Fair promotes involvement, engagement in feminism
The Feminist Involvement Fair, organized by the Student Assembly for Gender Empowerment, listed over 42 organizations, including Planned Parenthood L.A., Global Women’s Narrative Project and Women in Cinematic Arts. (Emily Smith | Daily Trojan)
Gender empowerment flooded McCarthy Quad on Monday during the Student Assembly for Gender Empowerment’s Feminist Involvement Fair.
The SAGE Executive Co-Director Rosa Wang, a junior majoring in sociology, said she helped spark the fair because she felt SAGE needed a “feminist mission.”
“Since there were so many allegations, so many scandals happening in USC, we really needed to push the focus on feminist missions,” Wang said. “We really wanted to create a whole feminist involvement fair.”
The forum listed over 42 organizations, including groups such as Planned Parenthood LA., Global Women’s Narrative Project and Women in Cinematic Arts.
The event also featured Expanding Male Engagement in Reproductive and Gender Equity, an organization that participates in research of male engagement in reproduction, whether it be research into male infertility or contraception. Student members of this organization carried signs at the fair, calling for an increase of male participation in the birth control conversation.
Initially, the event featured only 25 organizations, but Wang said other groups reached out to SAGE after the Facebook event page circulated online. One of the groups added later was the Sex Workers Outreach Project, a group dedicated to ending the surrounding stigma and ensuring fundamental rights for sex workers.
Wang hopes that with its presence, SWOP will allow the community to integrate with the University environment and for organizations to interact with one another as well.
“We initially wanted some sort of space for our member organizations to have a forum to mingle with one another,” said SAGE executive co-director Anya Kushwaha.
Leeanna Albanese attended the event as events coordinator of Artemis, an intersectional community based on creativity. She said that her organization benefited from the organization by meeting others with similar missions.
“We already talked to a couple of other tables about doing [projects] together,” Albanese said. “Working with other people is what we do.”
Looking ahead, Wang said she hopes to expand the event to multiple days and include speakers and a mini-concert. The next fair is scheduled for the spring of 2019.