Vaginas Against Violence (VAV) hosted a town hall meeting in the Womyn’s Centre on Oct. 17 to vote on a change to the club’s name, in order to make it more inclusive. After getting feedback from the general public, the new name has been tentatively voted to be Students About Gender Equality (SAGE).
The desire to change the name arose as a result of a student who gave a very detailed critique of the club’s name on the Carleton University Students’ Association’s (CUSA) beFOREPLAYask social media page on Sept. 12.
According to Sophie Kourtsidis, co-president of the club, the student said the name “turned them off from the event entirely and prevented them from coming to the table,” to which she expressed “that’s not the aim of this club.”
“Not all those with vaginas are girls and not all girls have vaginas,” the comment read. “Many transfeminine people may now feel unsafe in these spaces knowing they see nothing wrong with equating genitals with gender and equating womenness specifically, with vaginas.”
The town hall meeting lasted two hours, during which time attendees and members discussed issues with the club’s current name, before submitting their own ideas for a new name. A change in the club’s logo was also open to suggestions.
Keeping in mind the complaint of the club’s previous name, there were guidelines for the change, Kourtsidis said.
“Nothing gendered, not exclusive for minorities and non-triggering,” she said.
Concern was raised at the meeting about the inclusion of words such as ‘gendered,’ which could be exclusionary to people who identify as nonbinary. Several name suggestions included the term ‘activists,’ which was dismissed as sounding too aggressive and problematic for those wishing to pursue careers in certain fields.
However, Kourtsidis said the club does participate in activist work, as it “raises awareness for violence against all women.”
The final name pool was composed of seven suggestions, from the 25 initially proposed. Members then re-voted for a final name. Students About Gender Equality (SAGE) won with the most votes, with Varied Peoples Against Violence in second.
A cake with the club’s new name was made before co-presidents Kourtsidis and Marissa Matthews posted the news on social media, posing with the cake. While they are unsure of the name changing process under CUSA, Kourtsidis said they will continue to operate as Vaginas Against Violence for the rest of the year.
“We steamrolled ahead with the name change, but [the new name] definitely won’t be active until next school year because our bank account and registration with CUSA are all under Vaginas Against Violence,” Kourtsidis said.
Sky Leaf WanderingTurtle, a trans woman who will be joining Carleton this winter to study human rights and conflict resolution, along with women’s and gender studies, was supportive of the new name.
“I really like the new name, I think that it is respectful of all gender identities and all marginalised people. It doesn’t say violence but [promotes] gender equality,” WanderingTurtle said.
WanderingTurtle added that despite Ottawa offering locations and safe spaces for trans people, she regularly goes to the Womyn’s Centre at Carleton as it is where she feels safest.
Kourtsidis added the name change will not affect the Vagina Monologues, a theatre event about being a woman.
“The Vagina Monologues will still stay the same, we don’t have the legal ability to change that as it is trademarked, and I don’t see it as having an impact,” she said.
