As the sun set during a late afternoon practice in November, members of the BU women’s Ultimate Frisbee team, the Lady Pilots, approached a stack of discs. They got out their pens and began writing messages on the Frisbees, then held them up to be photographed for a campaign they had launched, titled “I Need Feminism Because…”

The campaign, suggested by rookie Apryl Hsu (CGS’17), is an effort to draw attention to the need for gender equity. She brought the idea to the team captains after “seeing the lack of morale among women, especially for the women on our team who are so passionate about feminism and equality,” in the wake Hillary Clinton’s loss last fall. When the men’s team, the Ozone Pilots, realized what the women were doing that day, they joined the photo campaign. Soon, photos of both male and female players with their inscribed Frisbees were posted on the Lady Pilots’ Facebook page.

The messages were both personal and political. Hsu’s Frisbee says, “I need feminism because we have yet to have a woman president.” From Elizabeth Hannigan (CAS’18): “I need feminism because sexual assault occurs on campuses without serious consequences.” Others read, “…because emotion should be seen as strength,” “…because it’s easy to ignore sexism when it’s in your favor,” and “…because no one can limit me in what I am capable of.”

The show of unity, and what Hsu calls a feeling of family, apparently extends to the Ultimate Frisbee community worldwide, which prides itself on the tenet that competitive play should never supersede mutual respect and sportsmanship. The sport is also in the middle of a push for gender equity in media coverage of its professional leagues, creating a climate that Lady Pilot cocaptain Jacki Salustro (COM’17) says was ripe for a campaign like theirs.

The Lady Pilots’ campaign has resonated beyond BU. To date, Ultimate Frisbee teams at Duke University, Georgetown University, the University of Puget Sound, the University of Cape Town in South Africa, crosstown rival Northeastern, and the University at Albany, SUNY, have gotten involved. At the Huskies’ request, the two women’s Ultimate Frisbee teams were photographed after a recent scrimmage with a sign reading, “We need Feminism because Gender Equality is the Ultimate Goal.”

The photos were posted in November and in a matter of weeks went viral, garnering over 4,600 shares and more than 4,100 likes.

“We definitely did not expect that much noise to be made about this,” says Hsu. “We’re a catalyst for conversation. We’re putting this idea out there, and we want people to keep going with it.”

“What’s great about the project is that every single disc that we wrote was superpersonal,” says Teddy Kahn (CAS’17), vice president of the the Ozone Pilots. “It was whatever each individual wanted to write.” His disc reads, “I need feminism because I want to be respected as a male nurse practitioner.”

“I’m currently a biology student, but I’m in the process of applying to grad school for a nursing degree. I’m really excited about the prospect of it,” Kahn says. “Nursing is still a largely female-dominated field, and it carries some negative connotations for men. It’s a really awesome job that I’m looking forward to taking part in.”

The women’s team members are pleased by their campaign’s outside reception, but what they find particularly gratifying is the cooperation from their BU male colleagues.

“It has definitely brought our teams a lot closer together,” says cocaptain Annika Chan (SAR’18). “We’ve been able to open up the conversation and actually talk about the issues that have been going on. We’re the future of America, and it’s brought us closer as a family.”

Taylor Raglin can be reached at traglin@bu.edu.