Speech Story

Girls Get Advice at Girls' Night Out

Our culture today has cheapened sex and made women believe that one-night stands and hook-ups are okay, said Marian Jordan at Girls’ Night Out Thursday, Feb. 4, in the CUB Auditorium.

“When you’re in college, you’re almost in this bubble where some of these activities seem okay and normal because everyone’s doing it, so you feel foolish to go against the grain,” Jordan said.

Marian Jordan, founder and president of Redeemed Girl Ministries, and author of Sex and the City Uncovered, Wilderness Skills for Women and The List, spoke to about 200 women of the WSU Greek community about relationships, alcohol and religion.

Jordan is a graduate of Stephen F. Austin State University and received her master’s degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. She resides in Houston, Texas, where she serves at Second Baptist Church of Houston.

Jordan travels the world telling women at universities about her life story and of the fallacy that society shapes who we are supposed to be. She encourages women around the world to know their true identity, aside from what others define them as.

In undergraduate school, Jordan was in a sorority and made many mistakes along the way of finding her true identity.

“My whole hope and identity as a women was being put on who this guy says I am, being seen with him and being known as his girlfriend,” she explained about dating a guy her freshman year of college. The relationship became sexual, she lost her virginity, and two weeks later he moved on to someone new.

“I’m dealing now with hurt, regret and shame, but all around me everyone’s acting like this is no big deal, it’s just sex,” she explained. If she was a “cool” girl, she felt like she wasn’t supposed to care that he moved on. Jordan used alcohol to get through the pain and emotions while continuing to hook-up with others.

“My college years became a downward spiral, which almost killed me,” she said. It took more and more substances to convince herself that she was okay and that she was happy.

“But something in my soul told me that it wasn’t supposed to be this way,” said Jordan. She finally hit a point where she couldn’t feel anymore. She broke down and asked God to help transform her. She now considers herself a “redeemed” girl and hopes others will follow in her footsteps.

Jourdan Burks, singer and song-writer, accompanied Marian Jordan by singing inspirational songs to the women, while CUB Catering served beverages and cookies. Resonate Church hosted the entire event.

A woman from Resonate planned and proposed the event to Dominique Mesick, vice president of programming and development for the Panhellenic Association at WSU. Mesick promoted the event and got the women of the Greek community to attend.

“A new focus on becoming a wholesome person has emerged and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to begin this new tradition,” said Mesick.

Mesick said educational programs are hosted each year for the benefit of community members. She believes this is the first time that the Greek community partnered with Resonate.

“I would love to see something like this happen each semester as the feedback we received was extremely positive,” she said.

“I liked how Marian gave examples on the things girls go through,” said Nicole Corwin, a student who attended the speech.

Corwin, as well as other audience members, thought Jordan was very inspirational. Jordan offered a short break where students could leave if they didn’t hold the same opinions as her, or for those who just didn’t want to stay, but no one left the room.

“I thought she had a good viewpoint and solution to everything,” said Corwin.

Mesick also enjoyed both presentations by Jordan and Burks.

“They shed light from their own personal experiences on issues that many college women face and brought an air of humor to the serious discussions, as to lighten the mood without taking away from the sincerity of the issues at hand,” said Mesick.

In 2006, after writing Sex and the City Uncovered, Jordan felt a calling to speak to women about her life story, in hopes to prevent some of the things she went through. In 2009, Jordan traveled to about 30 different places to speak of her story; however she lost track of how many it really was.

Jordan felt more vulnerable to tell about her life because she lived through her mistakes. She hopes others will learn from her.

“I am passionate about what I believe in,” said Jordan, “so I wanted to share my story.”


Outline:
I. Lede: Most important thing said? Sex is cheapened by society, girls think hookups are the norm, girls believe they shouldn’t mix feelings with sex
II. Quote: “If you don’t respect yourself, how do you expect others to respect you?” –Marian Jordan
III. Nut Graf: Who is she? What is she here for? How many attended? Who hosted? Marian Jordan, founder/ president of RGM and author of three books, Feb. 4, 2010, 200 sorority girls attended, here to teach women about their true identity
IV. Background: All about her life growing up, joined a sorority, “down-ward spiral” of college, now a redeemed Christian trying to teach women not to make the same mistakes she made
V. Who brought her here? And why? Connection between Resonate and Greek community
VI. Quote: Reactions? Nicole Corwin, student, liked how Marian gave examples of her own life, and how she gave solutions about how to fix ourselves, Mesick also enjoyed

Sources:
1. Marian Jordan (speaker, founder and president of Redeemed Girl Ministries and author of three books)
• Phone: 832.230.0998
• Email: info@marianjordan.com or info@redeemedgirl.org
• Website: www.redeemedgirl.org and www.marianjordan.com
2. Dominique Mesick (organizer) Vice President of Programming and Development for the Panhellenic Association
• Phone: 206.850.1698
• Email: Dominique.Mesick@email.wsu.edu or panprogramming@wsu.edu
3. Nicole Corwin (student)
• Email: Nicole_corwin@hotmail.com

Questions for the speaker:
• Where do you give speeches? Around the world? Or just U.S.? To who?
• What makes you a good candidate to tell these girls how to respect themselves?
• What made you decide to give speeches about your life? Why do you do these speeches?
• How many have you done?
• What do you hope these girls will take away from your speech?
• What have you learned from other girls at different universities while doing these speeches? Are all girls the same?