The 21st annual Womxn’s Conference was held on Saturday and presented by the Gender Sexuality Equity Coalition, themed “Reclaiming Femininity.”
Womxn’s program coordinator Bri Guerrero and intern for the inclusivity program, Talia Vargas explained what the conference means for GSEC.
“Reclaiming femininity means to create space for the voices of feminine people who are left behind,” Guerrero said.
They also explained what femininity means to them personally.
“To me, (femininity) means being courageous, speaking up and remembering to create space for people when it’s necessary,” Guerrero said. “I would correlate femininity with feminism … A lot of people think that feminism is (only) about women, when for me it’s more (about) inclusivity and incorporating more people into the idea that it’s not just empowering women, but empowering everyone.”
During the conference, there were many opportunities to attend workshops that reflected “Reclaiming Femininity.” One workshop called “Claiming Autonomy Over Our Bodies” presented by Chico State Safe Place, focused on the importance of setting boundaries, feeling comfortable and safe in one’s body and the importance of self care.
There was also support from local print-making company Pedal Press, which had set up a print making activity for anyone that registered for the conference.
“We were supporting the GSEC with some event logos and bags,” Cathryn Carkhuff from Pedal Press said. “We do live printing, so we think it’s a lot more fun when folks get to print themselves, so we had folks come in and do patches and bags.”
Pedal Press is a women owned and operated company that also has a workshop called “Art for Change.”
“In addition to live printing like this, Pedal Press also does art workshops with youth. We did this amazing project with Stonewall for pride,” Carkhuff said. Their next project is a silent auction that will be held on Nov. 23 at the 6th Street Center for Youth.
With support from local artists and many workshops for attendees, the Womxn’s Conference proved that femininity is powerful.
Danielle Kessler can be reached at [email protected] or @reserv0irpups on Twitter.
