{"id":56,"date":"2021-05-05T19:26:27","date_gmt":"2021-05-05T23:26:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-cswaimfox\/?page_id=56"},"modified":"2021-05-12T19:50:27","modified_gmt":"2021-05-12T23:50:27","slug":"smith-friends-and-student-body","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/queer-social-worlds\/smith-friends-and-student-body\/","title":{"rendered":"Smith Friends and Student Body"},"content":{"rendered":"

The responses to questions about Smith friends and the Smith student body show that for the respondents, Smith provided LGBTQ community. A stark difference appears when the survey asked about how many of the respondents’ friends from home were straight and how many of their friends from Smith were straight. The graph below illustrates the responses to this question. Clearly, at Smith, the respondents were able to find many more not-straight friends than they were at home.<\/p>\n

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Data from 1982 SCLA Survey pages 63 and 73.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In one section the survey asked, \u201cHave you and your gay friends at Smith ever discussed lesbianism\/homosexuality? If yes, how was lesbianism a feature of that conversation?\u201d Many responded that it came up talking about politics, one said\u00a0 \u201canything imaginable,\u201d and another quipped, \u201cWell, what else is there? \u2018Lesbianism and food,\u2019 \u2018lesbianism and the modern world,\u2019 \u2018lesbianism and romance,\u2019 lesbianism and capitalism,\u2019 \u2018lesbianism and facial hair,\u2019… you name it, honey!\u201d 1<\/a><\/sup> Smith provides LGBT students today with queer community and friendships, and this data illustrates that this has been true at Smith for generations.<\/p>\n

Only 124 people participated in this survey, but just how many LGBTQ people were on Smith\u2019s campus at the time? We may not be able to know that, but the survey did provide an insight into how many LGBTQ people the respondents perceived to be on campus.<\/p>\n