NOV. 4 2014
sneak peek
The sentinel
Vol. 48 Issue 11 | Since 1966
Kennesaw State University | The Sentinel
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Feminism Fights Back
Photo Illustration by Matt Boggs
Anna Streetman Senior Staff Writer YESbody!, a new campus organization, put on a demonstration in protest for sexual assault victims Oct. 27 through Oct. 31 on the Campus Green. The display, titled “A Voice for Them,” was made in response to the “Male Students in Peril” conference held on campus Saturday, Nov 1. The demonstration featured several foam cutouts and underwear with the statements of members, friends, family, professors, students, and actual survivors of sexual violence reacting to the idea of “rape hysteria.” Along with these statements, the group displayed bed sheets with statistics on sexual violence and a mattress.
These bed sheets and the mattress showed solidarity with Emma Sulkowicz, a Columbia University student who is carrying her dorm room mattress everywhere with her to symbolize the weight she carries being a rape survivor. At the front of the display, the group has a podium with a binder containing the group’s information, links to “A Voice For Men,” and a section for everybody who saw “A Voice For Them” to respond to the display. “We wanted to do something in order to let people know that we are not okay with some of the topics being discussed at this conference such as ‘rape hysteria,’” YESbody! cofounder and co-president Sierra
Kihlstadius said. “However, this was tricky because the last woman who spoke out against A Voice for Men, the national group attending the conference, had her personal information shared and received a lot of disturbing threats. It was actually my fellow co-president, Carlynn Sharpe, who sparked the idea when she said ‘If only we could protest anonymously.’” The display was set up on Oct. 26 and took 10 hours to finish. Jessica Fisher, the secretary/ treasurer of YESbody! and a volunteer, called the whole experience “super rewarding.” Fisher said: “It has given me a sense of community, and has given purpose to my beliefs. To
see the members of YESbody! to come out and do this work, and to see and hear the way that people react...it’s definitely rewarding.” A lot of fundraising went into the display. YESbody! raised funds through fundraiser website GoFundMe. The original goal was $500, but the group managed to raise $1,200 in just a few days. The group has saved the receipts, and after the conference they will be totaling up the cost of the display and donating anything leftover to support groups for victims of sexual violence. There was some concern when Sage Gerard, the founder of KSU Men and orchestrator of the “Men in Peril” conference,
donated the remaining $175 dollars needed to reach the fundraising goal. According to Kihlstadius, the group was concerned that there may be an ulterior motive behind his donation, for they had only seen his videos and read his articles, and didn’t know him personally. “I do support their free speech rights,” Gerard said in an interview following a feminisim debate, where some from YES!body were present. “I think the protest is misguided, but I do want them to have it.” “Carlynn and I originally decided to return the money, but before we could inform the person running the fundraiser Feminism continued on page 2.