When Amanda Seales asked the audience to give their best side-eyes for her "Sideye [sic] Seminar" Tuesday night, Tech LR2 rewarded her with the most sass the auditorium had seen in a long time.
"She got her neck involved. That side-eye was a full body experience," Seales said, applauding a woman’s exceptional side-eye.
Seales's talk, an event for Northwestern's Sex Week, encouraged listeners to question examples of everyday sexism, like catcalls, and to force change. She covered topics from menstruation to hip hop, arguing that women are continuously marginalized and have been for a very long time.
"Plato thought the reason women were so 'crazy' was because their uterus was knocking around and disturbing their other organs," Seales said.
For Seales, the patriarchy is a system that forces women to be strong in order to survive, while simultaneously telling women that they are weak and need the protection of men. The side-eye, she said, represents the need for a call to action.
"When I give the side-eye, it means I'm acknowledging some bullshit and choosing to talk about it," she said. "It's acknowledging that something needs to change and then actually planning actual change.
"Women weren't allowed to have their own bank accounts before the 70's. Mad Men isn't just TV. It's real life," Seales added.
"It really was a learning experience," said Weinberg junior Hope Iyiewuare. "As a man, a lot of the things she said felt true to me even though sexism isn't something that I've had to think about."
Michelle Margulis, a Communication senior, felt the talk was very useful in getting people to acknowledge some widespread problems in society.
"She did a great job of being hilarious and also on point," said Margulis. "She hit on some super real experiences."