Susan Shaw Oral History Interview

Current Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Oregon State University, Susan Shaw, born in the conservative Deep South town of Rome, GA tells us of her courageous journey to selfhood. At a young age, Shaw had close connection to her female peers while watching the women’s movement happen upon her television amidst an intolerant/quiet community. Raised within the Southern Baptist Church, which had a strict no tolerance attitude towards homosexuality and feminism, Shaw oppositely found the love and tolerance the Bible preached, while studying in seminary school. She describes becoming a feminist while attending The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY and what feminism means to her. Although ready to come out in the 80’s and 90’s, she feared being fired from her position of Assistant Professor of Religion, Chair of the Department of Religious Studies and at California Baptist College, as well as during her time as Associate Professor of Religious Studies at George Fox College (a fundamentalist Quaker university). She describes herself as a Baptist in exile in the United Church of Christ after finding the Southern Baptist churches to be more conservative on the West coast than in the South. She describes living a double life during her last two years working for George Fox and attending OSU. Shaw extrapolates on her time, working for the HIV respite care in Portland and the discrepancies in class vs funding. She also tells us of her “coming out” to family and friends afterwards. Shaw stresses how being in the closet equates to death and how moving from theology to women’s studies at OSU was a breath of fresh air. Shaw describes how OSU directors have been supportive of her sometimes-controversial feminist religious writings and what she learned from the WGSS program. She stresses how faith and sexuality do not have conflict for her and discusses the classes she has taught that support this concept. Shaw tells of her life partner and their struggle with marriage equality. To conclude, Shaw explains the need for the LGBTQ community to be more inclusive/intersectional, discusses how ageism affects her, and her book/programs she is currently working on.