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Student Life

Meet ReSisters: Intersectional Feminism for Our International Community

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Morgan Smith, President of ReSisters

Student clubs are a great way for those studying at AUP to form new friendships over a common interest; they also often work actively to advocate for community members, promoting values they hold dear. The AUP student body has created a diverse array of clubs geared towards issue-based education, peer-support and advocacy. Among them: ReSisters, whose members work to promote intersectional feminist resources, discussion and activism on campus and out in the world.

Morgan Smith is an AUP senior and the current President of ReSisters. Coming from a small, conservative US town, she initially joined the club hoping to meet people with different perspectives and was impressed by its activist focus. “AUP feels like a safe space for me as a woman,” says Morgan. “The club was super welcoming and really helpful in getting me adjusted to Parisian life.” Social events are a club staple: the monthly Sippin’ Sisters meetups invite like-minded students to share a drink and talk about the issues that are most important to them. A recent Pyjamas Against the Patriarchy event saw members organize a slumber-party-style screening of a female-directed movie. “We wanted members to feel so comfortable that they could come in their pyjamas!” says Morgan.

Peer support is also a key part of the club’s Sophomore Mentoring Program, a collaboration with AUP’s Office of Student Development. The aim of the program is to offer sophomores a peer-support network leading on from the first-year student advisor program, as well as new opportunities to meet friends and engage in community activities. Sophomores are paired with a junior or senior mentor and meet for informal discussions on topics such as finding an apartment in Paris or which classes to take for their major. “A lot of mentors and mentees end up becoming friends,” says Morgan. “People really feel like they can reach out for advice.”

ReSisters also acts as a mouthpiece for AUP’s on-campus community, amplifying student concerns to the University’s leadership. “Feminism is not just for women,” says Morgan. “We’ve done a lot of work targeting men on campus too.” In collaboration with other clubs such as GenSex and AUP for Consent, ReSisters encouraged a campus-wide conversation about consent, boundaries and sexual assault, pushing for formal training on these issues for all community members in collaboration with AUP’s Health Office. Other campaigns have included the promotion of education and activism around reproductive rights in the aftermath of the US Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe Vs. Wade and the push for further diversification when it comes to voices studied in the AUP curriculum.

The club shares stories of women who have influenced the kinds of liberal arts subjects taught at AUP but who may have been lost to history, working with a dedicated faculty advisor, Professor Linda Martz. Members share resources and encourage their peers to engage with intersectional feminist thinkers, such as Audre Lorde. “The point is to highlight how intersectional feminism can be applied to so many facets of life,” says Morgan. Members’ engagement with these issues extends beyond theory into on-the-ground activism: ReSisters hosts an ongoing period products drive, in collaboration with Campus UNICEF, that collects hygiene and menstrual product donations from the AUP community and redistributes them to refugee women experiencing homelessness in Paris.

Issue-driven clubs like ReSisters help students make their voices heard, so they in turn can amplify the voices of others both in the local area and in the communities in which they will work after graduation. “There’s a really big push for advocacy and inclusion at AUP,” says Morgan. “The students here are some of the most passionate people I’ve ever worked with.”