Diana Scully: A Feminist Mentor and Torch Bearer

As former students of Diana Scully, whose lives were powerfully shaped by her influence, we are so honored to contribute to this symposium dedicated to her work and legacy. Diana influenced numerous students’ individual perspectives about and responses to gender inequality and gender violence through her teaching and mentoring; she led major initiatives focused on gender equity at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU); and she made significant contributions to the fields of sociology, women's reproductive health, and violence against women. In this piece, we share how she influenced our own professional and personal lives and our work at VCU. ¹

Background and Diana's Scholarship

Diana's early scholarship focused on the male-dominated field of obstetrics and gynecology. Her article, “A funny thing happened on the way to the orifice: Women in gynecology textbooks” (Scully & Bart, 1973), a content analysis of obstetrics/gynecology textbooks, and her first book, Men who control women’s health: The miseducation of obstetrician gynecologists (Scully, 1980), documented the sexist views of women's bodies that led to harmful practices including the overuse of hysterectomies and controlling use of premenstrual syndrome diagnoses.

In the 1980s, Diana received a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to study convicted rapists. As she has disclosed to students and in a later publication (Scully, 2003), Diana survived a brutal rape during graduate school, when a stranger broke into her home and raped her at knifepoint. She explained her need to understand the causes of such an attack as one motivation for conducting the study. As others describe in this symposium, the publications from this study were groundbreaking in debunking the myths that only mentally ill men perpetrate rape and that individual factors explained men's perpetration of rape. Her book, Understanding Sexual Violence (cited 993 times), and two articles based on the study, “Convicted Rapists’ Vocabularies of Motive” (1984; cited 738 times) and “Riding the Bull at Gilly's” (1985; cited 491 times) powerfully demonstrate the rampant misogyny, normalization of rape culture, pervasive sexual objectification of women, and use of sexualized violence by men to control women.

Diana's scholarly contributions exemplify the influence of radical feminism on her work that she taught her students. Later in her career, many students began to embrace third-wave feminism and challenge many of the assumptions and critiques of second-wave feminism. This was hard for Diana to relate to and accept given her experiences and her work in the field. The last time we met with Diana, we enjoyed a lunch of fried oysters and hushpuppies and talked about old times. Diana was recalling some of the conversations she had had with students and how they defended the sexual freedom and self-efficacy of third-wave feminists and their right to engage in sex work as a path toward power. Exasperated, Diana concluded, “Let them be strippers, god love ‘em, but don’t call it power.”

Diana's Impact on VCU

Diana came to VCU in 1976 after completing her PhD in Sociology at the University of Chicago. Soon after arriving at VCU, Diana conducted a salary equity study of faculty that demonstrated that women were systematically paid less than their male counterparts even when controlling for other variables such as field, discipline, and years of experience. Her efforts led to an across-the-board salary increase for female faculty, and unfortunately, her work also led to resentment on the part of many (mainly men) faculty members who would hold this against her for many years.

Diana was actively involved in curriculum development, specifically creating VCU's Women's Studies program. First an undergraduate concentration area, then a minor, then part of an interdisciplinary studies degree, women's studies eventually became a department with its own bachelor's degree. Liz Canfield provides more information about this work in a separate piece for the symposium.

Diana's Impact on Gay

Diana was so much more to me than a professor and colleague.

After completing my undergraduate degree in psychology at VCU, I was awarded a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) position in the Sociology Department while earning my M.S. in Sociology. I first met Diana when I took her Sociology of Women course while pursuing my degree. I was later assigned to work as her GTA and it was during this time that I truly came to know her in a more professional and personal way. I was honored to assist her with the first undergraduate course, Introduction to Women's Studies, that she taught at VCU. What I remember most about this experience was the extent to which she allowed me to take part in the development and delivery of the course material. As a nontraditional student who was older, married, and raising my son, it was difficult for me to make connections with other students and faculty. From the first day I worked with her, Diana gave me opportunities to participate in academia in ways I had never imagined possible. She encouraged me to submit a paper I had written for her Sociology of Women course analyzing the sexualized images of women in art to a regional women's studies conference. The conference was being held in Roanoke, Virginia, and Diana decided to take a group of her students to the conference. She took me and three other students to the conference, covered all of our expenses, and brought her coffee pot!

I was privileged to work with Diana during the time she decided to create a Department of Women's Studies at VCU. I was awed by her determination, endless energy, and dedication to ensuring that students would have an opportunity to “critically apply feminist theory” (her words) and explore the social construction of womanhood. Diana's interest in violence against women, particularly sexual violence, was contagious. As a survivor of a brutal rape, Diana used her experience as a catalyst for her extensive research, teaching, and developing an understanding of “why men rape.” This was prior to the recognition and awareness of what later became known as “campus sexual assault.”

It was during this time that I finally identified as a survivor. Having divorced my first husband and the father of my only child due to intimate partner violence (IPV), I had put this experience “on the shelf” and never truly processed what I had endured. Diana taught me that being a formerly battered woman, a survivor, was part of my identity and that I could use that experience in ways that would truly make a difference.

Upon completion of my M.S., I became a Sexual Health Educator for VCU's Office of Health Promotion. Because this was during the HIV/AIDS crisis, my position focused on “safer sex.” What was not being addressed in this work was consent. The program did not address rape. Once I was given permission to add rape awareness to our presentations, the floodgates opened. Survivors came forward, and there were no services for them on campus. VCU had no program for sexual and domestic violence at that time. Sexual assault was included in alcohol prevention programming. Because of what I learned from Diana, I recognized the need for specialized outreach, assistance, and prevention for survivors of rape. This is when I became an advocate for survivors.

The Office of Health Promotion (part of Student Health Services) decided to create a separate program entitled the Office of Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Services, and I was given the opportunity to lead this effort and direct the program. The program focused on prevention, response to survivors, and awareness regarding sexual, and what was then termed domestic, violence. A group of my students developed a theatrical presentation to raise awareness of sexual violence that was nationally recognized and presented at colleges and conferences, and VCU became a leader in the state in terms of responding to sexual assault (and later, IPV).

Sarah Jane and I both developed courses that are still being taught at VCU today. She helped me with the development of an undergraduate course, Violence Against Women, first offered in 2004, and she created a graduate course, Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence in Social Context, in 2005. Each semester, I open the class by honoring Diana, sharing her story, and dedicating the class to her. Many of my students are survivors who are still struggling to better understand their own experiences and those of others. I have learned from their course evaluations that many of them credit this course for finally giving them the ability to understand that they are not alone and what happened to them is not their fault, and they find closure.

While much of my work in the field of advocacy was focused on education, prevention, and advocacy at VCU, it became apparent that a campus program was simply unable to fulfill all the needs of the survivors on campus. I became involved in many community efforts to improve the services being offered to survivors of sexual and IPV. I chaired the Richmond Domestic Violence Coordinating Committee partnering with the Young Women’s Christian Association, local hospitals, and criminal justice agencies. It was apparent that there was a lack of shelter space in our area, and other services were inadequate; VCU was one of five organizations to come together to create Safe Harbor, a shelter and comprehensive program to serve and meet the needs of survivors. I served as Board Chair for several years, and today Safe Harbor also operates a separate shelter for victims of sex trafficking. This led to my involvement with what is now known as the Action Alliance, formed by two separate groups: Virginians Against Domestic Violence and Virginians Aligned Against Sexual Assault. Having been active in both organizations, I was honored to serve on the board that brought them together to form what is now known as the Action Alliance. I later served as Board Chair for another community program, The James House Intervention and Prevention Program, serving several cities and counties in Virginia.

I give Diana credit for my work in both academia and advocacy. First, she taught me about violence against women. But more importantly, she made me believe that I could make a difference. Diana was never afraid to speak the truth to those in power. She taught me to speak up and speak out. I have spent over 30 years working to bring campus and community efforts together to serve survivors, advocate for change, and be the voice for those who are silenced due to sexual assault, rape, and IPV. By continuing to teach the Violence Against Women course after my retirement, I reach close to 100 students each year through this class. I call these students my army of advocates who leave the course with a better understanding of violence against women; many of my students go on to volunteer and work in the field.

It was not until much later that I recognized the greatest gift Diana has given me. I had never identified as a survivor. I had never told my story. I always knew she influenced my work but because I wasn’t a survivor of rape, it was years before I even identified as a formerly battered woman. I didn’t realize until recently that it was Diana who introduced me to the concept of moving from victim to survivor. I now embrace that identity and recognize that Diana had even more influence on who I am today than anyone. Accepting that identity has given me the voice that may have remained silent had it not been for Diana. In many ways, Diana made me who I am today.

Diana's Impact on Sarah Jane

I earned my undergraduate degree in sociology from James Madison University in 1990. During my studies, I was introduced to feminist theory and the sociology of gender briefly in the context of sociological theory and critical sociology courses (there were not yet individual courses on gender or feminist theory). It wasn’t until my graduate studies at VCU that I was able to really focus on these issues when I took Diana's Sociology of Women course. I remember reading Patricia Hill Collins’s Black Feminist Thought and Dorothy Smith's The Everyday World as Problematic in addition to Diana's Understanding Sexual Violence. Needless to say, my mind was blown and my world was forever changed.

During my graduate studies at VCU, I was President of our local chapter of Alpha Kappa Delta, The Sociology Honors Society, and it was my responsibility to choose a keynote speaker. Diana knew how much I admired Dorothy Smith's work and encouraged me to invite her to be our speaker. I was both thrilled and terrified at the prospect of actually speaking to Dorothy Smith and being in her presence, but with Diana's encouragement, I had the honor of not only speaking to her on the phone, but also of picking her up at the airport in my 10-year-old Ford Escort, taking her to dinner, and introducing her at the ceremony. I was in awe of her the entire time I was with her. She took the time to ask me about my thesis research and to share some of her insights. This experience remains one of my fondest memories (which I shared many years later with Dorothy Smith at the Society for the Study of Social Problems meeting), and I was so grateful to Diana for making it happen. Ironically, Dorothy Smith also passed away last year.

Diana chaired my master's thesis committee and taught me how to do solid qualitative research, including the importance of asking good questions and employing a comparative analytical lens to develop theory. She had high expectations and I often felt overwhelmed, but Diana pushed me to become a better writer and critical thinker. She wrote reference letters for my PhD program applications and made a lasting impact on my scholarly work.

When I came back to Richmond after completing my PhD and taking some time away from academia when I had my first child, Diana helped me secure a position as a research associate at VCU. A year later, I joined the sociology department as a nontenure-track faculty member, and Diana supported me in applying for and obtaining a tenure-track position. Because I had not actively pursued an academic position, I had not considered publishing my dissertation, and frankly, I wasn’t sure it was worthy. Diana read my entire dissertation, gently scolded me for succumbing to self-doubt, praised my work, and helped me to come up with ways of developing articles from the manuscript; I ended up publishing four peer-reviewed articles and a book chapter.

In 2009, I received tenure and promotion to Associate Professor and Diana retired. We had a combined party to celebrate both events. Diana was reluctant to take attention away from me by recognizing her work at this event, but it meant a lot to me to share it since she had been such a huge influence on my work.

After Diana retired, I took over teaching the Theorizing Gender Violence class and published a book by the same title (Brubaker, 2019a). I have conducted research on gender violence, including a comparison of sexual assault prevalence and policies on college campuses and in U.S. military academies (Brubaker, 2009); a study of campus sexual assault policies in Virginia (Brubaker & Mancini, 2017); and a study of campus sexual assault victim advocates (Brubaker, 2019b; Brubaker & Keegan, 2019). I have also published conceptual pieces analyzing frameworks for studying campus sexual assault (Brubaker et al., 2017) and IPV in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer/questioning, asexual (LGBTQA+) relationships (Brubaker, 2020). I recently published a piece arguing for the continued value of feminist theory in understanding gender violence (Brubaker, 2021). These projects were all inspired by Diana and by Gay.

Diana's Impact on Our Collaborations at VCU

We both earned a master's degree in sociology at VCU in the early 1990s and took classes from Diana. As students, we both traveled to women's studies conferences with Diana, who was always so generous in offering transportation to students and even sharing her hotel room. She ordered pizza for everyone in the evening and shared her coffee in the morning. (This was before hotels provided coffee pots in every room, so Diana brought her own. She was happy to share provided she got the first cup!) When Sarah Jane returned to VCU as a faculty member 10 years later, we began to work together on projects related to gender violence.

Our first collaboration was the creation of a postbaccalaureate Certificate in Gender Violence Intervention (CGVI), which was funded by an internal small grant from the VCU Graduate School and matched by the Provost's office. Diana contributed to the conceptualization of the program and development of the curriculum, and she insisted that we include a required course called Theorizing Gender Violence. As a feminist sociologist, Diana was a strong promoter and defender of structural analyses that centered power and oppression in our understanding of social problems. Despite Diana's scholarly challenges to individual explanations for violence against women, there remained a strong emphasis on clinical responses to gender violence, and as sociologists, we wanted to ensure that students in the program would learn to apply feminist and other critical, structural theories to the problem of gender violence. Diana designed the Theorizing Gender Violence course, and she taught the course herself, adding to her heavy administrative load, for the first few years of the program. More than 100 students have earned the CGVI, and most are working in the field of gender violence.

Later we received a U.S. Department of Justice Office of Violence Against Women grant to reduce violence against women on college campuses, which enabled us to create the student organization, Men Against Violence, and to train students to serve as victim witness advocates. We also received a Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services grant to establish a campus resource center on gender violence that students and faculty used to learn and educate others about gender violence. Although Diana was less directly involved in these projects, she was always supportive and available for consultation, and her teaching and mentoring were always guiding our work.

Conclusion

Diana was a brilliant researcher, a gifted teacher, a pathbreaker, and a strong advocate for women. She once mentioned in class how she rejected the myth of the Queen Bee that women who gained access to positions of authority and power prevented other women from competing with them. Instead, she modeled feminist mentoring and advocacy and inspired many to follow in her footsteps. She inspired Gay to devote her career and personal activism to violence against women, and Gay in turn encouraged and supported Sarah Jane's academic work in the field. Diana showed us both how to support and inspire other women to find their voices and talents and make a difference.

She had a great sense of humor—sarcastic, vividly descriptive, clever, and sharp. We always enjoyed reconnecting with her. She was not touchy-feely in the traditional feminine sense, but she clearly cared about her students and about marginalized people and would fight for them in any way she could. She was one of the strongest people we’ve ever known. She had to work and fight for recognition of and respect for women's experiences with male medical providers and within male-dominated medicine; women's experiences as survivors of gender violence; women's right to equal pay; and women's perspectives and experiences as a legitimate part of the curriculum. Barely five feet tall, what she lacked in physical stature she more than made up for in grit, determination, and resolve. Thank you, Diana, for all that you did. May your legacy live on and may you rest in peace.