New shoots of student feminism – your best pictures

Who Needs Feminism? Nottingham Trent: Nasim (pictured) says: 'I found out about my Mum's genital mutilation from my Nan. I was quite shocked – and relieved that my Mum was more of a liberal'

'There's a taboo around feminism [as a student in the UK]. I think there's a need to spread the word about what feminism means. We're not all about women – we're about equality for men and women'

Lydia Sawyer explains why the photo was taken: 'At Nottingham Trent University, we are trying to start a new Femsoc [feminist society] and our first event was a Who Needs Feminism? shoot in Market Square. We had many people from the university and others who had seen the event advertised on Facebook. This is one of many powerful, meaningful and witty photos we took on the day'

Photograph: lydia_sawyer

WomCam Zine Collages: Sophie Hall-Luke was the editor of 'Bodies' zine. Her aim was to make the publication as inclusive as possible: 'Oppression comes in multiple forms, and it's important to me that I make a conscious effort not to marginalise others with my feminism. That's why I encouraged submissions which specifically dealt with the experiences of women of colour, disabled women, LGBTQ* women, and so on

'I aimed to strike a balance in the tone of the zine, so we have lighthearted articles like a strap-on review and feminist cocktails, but also articles dealing with more serious topics, like the depictions of veiled women in western culture and transphobia. We held group sessions to create the collages which decorate the pages'

Photograph: safario

University of Essex feminist society at Slutwalk 2012: ''There was chanting, music, singing and dancing as we walked through London and the vibe was incredible. It makes you realise that when you feel wholly isolated on your views, thousands of others understand how you feel and have gone through experiences like you have. Every woman has experienced harassment in this country, even if they are unaware that it was so because the media and society tells them just to expect it as a woman

'Many women who turned up to the march with friends, or on the streets watching, came and spoke to people and said it really opened their eyes and helped them not feel so angry or confused about how unfair it is that women can be treated as objects, harassed, assaulted and more, with the justification of their clothing or sex life' – Samantha Castles

Photograph: sammycastles

Cambridge University feminist demo against pro-life group Abort 67: 'Pro-life action group Abort 67 toured the UK in October 2012, stopping at university campuses, displaying large, gruesome posters of aborted foetuses, and handing out flyers. When they arrived in Cambridge, a student group of counter protesters stood in front of their signs, displaying pro-choice, pro-women messages. More people joined the counter-protest, making banners out of whatever they could find. It was spontaneous and energising; a real sign that feminism is alive on campus' – graceunderpressure14 Photograph: graceunderpressure14

University of Southampton Feminist Society lobbies the council against disproportionate cuts to women's services: 'About 20 of us wrote letters to Southampton city council, which many people co-signed, to share our concerns about cuts to funding which could disproportionately affect women. Services and allowances that women rely upon are often the first to go, like Sure Start centres, Women's Aid refuges and Rape Crisis centres. Women also make up the majority of public sector workers – and with redundancies, pay freezes and the widening gender pay gap, it's becoming tougher on women to get by' – Chloe Green Photograph: Chloe Green

Cambridge students tell us why they need feminism: 'For three days, the Cambridge student union women's campaign offered passers-by on King's Parade the chance to tell us why they need feminism. The massive response can be seen here: tinyurl.com/cqk5tmt' – Fred Maynard Photograph: Fred Maynard

City University feminists at London Reclaim the Night 2012: 'London Reclaim the Night march, November 2012. Reclaim the Night was a demonstration against all forms of violence against women' – FCAP Photograph: FCAP

Warwick University Solidarity with Northern Ireland Pro-Choice Movement: 'Students demonstrated in solidarity with the Northern Irish movement to extend the abortions act, following the action of 100 brave Northern Irish people who signed an open letter admitting they had taken or aided others in taking abortion-inducing pills, which are illegal in the province, and who faced possible criminal investigation and jail time for exercising autonomy over their own bodies' – Kate Green Photograph: Kate Green

Female body hair should not really perturb anyone: In a recent article for student website, The Tab, Katherine Soper (pictured) wrote: 'As a longtime shaver, I felt like my mindset had been so screwed over from such a young age that I could only cleanse my palate by growing my hair out properly: legs, underarms, and all. This wasn’t easy, since I had to work through my own self-disgust whilst hearing my Mum’s voice in my head, sighing that I’m "making everything into a statement". Trouble is, the only way hair will stop being a statement is if it is normalised. If it’s ever going to be a genuine choice between equal options, women with hair need to be a familiar sight, not the punchline to hilarious Chewbacca quips' Photograph: Fred Maynard

UEA Feminism host International Women's Day Celebrations 7/3/13: 'This year , UEA Feminism organised two celebratory events for International Women's Day 2013. We hosted speakers for a day of lectures and enjoyed a night of cabaret attended by nearly 200 people' – Tilly Wood Photograph: Tilly Wood

March against sexual harassment and sexual violence: 'On International Women's Day 2012, we hosted a march through campus against sexual harassment and sexual violence. The march ended at the management building where we presented the registrar with a petition signed by 2,000 people demanding the university to take the issue seriously and take action (staff training, support for survivors, action against perpetrators, signposting, clear process of reporting). This was a great success and the actions are being implemented by the university' – SussexWelfare Photograph: SussexWelfare

University of Essex table cover with the words, Why I need Feminism: 'We let students on campus write on the banner why they need feminism and display the ever-growing comments at each event' – Samantha Castles Photograph: sammycastles

SlutWalk Oxford: 'In summer 2012, WomCam organised a SlutWalk in Oxford. Here you can see protesters stopping for a rally halfway around the route

'WomCam is an autonomous feminist campaigning group supported by the Oxford University Student Union. We hold weekly discussions and organise a variety of gender equality events across term. All genders are welcome to participate. We also aim to provide advice and publicity for other Oxford students interested in starting their own feminist activism' – Sophie Hall-Luke

Photograph: safario

Southampton University Femsoc raise money for Women's Aid Roxanne Johnson explains: 'Southampton Women's Aid has been our charity of choice for a few years because it's been seriously affected by local cuts, nearly having to close down their phone lines' Photograph: Roxanne Johnson

Sheffield SU Women's Committee Craftivism: 'I wanted to radicalise the women's committee a bit more this year, start actively calling ourselves feminist (we all do individually but to make sure the committee did!) and normalising the word for other students. Alongside campaigns against VAW [violence against women], eating disorders, street harassment and for menstrual activism, we held these accessible craft events to provide a relaxed atmosphere to introduce newer students to the work we do. They were really well attended and it was great to sit in a room with fellow students and talk openly about feminism' – Hannah Rudman Photograph: HannahDR

Who Needs Feminism? Oxford: 'In February, WomCam ran a hugely successful Who Needs Feminism? campaign which sparked sister movements across the UK' – Sophie Hall-Luke Photograph: safario

WomCam protest against Julian Assange: 'WomCam helped Simone Webb to organise a protest when the Oxford Union invited Julian Assange to speak via videolink. We were not protesting for a blanket no-platform policy. Rather, we wanted to express our disapproval that the Union had seen fit to invite a man who was evading the course of justice to speak at an awards ceremony celebrating "courage, persistence and devotion to the truth". The protest caused considerable controversy on social media' – Sophie Hall-Luke Photograph: safario

Cambridge students tell us why they need feminism: 'The Cambridge Student Union Women's Campaign asked passers-by on King's Parade the opportunity to tell us why they need feminism. The massive response can be seen here: tinyurl.com/cqk5tmt' – Fred Maynard Photograph: Fred Maynard

Southampton University FemSoc at Slutwalk 2012 'This was my first year at Slutwalk and it was very exciting. While I don't agree that reclamation of the word slut is necessarily the right way to go, I agree with pretty much everything else on their mission statement, so for me the march was about protesting rape culture and opposing the archaic idea that some rape victims are more deserving of our sympathy than others because of their actions leading up to their attack' – Roxanne Johnson Photograph: Roxanne Johnson