The ASU feminism club Woman as Hero asked students and community members to discuss intersectional feminism and empower people, in they all-day discussion at its fourth annual Womanity conference Friday.
The event emphasized three core topics –– identity, power and privilege –– which speech and hearing science junior Lena Sarsour, Woman as Hero’s outreach director, said are essential to equality.
“We wanted to create an event where we can showcase the main issues not only facing women, but also other marginalized individuals,” she said. “The overall goal of Womanity is to bring individuals who have the same idea of equality together.”
However, the Womanity conference is more than a discussion, Sarsour said.
“The goal isn’t just to talk about the issues –– it’s to take action and promote marginalized communities,” she said.
By taking action, Sarsour said the club hopes to offer solutions for the equality movement at large.
“Equality means advocating for marginalized individuals,” she said. “We try to create practical solutions which we can implement in our daily lives so that we can not only talk about the issues, but also do things for them.”
YouTube-famous feminist Franchesca Ramsey was also in attendance at the event and said she had enjoyed interacting with students.
“The students have been so friendly and so welcoming,” Ramsey said. “We’ve had so many really great questions and conversations and it’s really impressive. … I will definitely be speaking at things like this again in the future.”
Political science sophomore Brandon Marks, Woman as Hero’s publicity director, said the conference serves as the club’s outreach to the ASU community.
“The conference is a stage for us to work with faculty and community members and engage with ideas of intersectional equality,” he said. “Our ultimate goal is to create a new set of knowledge for ASU and beyond.”
Woman as Hero thus coined the term “womanity” to represent their initiatives, Marks said.
“The term ‘Womanity' has a lot of brand recognition,” he said. “It kind of goes off of ‘humanity,’ and…since we’re centering women and the most oppressed populations, we’ll achieve the most justice for them.”
However, It is important to learn about social justice regardless of one’s background, Marks said.
“Whether you are extremely privileged or you (are) an oppressed person, I think people should learn about these issues because this is an opportunity to create a future that we want to see together,” he said.
Marks said he believes the current generation symbolizes the future of equality.
“We have the most influence over culture than anyone right now,” he said “We are creating a new feminism –– the future of feminism –– and I think people are really excited about that.”
Reach the reporter at aplante@asu.edu or follow @aimeenplante on Twitter.
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