Welcome to this year’s Women’s Issue of Salient. Make sure you don’t miss the awesome events that have been so beautifully organised by our Women’s Rights Officer, Kassie Hartendorp. Women’s Week is intended to be accessible for all, so whatever gender you identify as, there is something for you. Don’t miss it!
If you wish Women’s Week was every week, don’t forget there is a Women’s Group (that recently became a representative group) that you can go along to. For more information on that, contact Kassie at wro@vuwsa.org.nz. This year is a very exciting year for the Women’s Group, and it is really great to see the group organising and growing more and more. I hear rumblings around the VUWSA offices of some of the awesome things that have been lined up for the Women’s Group, so if you’re interested—don’t be shy! There’s no harm in trying, huh?
For all of you out there who are little sceptical about Women’s Week, and the whole ‘feminazi’ thing, please try to lay any possible preconceptions aside. Remember, like many “-isms”, there are many forms of it. So if you’re not cool with the bra-burning, man-hating, S.C.U.M. manifesto feminism you may have been exposed to, or whatever, remember that there are many forms one’s personal feminism can take, and there may be one for you. Oh what a post-modern world we live in, isn’t it delicious?! If you’re into beating women and think sexism is a really good idea, then perhaps feminism’s not for you. All I’m saying is give it a go if you want. It’s not as scary as it seems.
Equally—if you’re wondering why there’s no men’s rep group, it’s because there is no men’s club (which is what a rep group generally starts out as, until it grows to a size large enough to justify it being a rep group—some other criteria apply, too). So disregarding issues of what you think about sexism and oppression (and who is oppressed, if anyone, and why they need representation and support), there’s your reason.
Lastly, I want to apologise if anyone was offended by my ‘blasphemy’ in my last column. I did not intend to offend or hurt anyone by doing this, and my intention with the column was merely to point out the hurtfulness of using the word ‘gay’ as a negative adjective. Which is kinda ironic, I realise—so—sorry.
So anyway, here’s a picture of a really awesome lady. There’s lots of them.
Freya Eng, Education Vice-President
evp@vuwsa.org.nz