On November 30, the Women’s Studies Student Collective (WSSC) at Western hosted their annual Feminist Mixer in the UCC. The evening saw a great turnout of both male and female students, and was filled with yummy snacks, stellar performances, awesome networking opportunities, and of course, some great feminist chats.
Photo provided by WSSC.
Her Campus Western was in attendance, selling stickers to benefit ANOVA, and had the privilege to be set up alongside other feminist-focused groups including Pads 4 People, ANOVA, Iconoclast, and more.
The WSSC is an on-campus organization which aims to provide academic and social opportunities for women’s studies students and feminists alike. A student-run group, the WSSC exists to represent and support students taking courses in the department of Women’s Studies.
Of course, an event of this size is not easy to put together. Lena Gahwi, WSSC’s VP Events for the 2017-2018 academic year, was in charge of planning and executing the annual event.
“The most challenging part was finding performers, but I think in the end we had a good amount of people performing while still giving people time to mingle,” Gahwi said of the challenges of putting together the evening. Photo provided by WSSC.
The performers were definitely worth the hard work. From varied backgrounds—artistically and otherwise—guests were treated to various musical acts and spoken-word poets.
To each performer, sharing their art meant something different. One of the event’s spoken word performers, who prefers to remain anonymous, said, “I performed tonight because I haven’t seen very many stories of asexuals who are questioning their identity like I am and for a while that scared me. A lot of the very limited representation of asexuality I saw talked about being sex-repulsed and since I didn’t fit that narrative, I became worried about whether I really belonged.
“When we discuss sexuality in an academic setting, there are many identities that still aren’t a part of the conversation and I find that I rarely hear about ace-spectrum identities unless I bring them up. That’s why I write poetry about my sexuality—to insert asexuality into the important conversations we are having about intersectional feminism.”
When asked about his favourite part of the event, WSSC Co-President Jamie Kim highlighted the performances. Jamie also touched on the fact that it is important to host events like the Feminist Mixer on campus in order to “create intellectual and social spaces for a feminist community to flourish on campus.”
Photo provided by WSSC.
Gahwi also expressed her thoughts on the importance of feminist events on campus, saying, “Having feminist events is essential for our campus; it’s the perfect place to meet like-minded people and to talk about things that are important to all of us.
“The world can be a challenging place sometimes, and it’s necessary for us to inspire each other, and to remind one another that our struggle is worth the effort.”
If you’re interested in learning more about the WSSC, you can check out their website, their Facebook page, or their Twitter!
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