UK Feminista Summer School 2011

'Schools Not Out': Hundreds gather for 2 day Feminist Summer School
By Rebecca Stevens  

There was a mixed response in the family when I rather excitedly declared I was putting all my new found feminist reading into practice, having signed up to attend a Feminist Summer School in Birmingham, this past August. My Grandmother, being hard of hearing and having initially misheard my announcement, choked out amidst a sip of her tea ‘TERRORIST SCHOOL?’’ Truthfully, she appeared only slightly less concerned when I corrected her. My brother, in keeping with his allergy to education, commented only on the ‘school’ element of my proclamation and in turn, took great delight in calling me a geek for the remainder of that week. My father continued the monosyllabic responses. ‘Yes, Germiane’ he chortled with a roll of his eyes (I’ll be sure to provide him some new names soon, so he can mix it up a bit, Simone, Gloria, Eve …). My Mother on the other hand was thankfully and perhaps more expectedly encouraging. However, a mix of the fresh riots across the UK and her safety neurosis meant she had me navigating potential escape routes; anything from a mugging to what do to in the event of falling down an enlarged pothole. She relented a little on the last bit, when I reminded I was going to Birmingham and not Wonderland. And so, parental qualms aside I set off unperturbed, eager for what the weekend would hold.

            UK Feminista is the self styled movement ‘of ordinary women and men campaigning for gender equality’ behind the free two-day event. The organization was established only last year, but has since made waves amongst the feminist movement in the UK, attracting hundreds more delegates than its London School in 2010. The Summer Schools fit into UK Feminista’s wider activities of providing training and resources to activists and groups as well as campaigning and event organization. Kat Banyard, the Director of UK Feminista and author of the Equality Illusion: The Truth about Women and Men Today told me that with the Summer Schools they ‘‘wanted to get across the idea that it is not an ultra serious event, that it’s accessible to people who haven’t already been involved in activism or maybe don’t even feel comfortable calling themselves a feminist yet. It’s a place where you can come to learn, debate, discuss and be inspired’’.

There was an almost audible sigh of relief from delegates as they arrived at the School’s venue, the University of Birmingham. Safe in the knowledge perhaps, that they were going to be in the company of more like minded folks for a weekend. My own personal feminist emersion had proved quite an isolating experience and despite the enjoyment of a thriving online community, I was relishing the opportunity of meeting some real life feminist buddies of my own. I was soon talking to Jenny Krase, a 25-year-old student originally from Washington State in the US. As Chair of the Women’s Society and Banger University where she is currently studying, she told me that that she wanted to come away from the weekend with useful skills for practical action that she could take back to her campus.

The Summer School was indeed an enthralling mix of inspirational talks and practical workshops. Informed and renowned activists and campaigners gave talks on topics from ‘Feminist Resistance: the past, present and future of activism to ‘The Colour of Beauty: race, gender and the beauty industry’ and ‘Women and the Revolution: what the Arab Spring holds for women’. Anna van Heeswijk from the organization OBJECT, who recently held a high profile demonstration against the opening of a new Playboy Club in London, led a discussion on resisting the sex industry and the commercialization of the female body as a commodity for sale. Heeswijk’s stories of the Feminist Friday action days which OBJECT organize were particularly entertaining, conga-ing around Tesco in pajama’s (a reference to the supermarket having banned them in its stores because it ‘may offend other customers’) and covering lads-mags on sale with paper bags. There was also a prominent talk by women from the Southhall Black Sisters on issues of race, gender and class as well as the work of their organization, which since being establish in 1979 has supported black (Asian and African-Caribbean) women against domestic and sexual violence as well as challenge these violations both locally and nationally. The often oversubscribed workshops held in the afternoon, included lessons how to set up and run your own feminist group and conduct consensus decision making, non-violent protest participation, running an effective campaign, student feminism; how to create activists on campus, ways to promote feminism in everyday life and brain storming for International Women’s Day as well as speed networking.

            Kat Banyard discussed with me the importance these workshops, ‘‘the whole ethos of this weekend is that it’s up to us to change things, that no one is going to do it for us and in order to do it we need the skills and the know how, to be able to translate our passion and drive into concrete change. The talks are about inspiration, hearing campaigners, hearing activists and the work that they have done to change things but also the tactics they have used, the nittty gritty nuts and bolts of activism we need to change society’’. I was fortunate enough to grab a spot on ‘How to … use the media in campaigns’ facilitated by well-known activist and journalist Laurie Penny, who opened our eyes to the harsh scrutiny women such as herself face in writing about feminist issues and the best way to negotiate these difficulties so your message is still heard. Hugely insightful also was ‘How to … influence Government and reach MP’s’ help by political Consultant Jessica Metheringham-Owlett. Having previously worked in parliament as a researcher on regeneration and local communities, Metheringham-Owlett was best placed to inform us on how to engage with MP’s, to know who might support you and how to tell who is best to approach. She also detailed to us the practicalities of successful letter writing, given the high number local government receive. For example she told us of the importance of a positive and suggestive tone that outlines not only the problems at hand but also potential alternatives and solutions, telling us that these letter were more likely to be ‘put to the top of the pile’.

            There was an emphasis over the weekend on the broadness of the challenges facing modern feminism and the need for the movement to be widely inclusive. The involvement of men in the feminist movement is often discussed but can be fraught with concerns. Banyard herself spoke of the importance of this at the Women of the World Conference held at The Southbank Centre earlier this year, stressing that feminism must be a movement open to any and everyone and that male engagement as well as an appraisal of what it means to be masculine was vital. One of the most oversubscribed workshops on offer was ‘Mobilizing Men: engaging men in feminist activism’, a session run by Matt McCormack Evans. Evans is a founder and member of The Anti Porn Men Project, ‘an online space for (mainly) men to write about and discuss anti-porn issues’ which also ‘provides and signposts anti-porn resources and news concerning pornography’. His views and perspectives were insightful and there was clearly a male appetite to engage with feminism given the number of men at the Summer School, some of whom attended with girlfriends but several who had journeyed alone. I spoke to Peter; a recent local graduate, who told me his introduction to feminism had come by way of his interest and involvement with Amnesty International. He said that through this association he had come to understand the particular and additional issues facing women and was enjoying his two very immersive days at the School.

            This year’s UK Feminista Summer School came at a time when Feminism both at home and abroad had never seemed so sorely needed. This year’s much discussed Slut March’s, which have taken place all over the world from New York to New Delhi (sparked by one Toronto police officers comments that, ‘women should avoid dressing like ‘sluts’ in order not to be raped’), have highlighted not only poor conviction rates for sexual offenders but also the widely held cultural and societal beliefs that uphold such injustices. In England, Cabinet members displayed their woeful ignorance, with Universities Minister David Willets claiming feminism to be one of the key reasons for a of lack employment opportunity amongst working class men. Whilst the Justice Minister Ken Clarke saw it fit to make a distinction between ‘serious, proper rapes’ and ‘others’. Across the pond in America, established reproductive autonomy rights are under threat, highlighted by Republican attacks on funding for Planned Parenthood which provides affordable reproductive health and maternal and child health services for three million people in the U.S. And despite the inspirational revolutions we have seen throughout the Arab world, not one woman in present on the new Egyptian Constitutional Committee. Even women gathering in the newly liberated Tahrir Square in Egypt to celebrate International Women’s Day were physically attacked by large groups of men, whom they had protested alongside during the revolution, for doing so.

            I rather naively arrived at this year’s UK Feminista Summer School filled to the brim with wide-eyed determination but with very little idea how to put said passion into practice. Summer School 2011 not only united those in attendance, with reminders of the inequalities women face but also actively sought to equip us with the knowledge and skills to engage in effective action. During my interview with Kat Banyard, she told me of some of the achievements made by those who attended last year’s Summer School. Many went home and set up societies in their schools, universities and communities and some had even gone onto run national campaigns speaking about feminism themselves. Banyard remarks that ‘it just shows you what people can do if they’re given the confidence’. All at once I feel a shudder of anticipation, the class of 2011 have a lot to live up to, let’s see what we get up to!

For more information please see Feminista

Rebecca Stevens is 22 and from Yorkshire. She graduated from St. Mary's University College Twickenham, BA Film & Television and Media Arts. Rebecca likes: Cinema, Cats and Cherry Coke.