Women’s values and rights have been an ongoing issue for many years now, and Sonoma State University is here to offer women an event to empower and educate. On Oct. 28, Hillery Shay will be hosting a series named “War is the Internet”, from 12:05 p.m. to 12:55 p.m. in Stevenson 1002. 

Free of cost and open to all students, Seawolves can come and learn about all things related with the media and how to be technologically in-tune. This event, as a part of other lecture series during the semester, highlights the struggles women around the world have and how they are relevant today. 

“The femisist lecture series exist to highlight a variety of feminist issues at an introductory level, and also to bring people on to campus who aren’t usually there to present in the context of feminist studies,” says Women’s and Gender Studies Adjunt Professor Brooke Lober. 

This lecture in particular will educate students about the media, the future of warfare, along with media and war for the non-technically inclined. The lecture will open with a discussion about technology, and Hillery Shay will be there to guide students with what is to come. These lectures also entail student involvement, where one can connect themselves and learn about a different side of the world. 

Hillery Shay has been studying the relationship between media and war through studies of technology in order to understand the internet as a side of warfare. She also studies the materiality of the internet, looking into the material life of technology. This includes knowledge about the carbon footprint we are creating from uploading or downloading something to the internet, as well as the footprint left behind from technological cables that run above and below us.

“I orgainzied the feminist lecture series this semester regarding an underlying theme connecting each event, that being protest justice and transnational orgainizing,” says Lober. 

Lober explains that transnational feminism can be described as a form of feminism that takes nation into account, or takes as a feminist issue. Hearing from activists and speakers who are talking about the relationship between their work within their community highlights this topic at hand. 

Feminism focuses on power relations, being the most famous for addressing gender power, the power of sex and gender, on top of sexuality. Feminism also addresses racial power and equity, and economics. They may also highlight the power deferential that correspond with ability and disability. In this way, transnational feminism focuses on the question of nation and citizenship by recognizing the inequalities between different people, which is highlighted in this feminist lecture series. 

Being historically known for advocating women’s rights on the basis of equality, Feminism now gaining popularity once again now, in our era of political awareness. Feminism is at a resurgence, starting with women’s right to vote in the US and now dealing with resistance against gender or sexually oppression as it occurs over time. Students are welcome to learn about what we face in the world today, in a perspective they may have never thought about before. 

“Being a WGS major has highly contributed to the way I look at the world around me, by creating a new outlook of thinking that is both morally and positively correct,” says Rojin Bijan, a Junior Women’s and Gender Studies major here at Sonoma State.

The Women’s and Gender Studies (WGS) Department welcomes all students who would like to learn about gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, immigration, class, and ability. Students in WGS are educated on how gender structures everything from within oneself, to family and community, and ranging into transnational relations, as noted on the Sonoma State website. Students will be given the skills and knowledge to help them excel in life, by critically thinking about the most dynamic issues in our society. This is a great chance for Seawolves to learn more about feminism and the forces that drive this movement.

“There are few places to take the time to study for the power dynamics that characterize our everyday life, and I think that students can apply that knowledge powerfully and constantly, while thinking about what can use the major for,” says Lober.