For three days, Equipop volunteers and employees combined their creativity and energy to raise awareness about gender equality among hundreds of young festival-goers! This took place on June 24, 25, and 26, 2022, in France, during Solidays. This music festival is organized by the Solidarité Sida association to raise funds for the fight against AIDS worldwide. It brought together nearly 250,000 people, and its "Solidarity Village" allowed festival-goers to interact with nearly 80 associations, including Equipop.
On the agenda: feminism, health, and sexuality!
The Equipop stand gave young festival-goers the opportunity to discover the association and its causes. Thanks to the volunteers and employees present, more than 1,000 people were made aware of the association's themes: sexual and reproductive rights and health, feminism, international solidarity, and more. To ensure that the messages got across as effectively as possible, we developed fun and informative activities. A workshop involving modeling the clitoris out of plasticine allowed us to talk about female genital mutilation, but also about sex education. Through board games, we addressed issues such as privilege, intersectionality, and sisterhood. Finally, an activity involving makeup and glitter helped to deconstruct toxic masculinity norms. In line with the mission of our host, the Solidarité Sida association, we also shared one of Equipop's key messages with young people: the importance of feminism in the fight against HIV/AIDS. LGender issues are crucial to eradicating the disease: in sub-Saharan Africa, 6/7 new HIV infections among adolescents aged 15-19 affect girls (UNAIDS 2019).
After raising awareness... mobilization:
Young people are key players in gender equality. For Equipop, Solidays is an important opportunity to inform younger generations about their rights, the role they have to play in defending them, and the means they have at their disposal to change attitudes. It was also an opportunity to show our solidarity with Americans and encourage young people in France to mobilize for abortion rights around the world. All the activities at the booth also led to discussions about youth engagement, why to get involved, and above all, how to get involved. [vc_column width= »1/2″]The "Wall of Commitment" activity was dedicated solely to these issues. Festival-goers could write down the action they wanted to take in relation to feminism and hang it on the wall. For example, we could read:
- “Getting started with inclusive writing"
- “Call out my friends when they make sexist jokes”
- “Participate in more feminist events”
- “Read more female authors”
Through our stand, we recruited around forty future volunteers, aged between 16 and 46, who are motivated to join us in fighting for the rights of women and girls in France and around the world. We look forward to seeing them after the summer, and in the meantime, we would like to warmly thank Solidarité Sida and the current Equipop volunteer team for their feminist involvement!
