Fresher's Week
After a busy weekend moving people in, I headed to the supermarket to stock up on cupcakes and decorations for the first meet and greet session in Imagine. This was great fun, and it was lovely to meet some new faces and eat cake.
I also emailed the SU about having a safe space in the Union for event nights for anyone to go to if they need it, whether it's from anxiety, harassment or needing a quiet place to sit in. They managed to make that happen all of last week which I'm extremely grateful for!
We've now got an Inclusions Officer at RHUL Sport, and I met up with her to chat about what can be done to improve facilities and classes for women and marginalised genders. We are looking in to women's only gym introductions, the possibility of gender neutral changing rooms, having women's only classes and maybe even starting a running group! I'll keep you updated on progress made here so watch this space!
Film Screenings
Every few weeks this year I'll be showing films relating to women and marginalised genders. The first one is on the 12th October and as it's Black History Month I'll be showing Dark Girls. It's a brilliant movie so I hope to see you all there! I've got a couple more films to pick this term, but before Christmas I'm hoping to screen But I'm a Cheerleader, and Hysteria.
After each film we'll be having a casual discussion in a safe space about what we thought about the topics discussed in each film.
Love Your Body Week
This will run from the 10th to the 14th of November and I'm in the process of planning lots of activities that will not only teach us how to be more comfortable in our skin but will also challenge perceptions of beauty.
On the 6th November I've organised a Let's Talk About Body Image event. The line up at the moment includes Becky Barnes, a plus size fashion blogger; Kelly Knox, a disabled model and advocate for models of diversity; Garen Abel Unokan, former RHUL student who will speak about BME representation and body image; Natasha Mitchell Barrett, RHUL femsoc president, who will speak about body hair issues.
As well as this, I'm hoping to run some life drawing sessions, some 'know your body' sessions or online activities, zine making workshops, challenge gender binary views of ourselves, and also, on the 12th November, Classics lecturer Richard Hawley will present a talk on body image, looking at modern perceptions of beauty and how they are affected by the ancient world.
Winter Warmer Campaign
It's time for us to grow our body hair! This will run through the whole of November, coinciding with Love Your Body week. It's for everyone to get involved in and we'll be raising money for vulnerable women and marginalised genders in the winter (I'll give you an update on the charity in a later post). You can do it as an individual or a club/society and whoever raises the most will win a prize!
I'll be encouraging people to share experiences throughout this campaign so we can begin to think more about what society makes us think is right. Afterwards you can go back to shaving straight away, but I hope that then you'll have a greater understanding of why you're doing it and know that it's all for you.
Gender Pay Gap
I've had a meeting with our UCU representative Clare Bradley and discussed what to do about the gender pay gap at Royal Holloway. I found out some shocking figures and information. I'll be relating this to the careers events in second term, and hopefully running a campaign around it all!
Bonus: Free Condoms
That's all the updates for now!
Imogen x
