Hours were spent packing party bags, printing hundreds of flyers, lists were made, tears were shed, and we had a very heavy suitcase to carry up Tyler Hill to reach the plaza outside the School of Arts--but it was all worth it!
FemSoc has been preparing for the Fayre practically since we were ratified as a society. It’s such a huge event, and the best time to gather mass support and interest in your society, and we couldn’t have done any better. We had plenty of items laid out to catch people’s attention--books for the reading group (including ‘Persepolis’ by Marjane Satrapi, which the Feminist Reading group will be discussing in Bramley’s, 6pm on 5th October, and ‘Reclaiming the F-word’, whose author, Catherine Redfern will be coming to give a talk for our society on 18th October), DVDs we plan to watch, badges for sale, booklets and leaflets from the Women’s Resource Centre, the Fawcett Society and the London Feminist Network, and even Shania Twain playing on our speakers.
We were ridiculously busy. Our Feminist themed party bags went down very well and we ran out almost within an hour. We also ran out of official flyers, and ended having to write our facebook group on the back of postcards to hand out instead! We gained 290 email addresses for our mailing list and talked to so many enthusiastic people.
I think it was a really positive feeling for everyone who was involved with running the stall. To be honest, we did expect a bit of negativity, but I’m glad to say that we were completely wrong. Aside from the odd one or two dickheads, most of the people we spoke to were eager to hear more, and excited about what we had planned--my personal favourite response was:
-Who are you guys?
-We’re the Feminist Society!
-Ooh! Say no more! *signs up immediately*.
Although I also have to mention the most hypocritical quote of the day; from a representative of Kent Uni Conservative Association, calling us outdated. Yes, that’s right, someone who actively campaigns for the Conservative Party (key word is in the title) and wears tweed called Feminism outdated… hmm.
As for now, I’m so excited about our first meeting, which is tonight. I’m looking forward to seeing who turns up, what they have to say, and where they want us to go next. We already have so much planned for the year ahead; Catherine Redfern’s talk on equality today, Feminism in London, Femstock in the Attic, Reclaim the Night, Million Woman Rise… I can’t wait to inject some real Feminist energy into the University of Kent!
--Louise
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