Over steaming cups of tea and friendship bracelet making, conversations about feminist experiences and its relations in media were discussed during the Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity’s Feminist Tea Party.
Sohaela Rojas, a junior fashion merchandising major and URGE’s vice president, said to celebrate Women’s History Month URGE wanted to hold an event celebrating women and female-identifying individuals.
“We thought what better way to do that than a tea party, it’s cutesy, fun,” Rojas said. “We were like, ‘why don’t we all get together, like, bring the community together, have discussions.’”
She said URGE decided to hold an open discussion over tea to create a greater intimate feeling to the topics.
“Having an open discussion instead of us just talking at people. It makes it feel more like we’re on the same level,” Rojas said.
URGE put on this event to bring members of URGE together to create a sense of community, said Mallory Good, a junior political science major and URGE’s secretary.
“I think we all hope people come out of this with real, lasting friendships,” Good said. “Leave feeling good about themselves, that’s the end goal at the end of the day.”
It was important to create a space for women and other students to converse about topics they are passionate about, said Riley Hudson, a junior communication studies major and URGE’s president.
“There’s not really a lot of spaces for [women] to just openly talk with each other,” Hudson said. “Me personally, I am for everything gender equality, gender equity, feminism, so I’m going to bring that up anywhere I go.”
To help attendees start a conversation with each other, at each table was a bag filled with questions pertaining to feminism. One of those questions pertained to attendees’ first experience with feminism, said Madison Oberacker, a senior psychology major.
“When I was in fifth grade, I had a boy that I had a crush on tell me that I was smart for a girl,” Oberacker said. “That inspired me to fight for women’s equality, like I can just be smart.”
While making friendship bracelets, Chloe Spingarn and Brooke Croushore, both sophomore fashion design majors, said their favorite question was pertaining to feminist media.
“We said our favorite feminist media to consume is angsty feminine rage songs,” Croushore said.
These angsty feminine rage songs include “Goodbye Earl” by The Chicks and “Before He Cheats” by Carrie Underwood, Spingarn said.
Kyra Longo and Brynn Longo, both senior psychology majors, said their question pertained to what was the first time engaging in a protest.
“[Krya and Brynn Longo] were [at a protest] when Roe v. Wade was overturned,” Kyra Longo said. “There were protests on campus and we went to one of them where we gathered in the front of The Student Center.”
From these conversations, Hudson said she hoped individuals would take away the joy and energy of being surrounded by like-minded individuals she felt after attending the Elect Her event.
“I am hoping that a lot of people have the same experience where they walk out,” she said. “They’re like, ‘Oh my God, that was so cool. I feel so much better knowing that there is a community of people here who also share these same thoughts.’”
Adriana Gasiewski is a beat reporter. Contact her at [email protected].
