Fem Soc: We Haven’t Gone Far Enough

Liverpool University’s Feminist Society is not only its discussion group. The Facebook group is a way for people to express their opinions, and to engage with feminism on campus. It is not what we do, but it reflects our mindset.

As a society, we believe we shouldn’t simplify important issues as it neglects them. To do that simply would not be doing them justice. To participate you do not need to know everything about feminist theory, but must acknowledge intersectional oppression. This theory is that the oppression of all minority groups is connected. We believe the only way to end the oppression of one group is to end it for all.

Accepting intersectionality makes feminism accessible to more people, and not a movement solely concerned with empowering an already privileged group. It is understandable that some one new to feminist theory may find the language confusing, but individual members are usually happy to provide resources and explain. We are currently composing a glossary of terms to put on our Facebook group, to help people understand further.

Passion and aggression can often be conflated online, when it is harder to detect someone’s tone. Passion is a good thing. If members continue to disagree with someone’s opinion, it does not mean they’re being hostile, it means they cannot agree. No one’s opinion has a right to go unchallenged, not in real life and not on our group.

The group may have frightened some people away, but a lot of people in the society have benefitted from how members refuse to tolerate oppressive bullshit. However, if someone feels personally attacked, our Safe Space policy is there to protect them.

Our commitment to intersectionality is how we combat oppression at our university and in our wider community of Merseyside. In the coming month we’re holding an Interfaith forum, where women from different religious groups talk about feminism in their faith. We are doing a campaign to stress the necessity that all sex is consensual. We’re going into schools around Liverpool to speak to teenagers about sexism.

FemSoc is not a talking shop. We are committed to making practical change at our university. If you’re interested please come to a meeting, we are welcoming to anyone who is interested in our society and wishes to get involved with the work we do.

We are currently seeking black and minority ethnic, sexual minority, Trans* and disabled liberation representatives for our committee, please email us at: [email protected] if you’re interested!

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