SGA holds a chest binder drive for the student community

mission “to celebrate and support the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans/ Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, Asexual/Aromantic and other identities community on the Mount Holyoke Campus.” However, because the committee isn’t as prominent on campus this year and is unable to hold the chest binder drive, Romulus concluded that the general SGA would present it since she had previously had students reach out and request it.

Graphic by Sunny Wei ’23

BY REBECCA GAGNON ’23 STAFF WRITER

As its second major move in the 2022-23 academic year, the first being free menstrual products in the bathrooms around campus, the Student Government Association has introduced a chest binder drive for the students of Mount Holyoke.

On Jan. 26, the SGA president, Maille Romulus ’24, sent an email announcing the binder drive that would take place the following day.

The email stated, “Tomorrow at 5 p.m., SGA will be releasing a pre-order form for chest binders which will be first come first serve, because we have a limited amount of spots.”

With this message, a link to the website gc2b was attached where students could browse the variety of sizes and colors available to prepare to place an order for a binder when the form opened.

Historically, chest binders have been used by transmasculine and nonbinary individuals to make their physical body reflect their gender identity. In addition, binders were used for fashion, cultural dress and even religious purposes. The concept of binders has been around for centuries, starting with tight corsets used to accomplish a desired figure. They also have taken the form of simple fabric strips wound around the chest to flatten one’s breasts.

Today, instead of fabric strips, there are many companies that produce chest binders for purchase. However, they are not always affordable. This is the problem the SGA at Mount Holyoke wanted to tackle to meet the needs of the College community.

“[SGA] wanted to get binders to people that wanted them on campus,” Romulus explained. “The Lavender Committee was in charge of doing it last year and this year they were not able to and so we wanted to keep the tradition going … we just had to find the funding for it and get people chest binders.”

The Lavender Committee is a division within the SGA with the