Throwing ideas back and forth, researching their interests, and finding understanding in stories of injustice, oppression and inequality, the Feminism Club works to bring information and events to students.
Members can be found every Tuesday afternoon, meeting in the ASO office beneath the Library and Learning Crossroads to quietly discuss historical and contemporary issues in the feminist movement.
This isn’t the only place they can be found, though. With three years of experience under their belts, the club members are frequently setting up panels to bring their discussions to students as well as doing fundraisers and taking part alongside other clubs in campus events.
“The panels are for the students and we had a student who actually was on the panel last time and a student moderating the panel, too,” said Denise Robb, professor of political science and adviser to the club. “They participate in a lot of different activities. It’s all student run.”
This semester, the members have already held one panel on the history of feminism and are gearing up for another.
“We discussed the issues that went on at that time that made them the waves that they are,” Club President Michelle Allen said.
Michelle Borsco, one of the founding members of the club, said that the attendance was good, with more than thirty guests, but they expect an even bigger turnout for their next one.
“Our next panel will probably have more because it’s about sex positivity,” Borsco said.
Bernard Hanamichi, who has been a club member since its formation three years ago, said they try to appeal to the interests of the students with the topics they present and they tend to draw bigger crowds if the students can relate to the ideas.
“We just call it the ‘sex positive panel’ so that will probably catch people’s eye and have more of a turnout,” Allen said.
Also on their agenda is the upcoming Day of Politics event, which they are co-sponsoring with other campus organizations.
Events like the Day of Politics are one of the biggest ways for the club to promote its ideas, but it also uses classroom announcements, Facebook posts, emails and posters around campus to get the word out on its activities. The club also had an all-day fundraiser with Pizza Rev on Thursday, April 24.
Brandon Hernandez, a new member, has even proposed taking their discussions to his radio show “San Fernando Vegan.”
“I want to see if I could have someone from the club come in and talk about the past points of discussion and the current issues we’re talking about,” Hernandez said.
Topics that have already been featured in their meetings are equality within a relationship, sexuality and slut shaming, sex workers and pornography, benevolent sexism and the “nice guy syndrome.”
“We start with one topic but end up with other ones,” said Christy Peña, another three-year member.