5 September, 2019

TGS feminism club safe to tackle tough issues

A new feminism club at Takapuna Grammar School is hoping to diversify the current sex-education curriculum taught at the school.

“Sex education is not as good as it should be,” says feminism club member Holly Wakeline.

“We would like to see more focus on not just heterosexual sex, and some education on abortion.”

The club is currently working alongside the school’s peer sexuality support team (PSST) on broadening the current curriculum.

The feminism club holds weekly meetings and has about 30 members, who come along in order to find a ‘safe place’ in which to discuss various issues.

The club is led by teacher Grace Shelley, who says the school is very supportive of the group.

“I think it’s great because I was asked to be involved in the feminism club by the school, and they are super supportive.”

The students have recently been focusing on the abortion laws in New Zealand and were asked to do a presentation on the topic at a school assembly.

“It allowed us to have a really big voice,” Holly says.

“I think bodily autonomy is such an important right.“

”For teenagers, abortions are so inaccessible at the moment; it would be very hard to do that without your parents knowing.

“We still hear negative comments around school and get called ‘feminazis’, but we want to better our name and figure out how we can stop these sorts of things.”

This article originally appeared in the September 6 edition of the Devonport Flagstaff. Download PDF.