For all those badasses trying to catch up on the headlines, here are a few highlights from the past week. As always, join in the conversation using #TheFemWord and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. #FemNews
1. On Tuesday, November 6, women made American history yet again! Badass candidates who saw triumphant and much-deserved wins include Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan (the first Muslim women to serve in Congress), Sharice Davids of Kansas and Deb Haaland of New Mexico (the first Native American women elected to the U.S. legislature), and Ayanna Pressley (the first black woman to represent Massachusetts in the House of Representatives). The U.S. also witnessed the landmark elections of LGBTQIA+ candidates, the first Iranian-American lawmaker in Florida, and the first female governor of South Dakota (Republican Kristi Noem).
Meanwhile, Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Georgia Stacey Abrams has pledged to make sure every vote is counted in light of reports of possible voter suppression. If elected, Abrams will be America’s first-ever black female governor. Fight on, badass. Fight on.
2. Horrified by the plastic pollution overwhelming their home island in Indonesia, this badass team of sisters decided to do something about it. Melati and Isabel Wijsen began Bye Bye Plastic Bags in 2013 to help residents of Bali say no to plastic bags. Since then, Melati and Isabel have been changing policy and wowing the world with their education and awareness efforts both through Bye Bye Plastic Bags and Mountain Mamas, their social enterprise empowering women living in the mountains of Bali to create bags from recycled and donated materials. Girls, you ROCK!
3. Badass El Salvadorian artist Laura Ortega is challenging the universal taboo around menstruation by depicting period blood as lovely shapes in her series of gorgeous period-stain illustrations. Ortega blends the uncomfortable (that moment when you realize you’ve bled through everything) with the pretty (shapes of flowers, rabbits, stars, etc.) to encourage women with periods, including herself, to overcome the shame we’ve been taught to feel and to start conversations about changing menstruation misconceptions. LOVE
4. When her four-year-old daughter was told by her new school girls are not allowed to wear pants or shorts, badass Bonnie Peltier sought answers for the discrimination. She found school leadership believed its gender normative dress code was about “chivalry” and claimed to help teach “traditional values.” Gendered dress codes tend to police and overburden some bodies more than others -- girls, girls of color, and trans and non-binary youth to name a few. Says Bonnie, “we’re having to tell our daughters, even though this is what they’re teaching you, this is not the way the world works anymore” (via Huffington Post). You tell ‘em!
5. A new Brazilian telenovela, Orgulho e Paixão (Pride and Passion), takes inspiration from the novels of Jane Austen and adds many twists and turns to transform the eighteenth-century writer’s works into something entirely unique. The show, which is set in the early twentieth century when wealthy coffee barons ruled the Brazilian countryside, just wrapped up its six-month run and has been praised for storylines that introduce elements of modern feminism and queer representation. Austenites, rejoice!
6. On Sunday, music legend and all-out badass Janet Jackson accepted the Global Icon award at the MTV European Music Awards (EMAs) and used her speech to speak for and to women who, like Jackson, have their own #MeToo stories. “Tonight I carry the hope that a new world is emerging,” said Jackson. “A world in which caring people -- male as well as female -- will no longer tolerate gender inequality.” We couldn’t have said it better. Thank you, Janet, for your solidarity and for inspiring us.
Header image via Unsplash
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