Students at the University of South Carolina held "The Art of Womanhood" on April 22 to celebrate women and their contributions.
It originally started as a counter-event to Uncensored America’s "Why Women Deserve Less", with the goal of building a community, according to its host, Brooklyn Brown.
Brown is a second-year public relations student and wanted to create an event for unity against what she believes is an event meant to divide.
“They want that sort of division and debate and argument, and so I’m trying to redirect that into a more positive environment here,” Brown said.
Uncensored America's event featured Myron Gaines, the host of the Fresh&Fit podcast. "Why Women Deserve Less" was promoted as an event dedicated to discussing feminism and modern dating.
"The Art of Womanhood" was an art exhibition, spoken word poetry open mic and a drive to collect items for the local women’s shelter, all wrapped up into one event with a keynote speaker.
The keynote speaker was Melody McFadden, a local activist and member of Moms Demand Action and Everytown.
“You see the other folks that are speaking today, they’re saying that women deserve less. Well, I know better,” McFadden said.
Her address talked about her path to activism and the importance of using one’s voice and speaking up for what one believes in.
“This is about love. We have to help one another and be there for each other,” McFadden said.
The event was planned after Brown spoke with individuals in other organizations including Q+ Honor Caucus, Planned Parenthood Generation Action, and IRIS, who collectively worked to organize and hold the event within two weeks.
While the event started as a counter-event, Isa Webster, a second-year sexual health student who helped organize the event, said that it became much more.
“There’s a celebration of our female artists and speakers and poets and leaders and advocates,” Webster said. “It is a time to uplift one another and build community.”
The event became about celebrating women, but Webster said a main reason why this event is important is that some people feel unsafe due to the event they are countering, so this is a way to create a safe space.
“We cannot let them keep having these events and turning USC into a place that feels unsafe when we can do the same thing and make people feel safe, feel empowered, feel good about who they are inside,” Webster said.
One goal of the event was to give a voice to those who may feel powerless or scared on campus, with less progressive events taking place, Emma Philbeck, a junior English student and co-organizer, said.
“A lot of people feel powerless in our country because they don’t know how to do something. They want to do something but they don’t know how,” Philbeck said. “We have created a network of people who know how to organize, who know how to plan events.”
All of the organizers agreed that the origins of the event were to speak out against the hate they saw on campus.
“It is to counter the hate, but in itself, it is not just about them, because it is not an us versus them issue. It is all of us against bigotry,” Brown said.
The organizers of this event hope for it to be the first of many events that uplift and support students on campus.
"Making this place unsafe for me is making it unsafe for you as well, and really, we’re just trying to fight for everybody here, so please remember to lead with kindness here,” Webster said.