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FEMINISM! DIRTY WORD! No, actually it isn’t. If you just conjured up images of bra-burning, men-hating, hairy arm-pitted women (or other limiting stereotypes), it’s time to revamp your mental schema! Being a feminist means simply this: you support equal political, economic, and social rights for women. Doesn’t matter if you’re a man, woman, or cat (my cats are feminists too, they want to get fed & I’m a single female). If you think women should have access to equal rights, you are a feminist. The end.

OR NOT! U of T is home to a feminist organization who dubs themselves “The Underwear Club”. I stumbled upon the group through twitter early on in the year when searching for those of us students who are interested, invested and active in the school (and larger) community. In this way, I created contact with Sarah Munawar who is the club’s co-president. Sarah has been very helpful in answering some questions regarding – underwear? Here goes:

What would you suggest is the Underwear’s Club mission, or mandate? 

Our mission is to collect funds and basic necessities like personal hygiene products for the women at the 416 Women’s Community Support Center in efforts to relieve systemic poverty in Toronto. We underestimate the importance of basic hygiene products like toothpaste and underwear. Without them our quality of life would significantly decrease. If you are living below the poverty line, chances are paying the rent is higher on your priority list than underwear. We want to make the lives of the women at the 416 a bit better by giving them access to these basic necessities to improve their quality of life. 

 

What is the 416 Women’s Community Support Center? 
416 Community Support for Women is a daytime drop-in program for women looking to gain or give support while coping with, isolation, addiction and/or mental health issues and other difficulties. There’s tons more information on their website.

I went to the open-mic and it seemed to be a big success! It’s great to see people getting involved on campus with various human rights issues. When is your next fundraiser?

Thank you so much for coming out! We have a few more fundraisers planned through the end the year. First, is our Underwear themed club night this Friday at the Brunswick House. Tickets are $5 and all the money from the tickets that we sell goes to the 416. Any tickets sold at the door will go to the venue so it is important to encourage our guests to purchase these tickets directly from us. All proceeds will go to the 416. 

 

Our second fundraiser is an art show in collaboration with The Vagina Monologues at U of T in mid-March. Our volunteers are busy hosting art workshops at the 416 so we can have art by the women of the 416 for the show. Stay tuned for more details on our facebook page!

 

Interested? Interested in getting involved? Sarah stressed that the Club is always looking for new members – whether you’re looking to contribute to a low-maintenance role OR high-maintenance. The truth is, no issue gets solved by sitting dormant – get active in your community around you dear readers! Still don’t have the time? Then perhaps a stress-relieving dance at the Brunny is in order?