In celebration of Pride Week, CAGE joined the LGBTQ Center in co-hosting Pride Field Day. We appreciate our members for helping to plan this event and all who joined us for an afternoon of fun games, food and music!
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Thank you to everyone who came out and helped with CAGE's 2nd Annual Clothing Swap! It was a success and all proceeds will be used to help some of our members attend the National Young Feminist Leadership Conference over spring break. Additionally, all leftover clothes will be donated to a local LGBTQ+ youth center. Check out some of the photos below!
Today we celebrate International Women's Day. We celebrate women of color, transgender women, poor women, and all of the women who inspire us to be strong and to use our voices to make positive change. We thank you all for your dedication, your resilience and your compassion. Love, CAGE Exec 2018Check out some photos from the Feminist Clothing Swap, hosted by CAGE and the Carolina Feminist Coalition. All remaining clothing was donated to the LGBTQ+ center. Thank you to everyone who joined us for this great event!
http://www.ciw-online.org/blog/2017/11/sfa-photo-report/ Check out the article above from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a UN-recognized organization. The CIW is a worker-based human rights organization internationally recognized for its achievements in the fields of social responsibility, human trafficking, and gender-based violence at work. The article specifically mentions CAGE's role in their "Harvest Without Violence" campaign at UNC. It seemed obvious by the time I got to college, especially at a place like UNC I would be surrounded by like-minded people heart-set on changing the world to be a better place. In hundreds of ways this is true, yet in others it’s not. It’s easy to say that people who believe different from you are backwards, bigoted, racist, homophobic etc. Here’s my thing with that, everyone has a right to their own opinions and I’m sure that they have some good (ish) reasons that at least make sense to them to back up what they believe. My problem is the disrespect between these groups that occurs all too often. Between party affiliations it turns into a problem when someone we know is a Trump supporter or a Republican in general, there’s gasps and demonization of the person and typically distancing. I’m not sure if this divide is due to the recent election cycle or if we’ve truly never been able to reach across the aisle. Truly I believe some people are just wrong about certain things as a liberal democrat in today’s society, but I think a big thing to learn not just for college students, but for society is that most everyone deserves respect. We’re in 2017 and we’re still arguing about which people should have rights, that really trips me up. What I don’t understand, democrat, republican or something else is why, why we think certain people deserve less than ourselves. I don’t understand how an overwhelmingly male dominated government (yes, government) can assert abortion rights on women. What gives them the right to tell us what to do with our bodies when they can do pretty much anything in theirs? Why are there questions about LGBTQ+ rights when they are really not different from anyone else? I simply don’t understand the superiority complex that has been rising with nationalistic attitudes arguably erupting in the age of Trump. The idea of superiority has been, can be and will be the cause of many more incidents. In times as polarized as these, it seems crazy not to just reach across the aisle, whatever division that may be and be willing to change, listen and grow. For the world is never just black and white, if you see it that way, you must be looking at it wrong. As we all know, October 31st is around the corner and I am sure that many of us are bouncing around ideas for costumes. I absolutely love Halloween and all that it entails – tricks, treats, and especially costumes. Do you want your costume to be scary, sexy, empowering, strong, or comical? There are so many options! Everyone wants their costume to be classic and original without being too off the grid. The bottom line – Halloween costumes are extremely difficult to plan. Yesterday I was browsing through Pinterest trying to come up with ideas when I came across the sugar skull, or calavera de azucar. The girl in the picture was wearing a beautiful flower crown with half her face painted as a white skull decorated with vibrant flowers, hearts and other intricate designs. My thought process – “Oh, this is really cute! I never see anyone dressed as a sugar skull for Halloween! This would be super easy and inexpensive.” I added the costume idea to my ongoing list of ideas (everyone knows you cannot have just one costume). Last night I checked my email and caught up on The Skimm and Bitch Media. As I was scrolling through Bitch Media, I came across the “Feminist Snack Break: This is What Cultural Appropriation Looks Like” with the subheading “Newsflash: Dia de los Muertos and Halloween aren’t the same thing.” My jaw dropped a little bit after reading the subheading. I proceeded to the link and reviewed its contents. I continued to do a little more research about Dia de los Muertos and calaveras de azucar. Prior to reading the article, I knew the major differences between Dia de los Muertos and Halloween. Dia de los Muertos is a holiday to commemorate the lives of past loved ones, whereas Halloween is a holiday full of celebration and superstition where everyone dresses in costumes and trick-or-treats or parties with friends, family and even strangers. Through my research, I learned a little more information on the significance of calaveras de azucar. Calaveras de azucar are used to decorate Dia de los Muertos altars and they are given as gifts to the living. Dressing up as a sugar skull for Halloween sends all the wrong messages. Not only would I be disrespecting the holiday Dia de los Muertos, but I would also be disrespecting all the lives lost that are being commemorated on that sacred day. It is a slap in the face to all who celebrate the holiday and have lost those closest to them. Overall, no one should use the symbol of the sugar skull unless it is an accurate representation. It should not be used for individualistic gain, because it is considered a ‘cute, inexpensive Halloween costume’. We all make mistakes, even those with the best intentions. The best rule of thumb is that if you question whether or not something is cultural appropriation it probably is what you think. Listen to your doubts. Want to check your privilege and avoid cultural appropriation? See the link below. http://www.refinery29.com/2015/10/95646/halloween-cultural-appropriation |
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