administrative and photographs series), modeled after television's way of obscuring rape victims' faces on camera. Members founded the drum corps, which performed at all subsequent actions. In addition slogans announced, "Let women define rape". WAC was born.

By the second meeting, WAC had 200 participants. By the fourth, and for the rest of the summer of 1992, about 300 women attended every Tuesday. Members created a phone tree and then discarded it as useless, when the number of NYC women involved in some way grew to thousands. The women in WAC were, for the most part, from similar socioeconomic backgrounds. Most were white, many were well-educated, and many were artists and freelance workers, allowing them time to be active in the coalition.

WAC conducted its meetings in a nonhierarchical manner, loosely following "Robert's Rules of Order" and modeled after those of ACT-UP. They were led by facilitators and everything was voted on by everyone. However WAC's quick growth soon made it impossible to bring all inquiries to the floor. Members created committees for specific actions and issues.

WAC was extremely visible and well organized. Their numerous actions were well-publicized and executed. In addition to the above mentioned action at the St. John's University rape trial, they also demonstrated at the trial of several members of a Glen Ridge, NJ high school football team accused of sodomizing a mentally-challenged classmate; at the Pace Gallery and Guggenheim Museum to protest the near- exclusion of women artists; and at the Democratic and Republican national conventions.

WAC's mission statement, created by the media committee, contained the memorable phrase, "WAC is watching. We will take action." Art journals described their graphics as timely and thought-provoking, as well as impressive artistically, and their actions often demonstrated a flair for the theatrical. Media coverage led to mass interest in the organization. Letters to WAC poured in from women across the country who read about WAC in women's magazines, such as Cosmopolitan, and who were eager to get involved.

WAC's seemingly nonstop actions lasted well into 1993. However, WAC's internal difficulties eventually rose to the surface. Issues of race and class diversity and ethnic and sexual identity, though discussed by committees such as the Committee on Diversity and Inclusion and the Lesbian Caucus, caused WAC to lose its direction. Member Tracy Ann Essoglou, in her essay, "Louder than Words: A WAC Chronicle," points to differing levels of political activist experience and WAC's "action, action, action" tendency, which prevented earlier dialogues on matters of diversity. WAC's numbers dwindled to seven or eight, and the groups last meeting was on November 6, 1995.

WAC Selected Bibliography

The 1993 One Show, Every Women is The Ideal Woman, n.p. 1993

Broude, Norma and Mary D. Garrad, eds. The Power of Feminist Art, The American Movement of The 1970s, History and Impact, New York, Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated, 1994, pp. 47, 90, 101, 102-103, 155, 164, 267

Dorman, Mary, WAC is Watching, Visions Magazine, Fall 1992, 49-51

Edelson, Mary Beth, The Art of Mary Beth Edelson, New York City, n.p., 2002

Felshin, Nina, ed. But Is It Art? The Spirit of Art as Activism, Seattle, Washington, Bay Press Inc., 1995, pp 333-372 Findlen, Barbara, ed. Listen Up Voices the Next Feminist Generation, Seattle, Washington, Seal Press, 1995, pp. 208, 239-248

Gaylor, Annie Laurie, Woe to the Women-The Bible Tells Me So. The Bible, Female Sexuality and the Law, Madison Wisconsin, Freedom From Religion Foundation, 1988 4th printing

Houppert, Karen, WAC Strikes Back Feminism In Your Face: The Women's Action Coalition Confronts Sexism in the Media, The Courts, and on the Streets. The Village Voice, 9 June 1992, 33-38

Houppert, Karen, WAC's Big Break-up: The Women's Action Coalition Combusts, The Village Voice, 20 July, 1993

Referral Guide to Health and Social Services for The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Communities of New York City, Office of Gay and Lesbian Health Concerns, New York City Department of Health, 1993, May

WAC is Watching. We Will Take Action. Bomb Artists Writers Actors Directors, Winter 1993 pp46-47

WAC Stats, The Facts About Women, The Women's Action Coalition, ISBN No. 0-9635162-0-5

From the guide to the Women's Action Coalition records, 1989-2003, dates 1992-1993, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)