As performers belted on the Wells Fargo Stage, students on campus wandered into the Attallah Piazza March 2 for the Womxn’s Herstory Month Kickoff; an all-inclusive tabling event that gave a platform to sororities and gender-identity based clubs to share their purpose. The event was an introduction to the variety of other events planned by the Cross-Cultural Center (CCC) throughout the month to educate on the principles of feminism.

Next on the agenda is a Womxn’s Community Retreat March 13, an opportunity for all students to congregate regardless of gender identity and discuss with a group of panelists, both male and female identifying and non-gender conformity, why feminism is a significant tool in society. The retreat is heavily derived from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s popularized TED Talk, “We should all be feminists.”

“The truth is feminism really benefits everybody,” said Natalia Ventura, a junior peace studies major and lead assistant at the CCC. “If you identify as a man, feminism can free you from that toxic masculinity that can be really trapping for men especially in terms of expressing your emotions. Men should be able to express their emotions and feminism is an avenue for them to do that.”

Capping off the month is a series of workshops, the first geared more toward male-identifying individuals to confront the concept of toxic masculinity and living a life of integrity in a patriarchal society.

This workshop will be hosted by formerly incarcerated Richie Reseda, who researched feminism from his jail cell and began educating others through a non-profit organization proceeding his release in 2018. The other workshop will be a self-defense class tailored towards women to promote feelings of security.

“It’s good to shine awareness on this kind of stuff so we can make sure people are feeling safe,” said Marai Manatad, a junior kinesiology major. Manatad acknowledged the climate of sexual harassment as of late on campus and the further significance of the heritage month in the wake of the recent crime alert emails. The heritage month events also function as a means to shed light on underappreciated women throughout history.

Ventura expanded on the variety of pictures and biographies hanging throughout the CCC that share the stories of women whose legacies are underrepresented in society. This initiative is simply a reflection of the overarching motive for the month: education.

“It’s interesting to see how far we’ve come and yet how far we have yet to go,” said Nat Pendergraft, a junior double major in TV writing and production and history. “It’s disappointing to see the tiny amount of credit that women get in history, both historical figures and female historians themselves.”

While many of these influential women fail to make it into the pages of a textbook, the CCC’s Womxn’s Herstory Month is an opportunity for students to educate themselves outside of the confines of a classroom.