[quote]By Drew Danko
Online Editor
Photo courtesy of sheknows.com[/quote]

What is feminism?

Bidisha: It’s the pursuit of equal rights. People believe that it’s just for women’s rights, but we’re not advocating that, we’re advocating a system where everyone can feel comfortable.

Sergio: Feminism is supposed to help empower others based on their identity and parts of it, for example, race, gender, identity, sexuality, physical ability, and mental ability. These things often lead to discrimination if you don’t fit the typical mold.

Why did you two decide to start feminism club?

B: At one point I feel like we’ve both been discriminated against. The feeling you get from that, you don’t want anyone else to feel that way. We decided to make this club so we can help others and educate people.

S: Throughout the school, we have seen inappropriate behavior of people throwing out slurs, such as “re****”, and ableist or homophobic slurs, and it seems like people do this jokingly, but they put other people down.

What do you do in feminism club?

S: Bidisha and I take a look at current events and issues then we pick apart the different elements of that issue. Recently, a young transgender woman was murdered, so we take a look at transphobia as well as discrimination against her because she was a woman of color. So we take that and give information to our club members like statistics and crimes against people.

What type of response have you gotten since starting this club?

B: The people [in the club] are really dedicated, so we’re building from that.

What do you hope people will gain from being a member of this club?

B: General acceptance, if they can manage to accept everyone in our community as equals, then we basically succeeded in making our point. We’re trying to make it so it’s a spread of ideas. Tolerance is saying that you’re there: I can acknowledge that you’re a human being, but I don’t like you. Acceptance is not caring who you are, who you want to be, and accepting you.

S: We want to spread the idea of acceptance, not tolerance. With tolerance, it’s like ‘Ok, I’m okay with your existence,’ but with acceptance, it’s more like, ‘Ok, I believe in you as a person and you’re not just another being’.

The Feminism Club’s next meeting is Oct. 21 at 3 p.m. in H108. You can follow them on Twitter @mvfemsoc.