Happy International Women’s Day!
I thought I’d make a little list of all the things you can do to help the feminist movement from now until the next International Women’s Day. After all, everyone likes lists.
- Sign the No More Page 3 campaign. Boobs are not news and The Sun is a festering pile of misogynistic poo.
- Help get rid of The Sun. See my previous blog post, to get some ideas.
- If you are a woman and an expert in ANY field, or just have some life experience in ANYTHING, then sign up to The Women’s Room. TWR was set up by two of my feminist friends, who are pretty awesome and worth following on twitter: @PlanetCath & @WeekWoman.
- Buy some affordable feminist goodies from Empowering Movement. So far I have bought a NMP3 tee, TWR tee & a pro-choice badge. Check out my twitter page to see some of the pictures!
- Sign my petition against The Sun, for that FUCKING AWFUL front cover of Reeva Steenkamp that they published the day after she died.
- Start a blog! There are hundreds of amazing feminist blogs out there and it is an excellent way to get your voice heard. You may even get the odd blog post in newspapers if you are lucky. The more voices we have in the bloggersphere the better!
- Start supporting charities like Abortion Rights and Fawcett Society.
- Attend any marches or protests that are happening this year. ( Will add some as the year progresses)
- Create a feminist group in your school or university. Let’s help nip sexism in the bud.
- Join twitter. It’s a feminist wonderland of supportive women. There is a strong sense of community, and we can be a really powerful group if needs be.
- Join the Feminist Book Club. Anyone can join, the only rule is the books have to be feminist! So far we have read The Handmaid’s Tale. This month we are reading Angela Carters, The Bloody Chamber. I studied this book during my A-Levels & I highly recommend it!
- Read as many feminist books as you can this year. In fact spend the year reading books only written by women. It’s really good for the soul. A starter for 10 book on feminism I would recommend Kat Baynards Equality Illusion.
- Start a petition on anything. Petitions are fun and they do a lot of good. Just look at the petition to get Lego to stop advertising in The Sun. It worked a treat
- Join the Twitter Youth Feminist Army. I’m a member and it’s lots of fun. It’s also a great way to ease young girls into the feminist movement. Send a message to the @_TYFA if you want to join. Or if you don’t have twitter, leave a comment and I’ll pass the message on.
- Get involved in politics ( if you can) and help bring the fight for equality to the forefront of political agendas. I want to see A LOT of debates about women in parliament this year. Last year I went o the Labour Women’s Network conference and it was awe inspiring. I am sure there will be a lot of conferences to go this year. I shall keep my eye out for some.
- Lobby MPs, for example on aid for women in third world countries, policies on stopping FGM, sex education in school, quotas and so on.
- Follow and tweet @FeministAnth who collect peoples favourite feminist blog posts to put into a feminist anthology! Send them your ideas.
- Follow @EverydaySexism project and see what women have to deal with 24/7. You can also add your voice to the project. I use it to let off some steam if I have experienced sexism during the day. Laura Bates is a truly inspirational woman for setting this up. She writes for various newspapers too, to spread the message. It’s also a great way to show men why feminism is so important, after all, they need to change their behaviour. Not us.
- Meet as many feminist sisters as you can. We need to create a HUGE network of lovely feminist, so we can support one another and fight side by side.
- And lastly. Don’t let anyone silence you. Ever.
Remember, feminism isn’t a dirty word, it’s something to be proud of. You are never too young or old to be a feminist! Every single feminist contributes to the movement, no matter how small your actions are.
Anything you think I should add to my list? Then let me know
Great ideas!
21. Support the women around you (family, friends, colleagues) to achieve their potential.
22. If you have children, discuss the issues surrounding you with them. You’d be surprised how young they can understand concepts like consent, or arranged marriage… Work with what you think they’ll understand, and use age appropriate terms. For example, to introduce the idea of consent with a child, encourage them to recognise how their friends react to tickling, hugs or rough and tumble play, and to respond appropriately
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23. Recognise that feminism without class consciousness is completely and utterly pointless.
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