My name is Maya Zaidenstadt, I am a graduate student at UW in the Cultural Studies program. I wanted to invite you to participate in a free women’s workshop I am facilitating about sexuality, relationships, body image and women’s communities. This is my M.A. final project.
I started to engage in conversations about sexuality 12 years ago, and have facilitated online groups as well as face to face teach-ins. I workshop with youth around issues of identity and empowerment and this workshop is the product of my past experience and studies.
This workshop is offered at a time when women’s bodies and choices are increasingly being threatened. With recent and ongoing anti-women legislation and assault on health care providers along with very limited and narrow sexual education systems, I felt we needed to create a space for women to talk about their bodies, relationships, and sexuality. A space to gain strength from one another; to share each other’s experiences and grow from it.
I plan to address these issues in the form of 8 weekly meetings. There are set themes for each week, but the discussion will be left mainly in the hands of participants – this is not a lecture, this is not about me educating you but rather a space for shared learning. The themes are: body positivity, safety and street harassment, our sexuality in the past and the present, self-pleasure, shame, women’s communities, and finally how to talk to others about these issues.
Honesty, respect and an open mind is all that is required of you. I will encourage you to keep a journal of your time in the workshop so that you are able to write down thoughts, feeling, and experiences during the week and if you’d like, share them during our meetings. We will share online resources to expand our knowledge about some topics, but you determine your own level of involvement. I hope we can open up to share with others while respecting and honoring our diverse experiences as women.
This workshop will take place on Wednesdays 6-8pm February 17th – April 6th, in the Central District of Seattle. Dinner will be provided.
Please feel free to share this invitation with your network. Women of all ages (18+), races, classes, ethnicities, abilities, sexualities, gender representations, and nationalities are welcome.
