April 20, 2018 marked the last Feminist Friday of the academic year at the Women’s Center. Aarón Sánchez Guerra, graduating senior majoring in English, led the final discussion titled, “Narcoviolencia: War Upon Womxn in the Borderlands,” where he engaged students in a critical dialogue designed to unpack a few of the complexities involved with existing in and between borders.

Feminist Fridays are hour-long facilitated conversations where students from any and all academic disciplines have the opportunity to discuss a topic of their choice, creatively incorporate a theoretical lens and ask challenging questions. However, beyond conversation, questions and theory, these sessions foster community, encourage authenticity and embrace a multiplicity of truths. It is a space for growth and learning.

The variety of topics each semester reflects both the creativity and the passion of our community at the Women’s Center. Conversations have ranged from critical perspectives of sex positivity to deconstructing violence experienced by colonized individuals, and from the stigma around periods to the untold narratives of pregnancy. Each of our student-facilitated discussions opens the door to more intentional dialogue about gender equity and social justice.

Feminist Fridays offered the following topics during the spring semester:

• Breaking Barriers: Redefining the Parameters of Masculinity
• Destigmatizing Periods
• “Ride or Die”: The Normalization of Abuse on Black Women
• Unpacking a Social Myth: The Untold Stories of Pregnancies
• Aziz Ansari: Sexual Assault, Legality and Impacts
• Decentering Whiteness
• Leftover Ladies in China
• Critical Thots on Sex Positivity
• Narcoviolencia: War Upon Womxn in the Borderlands

Feminist Fridays will resume at the beginning of the semester next fall. For more information please visit the Women’s Center website.

Photo at top: The first Feminist Friday of the semester facilitated by master’s of social work student and graduate intern at the Women’s Center, Beth Shank. Her discussion was titled, “Breaking Barriers: Redefining the Parameters of Masculinity.”

Maria Tudela is a graduate assistant in the Women’s Center and 2018 NC State graduate with a master’s in liberal studies.