One of the most underappreciated Resident Student Organizations (RSO) on Western Michigan University’s campus is Womyn’s Equality. Not many people know about this RSO, but many people know about the events they produce. From Love Your Body Day, can drives, I Heart Female Orgasm, Toys for Tots, to the Vagina Monologues, people are familiar with the work of Womyn’s Equality.
Meet the President of Womyn’s Equality, Genae Carter, a senior majoring in Psychology and minoring in Creative Writing and Gender and Women’s Studies. The RSO was founded in 2001 and this is Carter’s third year as president.
“The purpose of Womyn’s Equality is to fight the oppression that everyone goes through and promote equality on campus. We aim to educate about social issues,” Carter said.
Different societal issues are discussed at each meeting, said Carter. All of the “-isms” are talked about and the group shares ideas on how to combat oppression and unfairness in the world.
“We talk about current issues that affect the LGBT community, college students, men, and women,” Carter said. “It’s a safe place where anyone can come and talk about anything they feel is wrong.”
Womyn’s Equality hosts a number of events throughout the school year. Love Your Body Day, which is on October 15, is a day dedicated towards self-love and appreciation and loving your body. Members of the RSO will make shirts in support of the event and will have a table at the flagpoles, encouraging others to love their own bodies. Womyn’s Equality also does a can drive and participates in Toys for Tots.
The biggest production Womyn’s Equality puts on is The Vagina Monologues, a play known worldwide. The play was created by Eve Ensler, who traveled the world and simply asked women about their vaginas. Ensler encountered sad stories, happy stories, funny stories, and shocking stories that were about sex, rape, orgasms, mutilation, and different experiences. These stories became The Vagina Monologues. Womyn’s Equality is holding auditions January 10 and 11, and the play is on February 14 and 15.
The group also partakes in One Billion Rising, a campaign dedicated to ending violence against women around the world, along with 190 other countries. The campaign is called One Billion Rising because it is about the 1 in 3 women, or one billion women, who will be raped in their lifetime.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl2AO-7Vlzk
One Billion Rising takes place on February 14, in celebration of V-Day, and encourages everyone to dance and show strength. Womyn’s Equality took part in a flash mob last February 14, along with the Theatre for Community Health and anyone else who wanted to participate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ivrvs-u-W4
The last event Womyn’s Equality hosts is I Heart Female Orgasm. It is an informative and funny presentation about sex and female orgasms. It’s the sexual education you should’ve had, Carter said.
I asked what message Carter hopes to send with Womyn’s Equality and she said “Everyone is equal regardless of our racial backgrounds, sex, gender, abilities or disabilities. We need to learn to stand together, regardless of our differences and promote positivity and love throughout all the chaos of the world.”
(VDay.org)
(YouTube.com)
(photo credit goes to Genae Carter)