Author Amanda Brinkman / Published: Nov-23-2018
You never know where the conversation will lead when you play the Nasty Woman Card Game, our hilarious and timely social party game published by Clarkson Potter. Nasty Woman harnesses the power of politics and pop culture to allow women to say what they really think. The High Herstory ladies, creators of a cutting-edge comedy series and cannabis lifestyle brand, teamed up with cannabis delivery company Nugg to get lit and get nasty.
Watch the video below to see what happens when High Herstory rolls a fatty and invites their girl gang over to play The Nasty Woman game.
Shrill Society is a platform for independent creators and a human-centered design studio creating products that center women's stories. After the viral success of her Nasty Woman shirt that became a worldwide symbol during the Women's March and raised over $136k for nonprofits, they created the Nasty Woman game.
From Bustle:
Cosmopolitan gave the game a nice shout-out too!
Nugg is building the world’s most customer-centric cannabis company. Their platform provides the fastest way to get your medical marijuana recommendation, cannabis delivery from top-rated dispensaries, and access to world-class cannabis experts. Nugg serves over 350,000 people in California and New York, and will soon offer their services throughout the United States.
High Herstory features cannabis-consuming comediennes telling stories from women's history recreated in high-syterical reenactments. Women and cannabis have long been misrepresented by the historical dialogue and it's their goal to change that stigma. The creators of High Herstory, Annette Mia Flores, Jenny Joslin & Kendall Watkins founded feminist film production company Mercury Road Media whose videos have been feaured on Jezebel, Huffington Post, CNNMoney, MSNBC and more.
Wardrobe provided by Cocoon LA.
Hello!
The past few weeks have been a real whirlwind. The Nasty Woman game launched and we had a giant party in Atlanta. It was great to see so many people using the game to start conversations, learn, and laugh together. We had so much fun that I'll be doing more through the end of the year! Up next is Austin on August 28.
In Issue 9 of The Shout we get into other feminist-driven events, the importance of Crazy Rich Asians (let me know if you see it!), how white feminism causes damage in real life and online, when Beyoncé talks about her FUPA in Vogue,why I think Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is the movie we need during a human dumpster fire presidency, the life and voice of Aretha Franklin, and we highlight a woman Franklin supported over the years, Angela Davis.
Issue 10 is coming soon, which is exciting and weird. I started this on a whim to talk more about politics, feminism, and pop culture and I think it's time to up-level this newsletter. I'll begin slowly rolling out new features (referral swag, ways to be more involved), giveaways, and content that I know you'll love.
See you soon,
Amanda
Image via Vogue.
Getting off the computer (or phone) and meeting face-to-face is important.I'm in the middle of launching the Nasty Woman game in cities across thecountry, having just wrapped up an incredible evening in Atlanta. Seeing groups of people play the game—some took the more comedic route while others found an opportunity to have deep discussions about politics—has confirmed for me that creating spaces to exchange information and learn, without fear of being vulnerable and learning, are incredibly important and core to how Shrill Society will grow. Check out our events here. Austin is up next on August 28 and then we'll be adding dates for Miami, Orlando, and Tampa soon!
The Lady Thing in San Francisco is thinking along the same lines and have opened their first pop-up installation. The pop-up considers feminist issues in a hyper-Instagram-ready form to comment on the popularity of the pop-up model (some of which have been dedicated to ice cream, pizza, and even...eggs?) while also attempting to offer more serious takeaways for visitors.
My rule #1: never read the comments. But, honestly, I break this rule on a near daily basis. It always seems to be a downward spiral, even in the most niche of communities. Some of you may have seen this unfold on the Facebook page for the popular podcast My Favorite Murder, which has over 236k members and was recently suspended by its founders. The suspension was largely prompted by the community fallout when a post was submitted by a new user that was downright racist. Commenters, many of whom are people of color, were quick to point out the blatant racism in the post and found their comments deleted and group membership revoked by volunteer moderators. The in-fighting continued until the founders suspended the group. In a community that was primarily young, educated, feminist women this would be shocking if it wasn't so common. For
Harper's Bazaar, writer Rachel Elizabeth Cargle writes about the reactions (and lack there of) from white feminists after the death of Nia Wilson, noting: "in a crucial moment of showing up for our marginalized community, there was more concern about their [white women's] feelings and ego as opposed to the fight forward for women as a whole." Her article was published right when the MFM Facebook group was imploding for some of the very reasons she argues in her article.
That time FUPA was printed in Vogue. Beyoncé ruled Vogue
this month and made history in the process: she hired 23-year-old photographer Tyler Mitchell who is the first African American to shoot a Vogue cover. She also gives a rare essay-style interview in which she talks about her difficult C-section, her acceptance of her changing body, her hope to pay it forward for young artists, and her desire for a lasting and impactful legacy. "As the mother of two girls, it’s important to me that they see themselves too—in books, films, and on runways. It’s important to me that they see themselves as CEOs, as bosses, and that they know they can write the script for their own lives—that they can speak their minds and they have no ceiling."
I haven't seen Crazy Rich Asians yet. I plan to change that this weekend, but as of right now, I've just been engrossed in the articles, podcasts, and online communities that have rallied behind the success of the first American wide-release film to feature an all-Asian cast in 25 years. Is Crazy Rich Asians a modern-day feminist fairytale? This Guardian article from a few years ago noted that "Of the top 100 films of 2015, 49 had no Asian characters, and zero leading roles went to Asians" and that whitewashing oftentimes gives roles written for Asian characters to white actors (remember the rightful outcry when Scarlett Johansson was cast in the remake of Anime classic Ghost in theShell?). Here the cast talks about their own windy paths to Hollywood "as well as their hopes for how their film might pave the way for all stories historically under-seen and heard in Hollywood."
In addition to seeing Crazy Rich Asians, I'm hoping to find time to see...
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. But, hear me out: in addition to important movies that can potentially change representation in Hollywood for the better like Crazy Rich Asians, I also believe Mamma Mia is a movie that we need in the Trump era. There's no conflict. It's just singing. It's just dancing. It's just nice. It's part of my self-care plan.
Image via Getty.
"I didn’t think my songs would become anthems for women. But I’m delighted. Women probably immediately feel compassion and relate to the lyrics. We can all learn a little something from each other, so whatever people can take and be inspired by where my music is concerned is great."
— Aretha Franklin
This week we said goodbye Aretha Franklin. Buzzfeed's Tomi Obaro poignantly says, "that we often only think of Aretha’s voice—the control, therange, the melisma—and not of her instinctive musical ability as a form of “genius” shows how much we tend to reserve such labels only for men. But it’s a title Aretha deserves, without question. That we have often failed to give it to her, or done so begrudgingly, highlights our own collective—perhaps even unconscious—biases. Acknowledging the musical genius of black women artists is important, not only as a source of respect but as a way to open thecanon and see the ways in which black women, who are often viewed as mere ornaments in their own industry, have shaped music with their own surreal talent and aptitude. And in a moment where it seems virtually impossible for a big-voiced black woman singer who doesn’t look like Rihanna or dance like Beyoncé to achieve widespread pop chart dominance, we need those reminders more than ever." Here's a playlist for you to listen to all weekend long.
Who We're Looking To will highlight the Nasty Women featured throughout the game. To get started, let's learn about an academic and activist Aretha Franklin supported during her life.
A true countercultural icon who struck fear in the hearts of the establishment, Angela Davis was a target of then-California governor Ronald Reagan, who tried to have her barred from teaching at the University of California, Los Angeles–before she event taught her first class. An advocate for the oppressed to this day, she's an important voice demanding prisoners' rights. In 1997, she cofounded Critical Resistance, an organization working to dismantle the prison-industrial complex.
READ NEXT
Author Amanda Brinkman / Category The Shout / Published: Aug-19-2018
We've been waiting so long to share some amazing news with you all! Our Nasty Woman game is being published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Penguin Random House! This is a big deal. What started as our homegrown Kickstarter campaign is now a game that'll be readily available across the country, spreading our nasty woman message spread even further.
We are beyond thrilled to share the news with you first. Get your game here for $18.99.
You can never have enough feminists on your side when it comes to fighting the patriarchy–just don’t get Trumped! This game lets you say what you really think–the nastier the better. Take turns drawing cards, following the prompts, and strategizing your next move to collect as many Nasty Woman Cards as possible–including Beyonce, Michelle Obama, Gloria Steinem, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Shout out saucy answers to any Statement Cards to win more Nasty Woman cards. Draw the You’re Trumped Card, and you’re out of the game, loser—unless you can trade in a Nasty Woman Card to save you. The last player standing after all other players have been eliminated wins the game–and is the nastiest feminist of them all.
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Hi and welcome to our very first issue of The Shout. As many of you know, the viral success of the Nasty Woman shirt I made was a huge surprise—I woke up, went to work, and thought there was a mistake when I had over 20,000 emails. Creating that shirt changed my life: not only everything that comes with going viral or the feeling I had when I wired the first $100k donation to Planned Parenthood, but also the immense community that grew out of that moment. |
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Daily Action - Text ‘Daily’ to 228466 to receive daily texts that link you to legislators with a quick swipe of your phone. With a single action every day, Daily Action makes civic engagement effortless and uncomplicated.
Sleeping Giants - Follow @slping_giants on Twitter to help stop racist and sexist media by hurting its ad revenue. In 3 simple steps, you’re already making a huge impact!
Politifact - It’s getting increasingly harder to determine whether news sources are real or fake. This informative quiz allows you to check whether your news source can be trusted.
She Should Run - Think more women should be elected? So do we! She Should Run allows you to ask a woman to run for office and if they are interested, She Should Run provides that person with resources to get started.
Countable - Understanding what our lawmakers are really up to can be difficult. However, Countable makes it easy by providing clear and succinct summaries of upcoming and active legislation. Countable enables you to hold your elected reps accountable for how they voted on bills through messages, calls, and videos.
Togetherlist - If you want to volunteer time or donate money to causes that matter to you, Togetherlist is an amazing place to start. Their comprehensive database of advocacy groups focuses on the rights of women, POC, LGBTQ+ folks, immigrants, and Muslim-Americans.
Swing Left - In 2018, control of the House will be decided by a small number of swing districts, places where the last election was decided by a thin margin. Swing Left helps you find your closest swing district and join its team to learn about actionable opportunities to help turn that district blue.
]]>
Lexus Killingsworth: You’ve got two awesome initiatives that focus on the empowerment of women and girls. Could you tell me a little bit more about them?
Brandi Keeler: I started Toast2U—I guess it’s been two years now. I originally started with a group of friends as a space of recognition. I have all these amazing women in my life and I wasn’t spending enough intentional time celebrating them and their victories. So I gathered a group of friends to announce what was going on in their lives and we would end with a toast with champagne or sparkling juice. After that first one, someone was like, “Ok, when is the next one? This is a great thing that you’re starting.” I hadn’t realized I was starting a thing! So I did another one the next month and people brought friends. Then it really started to grow and, with the growth of the space, there’s been more intentionality put into what’s happening in that space. I started to do some of the coaching work that I already had been doing outside of Toast2U—doing personal development exercises, or Expånd Sessions, as I call them.
LK: What types of milestones do you celebrate?
BK: Often we’re so hard on ourselves as women; we don’t take the time to celebrate, honor, and acknowledge where we are in life; or we’re thinking we need to get to the next milestone in order to be valid, or worthy, or whatever. Yes, we can celebrate if you get a raise or, you know, if something great happened in your career. But we can also celebrate that you took the time to paint your toenails this month! Or you made it through a month of depression and you’re still here. We celebrate a wide array of things. One of my favorite Toasts was a woman celebrating that she literally just stayed alive for the month and that she left the house to come to Toast. There was a mother whose doctor had told her she wasn’t gonna be able to breastfeed her daughter. Within the first month of her daughter being alive, she succeeded in breastfeeding, so we celebrated that. That’s the type of stuff I try to get women in the habit of celebrating.
LK: What have the reactions been so far?
BK: It’s funny because the audience has shifted and the reaction is different based on the age range and experiences of the people who are attending. So I started off with folks that were my friends, so people in a similar age range to me, and I think my little cousin and my grandmother were there too. And, since, I’ve had Toasts where the majority of the women were over 50 or 60, looking for things to celebrate in their lives, and they’re like “I did all the things I wanted to do in my life!” I would say for the older women, many see this as a way to impart wisdom on other folks at the event. For folks who are my age, it’s a mood booster for them. There’s always at least somebody who comes in thinking they don’t have anything to celebrate and says, “I’m glad you worked with me to find something that I can acknowledge about myself.” And I’ve had really young ones, from five years old to high school age. It’s just fun to see young women or women-identified people standing in pride and it’s not their birthday or graduation—they might say, “I’m glad I was nice to my friends” or whatever it is that they find to celebrate. So, there’s a mixed range of reactions, but they’re all positive.
LK: How does Toast2U fit into your overall vision for Expånd?
BK: Expånd is my larger picture. While Toast2U is really an event series that I do, Expånd is coaching and group facilitation work and is not gender specific or age specific. Typically, though, I am working with young adults or women. There’s a space in Ferndale, here in Michigan, called the SheHive, and I do a lot of Expånd programming there. To celebrate the New Year, for example, we did a half-day seminar called SheSoul, where you would choose your word for the year, envision your ideal day, set three- or five-year goals, and create a vision board, that type of stuff. With Expånd, I’ve also worked with school groups and organizations like Future Project that works in high schools helping students to identify their purpose and their passion and then using that to build programming for their school or community.
LK: You were born and raised in Detroit. What does it mean to you to be doing the work that you do in the city you’ve lived your whole life?
BK: It’s funny because, you know, you wanna be cultured, you wanna experience and live in different places so you can bring that wisdom, that knowledge, back to your home base. But I keep finding that every time I’m gonna leave I say, “Wait, this is happening right now?!?” I’ve been in Detroit my whole life and I’ve been in downtown Detroit since 2006, and there’s this huge shift in the development that’s happening and the creative scene in Detroit is growing. There are a lot of conversations about gentrification and types of change in Detroit. I feel like leaving Detroit right now would be like leaving Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance. There’s just so many opportunities and there’s so many places you can have a say. I feel like I would be remiss as a person who’s from this place to not be an active participant in the development or change that’s happening right now.
I feel like I am helping individuals, especially young people, know that they are enough and then stand in their enoughness to be able to take advantage of opportunities. Typically youth in my city are told they not going anywhere, but I know how important the people who invested in me and my growth and my path were, and I have to reinvest that energy.
LK: One more, kind of silly question. Which woman or femme identified person would you most want to have dinner with, and what would you discuss?
BK: Oh Lord! There are so many and mine probably sound cliche cause I’m like Erykah Badu, Janelle Monae, Oprah. Lisa Nichols is someone who I would love to sit down with. She is a personal growth visionary, a life coach, and motivational speaker, who’s also a mother. She talks a lot about her relationship with her son and I would talk to her about being successful in multiple areas of life because a lot of times women that I talk to think about life in terms of sacrifice. I would just ask her to give me some tips on balance. This is a hard question. Do I have to choose one? Can I just host a Toast? {laughs}
]]>Lexus Killingsworth: You are the owner of the amazing bookstore, The Stacks, inside the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans. How did you get started in this business?
Émilie Lamy : I arrived to New Orleans about three years ago from Marseille in the South of France. My background in France is in graphic design. I worked in that field as a publisher, as a freelance project manager, a curator, a teacher, among other things. There was no bookstore specialized in art, design, and architecture, in any close range, when I moved here, so I used some savings that I had to open up a small bookstore within a furniture store where I used to work, Sterling Provisions, in the Marigny. It was around the same time as Prospect.3 and it generated a lot of excitement from locals and visitors. I then decided to keep on going after Prospect.3 and moved the bookstore to Central City. I needed a bigger place in order to increase and broaden the inventory. After that, I started a fruitful dialogue with the Contemporary Arts Center, which led us to our collaboration. It has been a game changer in terms of the bookstore’s growth! It’s like a relationship. There’s some hiccups here and there, but that’s okay. We are getting to know each other better and figuring out the best ways to work together. It’s constantly growing and expanding. It’s really exciting. It’s my baby!
LK: In what ways do you think The Stacks is beneficial to New Orleans and vice versa?
EL: Before there was no place where you could find catalogues of shows that are up in major cities in the US, so you had to either make your way there—which isn’t the easiest thing to do for everybody, right—or order online, which doesn’t allow the physical, material experience of touching, feeling, and flipping through pages. So that’s one thing, but really we try to offer an entry point for everybody, and make it so that anyone can feel comfortable and welcomed. Most importantly we are creating a space where people can come hang out, browse, discover, laugh, and have access to publications that are not available elsewhere, or at least not within reach. Every book, publication, print material that we bring in the bookstore is very intentional.
LK: What projects are you most excited about?
EL: We started this series of monthly conversations called “À Propos,” which means “about” in French. It features every month a different local nonprofit that works in the arts community in the New Orleans metro area. We invite them to come share with us and the audience what their organization entails, what their work is about, how they started, what are their future projects, what were the struggles of starting a nonprofit, how do you learn and grow from failures, etc.
I’m really excited about the platform that this gives to all of these amazing people that do such great things for the community and will help us understand their work. College graduates, for example, who want to bring a project to fruition but don’t really know where to start and are afraid of failure—which is 100% part of the creative process—could benefit from hearing all these people sharing their stories. All of us can benefit from it!
LK: I love how the community is able to engage with different leaders and learn from one another. What are you currently reading?
EL: A lot of different things. I started reading Letters from New Orleans by Rob Walker. It’s a collection of the letters he wrote after moving here in early 2003, before Hurricane Katrina. The perspective it gives on New Orleans is very interesting, often moving, sometimes infuriating, but also very funny and genuine. I just can’t put that book down. I’m also browsing through a book of drawings, Snippets of New Orleans, by the local artist Emma Fick. It’s an illustration of the city through a collection of drawings of mundane as well as historical facts and traditions. I’ve been also reading To Kill a Mockingbird, that I have to confess I had yet to read. And I just started to dive into Jim Harrison’s letters on food that was recently published, A Really Big Lunch, Meditations on Food and Life. It’s so good!
LK: They seem focused on the Southern half of the United States and New Orleans.
EL: Yeah, I try to make time for it, and read as much as I can about where I am living and understand its complex history more in depth.
LK: Have you noticed any major similarities or differences from where you lived in France?
EL: So I actually read this in Rob Walker’s book. He describes New Orleans as a very unselfconscious city, and I think that it’s probably the perfect way to define this place. Marseille is the same. It’s a port city as well with a really strong temper and identity that is the mix of so many rich cultures. It’s like, “This is me! If you’re not happy with this, well that’s what you get. Take it or leave it my friend!” It’s not perfect but all those scars, cracks, and potholes are what makes it beautiful, raw, and real, like a woman’s body, you know? This isn’t photoshopped, you’re gonna have stretch marks on it. That’s what you get! {laughs}
LK: Lastly, what’s the best thing about owning a bookstore?
EL: All the research, learning, and reading, the constant discovery and excitement of sharing new titles, prints, and goods with people!
]]>
Tell us more about what you do.
I am the founder of Female Collective, a feminist clothing brand and online community. Most of my tees’ proceeds go to different orgs like ACLU, Planned Parenthood, Global Fund for Women, and RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network). I have a campaign called Uplift The Girls, which donates new or used bras to women in need in Los Angeles, and I was one of the organizers for Women's March Los Angeles, mainly working on social media strategy. I also contribute and collab with different companies who also promote female empowerment—I recently joined the GirlGaze team as their Activist-At-Large. My goal with Female Collective is to continue to build up the intersectional feminist culture in Los Angeles and also help ALL women in need.
What motivates you to do what you do?
My parents raised me to be a strong, independent, established woman with the mindset of being able to accomplish anything. It didn't matter that I was a girl, specifically a black girl. They have always told me that I could do great things. It motivates me to spread the same message to not only young girls of color, but ALL girls. Women are powerful beings and I want young girls to know that. There will be challenges growing up, but as long as you have the mindset of knowing you can achieve anything you set your mind to, there's nothing that can stop you.
Why is making a political statement through apparel/fashion important?
I am pretty shy so I've always spoken through my clothing. I create female empowerment tees for people who aren't able to express how they feel through words. With my tees people are able to show who they are and speak up for things without even saying a word.
What does feminism mean to you, and how do you uphold those beliefs within Female Collective?
Feminism includes all genders, races, and sexualities. As a feminist I believe in equality for ALL. We should be fighting for each other's rights as a human race and not let our differences divide us because we are truly stronger together. With Female Collective, I’m constantly talking about these issues and expressing my intersectional feminism through social media, products I design, working with different organizations that believe in the same things, and also how I live my life. ]]>
We chose the ACLU as a recipient of funds from sales of the She Persisted shirt, as it’s glaringly obvious how needed their work is during a presidency determined to undermine freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the civil rights of some of our country’s most vulnerable residents.
For Earth Day and leading up to the March for Science, I researched the different types of environmental organizations that’ll need our support during a Trump administration. Of course, there are many, many non-profit groups doing amazing and necessary work, spanning all areas of environmental research and advocacy. We selected Earthjustice, one of the largest environmental law organizations in the country. By supporting them, we’re able to rely on their expertise to combat issues ranging from wildlife protection to clean energy. Additionally, they offer their legal services free to clients. While Trump is working to erode environmental protections and privilege corporate interests over the health of our planet, Earthjustice is on the ground (and in the courtroom) fighting. Additionally, one of Earthjustice’s core values is diversity —ensuring that their organizational makeup reflects those they serve. Their site includes this welcome message: ““Achieving greater diversity, equity, and inclusion in everything we do is inextricably linked to our mission to protect our planet and defend the rights of all people to a healthy environment,” which is something we at Google Ghost can get behind. ]]>
JouleBug is an innovative app for sustainability that allows you to post, or “buzz,” your real-life sustainable actions in an Instagram-type feed. Buzz about green actions such as riding your bike, shopping locally or taking public transit.You can join green challenges and compete in friendly competitions while earning achievements for discovering new ways to go green!
This eco-tech app allows users to make more sustainable purchases by providing information about products’ health and environmental safety. You can scan an item’s barcode or simply look it up. Browsing through the multiple categories such as makeup or oral care, you’ll enjoy learning about what items make for a more sustainable lifestyle.
RecycleNation is a location-based app that allows users to find recycling locations--from your old paint can to car metal! This incredibly useful app also includes up-to-date articles about to start going green and how to stay there. You’ll also want to check the ‘Tips’ section for simple, daily actions for sustainable living and facts about the impact of unsustainable living on the Earth.
This informative, eco-friendly app is truly like having a teacher in your back pocket! Virtual Water enables users to determine their water footprint by providing information about how much water is used in and to produce the foods and beverages we consume. Learn more about water conservation and ways to improve your water footprint with this digital companion.
Reduce - As a mostly e-commerce business, we have to ship, a lot. In order to minimize our impact, we use Earth-friendly products and practices to ship our items to you:
100% Recycled Boxes: We use boxes made from 95% post-consumer and 5% post-industrial content, which means they’re fully recyclable and biodegradable.
Recycled Poly Mailers: Our mailers are made from a minimum of 88% recycled content, which utilizes post-consumer and post-industrial waste.
Water-Activated Tape: And our water-activated tape is recyclable, biodegradable, and repulpable. This means we use plastic tape very sparingly!
Thermal Printing: We use a thermal printer to print our shipping labels and packing lists. Thermal printers use heat to transfer images to heat-sensitive paper, which means we’re not adding a ton of ink cartridges to our local landfills.
Eco-friendly Products - Loving our Year of the Nasty Woman planner? Here’s another reason to go head-over-heels: Our planner features 70 lb. paper that is FSC® certified as well as SFI® Certified Sourcing and Rainforest Alliance Certified™.
Made in the USA - All of our shirts are made in America. Producing these products domestically means we can help ease the amount of pollution from importing goods and ensure that our clothing is also sweatshop free!
We’re doing what we can to cut down on waste, and as we grow, you can bet we’ll be expanding our eco-friendly practices and products. Throughout the month, we’ll be pointing out specific ways you can get active and up your environmental game. In the meantime, check out this wildly creative story from 99% Invisible on how Taiwan transformed its residents’ relationship to garbage disposal and incentivized waste reduction.
Your actions matter. Stay strong. Stay nasty.From True Tea, a mainstay series on Kat’s channel answering viewer questions with “brutal honesty,” to more structured, highly researched, informative videos on pressing social issues, Kat Blaque will engage you and provide a captivating and unapologetic perspective often left unheard.
One word: real. Vesper, aka Queer as Cat, is an expat living in Japan navigating the country as a black, non-binary, queer, asexual individual. Vesper shares their experiences and also provides informative videos to “increase visibility and representation for people like themself.”
Kat Lazo, a feminist Latina, is always down to “challenge the media and question social norms.” Lazo speaks on myriad topics ranging from checking privilege in the Latinx community to answering questions about self love. With Kat’s well executed, enlightening, and funny skits, you’ll probably want these videos on replay!
Ah, Marina. Sarcasm, feminism, and swearing have never merged more perfectly than with this Youtuber. From Marina’s weekly Feminist Friday videos focusing on intersectional feminist basics and personal vlogs on a range of topics, including mental health, you’re bound to take away a couple of laughs and a lot of grounded knowledge.
If you’re looking for slightly longer, highly researched, educational videos about intersectional feminism, look no further than Celia Edell’s channel. Celia breaks down complex feminist ideas and makes them easier to understand. Ceedling will leave you more informed and armed with a quick response the next time someone says feminism isn’t important.
Your voice matters. Your choices matter. Stay strong. Stay Nasty.
]]>
I’m the last person you’d think would go viral.
]]>I’ve always been a pretty private person.
Until recently, my Facebook and Instagram accounts were private and I went to great lengths to make sure my personal information wasn’t accessible online.
I’m also pretty shy. I come alive around friends, but can be pretty quiet in groups or meetings—I prefer to listen intently, think for a while, and then speak.
I have a tendency to work in roles where I’m in the background making things happen, but rarely in the public eye.
I’m the last person you’d think would go viral.
It all happened on October 19, 2016. I was streaming the third presidential debate on my computer while practicing design (something I’d been working on for a few months).
When Donald Trump, somewhat under his breath, called Hillary a “nasty woman,” I immediately designed a shirt and put it on my personal, private Instagram.
My friend Stephanie Brown, a tattooer and artist in Chicago with a lot of followers reposted it, and it spiraled from there.
I woke up to articles in The Cut, Teen Vogue, Elle, Cosmopolitan, and about 100 others… and I had over 10,000 orders. Of course, I was elated, but in a total panic. Um, how was I going to MAKE 10,000 shirts? I immediately jumped into action with the help of some friends and got-to-work.
Every crazy thing you could possibly imagine happened (seriously, so much of it is unbelievable and totally bizarre that you’d think I was lying!)—But, there I was: private, shy me, featured in over 100 publications, my personal information out for everyone to see.
I was doxed, my phone ringing every 2-3 minutes, my friends and family worried I was going to have a nervous breakdown.
Instead of crumbling, I rolled with it.
I immediately hired a CPA and lawyer to make sure the business was moving in the right direction and that my finances were transparent (50% of the proceeds from the Nasty Woman shirt go to Planned Parenthood).
I cried a lot. I got a therapist. I made my Instagram public.
I embraced the inquiries, the calls, and the thoughtful criticism. I teamed up with other artists, businesses, and nonprofits to create more opportunities. I forced myself to become comfortable with the attention—and after a while, started to enjoy the forced extroversion!
There’s no guidebook on what to do if you go viral and institutions like banks, PayPal, etc., aren’t prepared for your overnight success either—they all froze my accounts and caused major headaches.
For example: how can I mail out shirts when customer payments are frozen and I can’t access money to ship?
Going viral was organic and quick, but managing virality has been an incredible amount of work and sustained effort. Through it all, I’ve amassed some insane stories that I plan to share one day!
My friendships have been strengthened (my best friend is now the co-owner of the business), and I’ve been able to raise over $130,000 for nonprofits that help women and girls.
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In the wake of Trump’s rescission of nondiscriminatory protections for trans students, Mock stepped forward yet again to pen her story and advocate for others in The New York Times. And though Mock’s platform is massive, you don’t have to be a media maven to see the important effects of storytelling. Though it’s a few years old, this article in Psychology Today by Sherry Hamby is great at breaking down the relationship between storytelling and resilience. It can sometimes feel like common sense, but with the present administration’s demonstrated commitment to devaluing difference and silencing dissent, we’re not taking anything for granted.
Whether you’re a passionate defender of trans rights, immigration policy, or health-care access, we need your voice. Now’s a super important time to contact your senators regarding the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch that begin March 20. As Dahlia Lithwick and Neil S. Siegel detail in this article for Slate on what Democrats can do to stop Gorsuch, so many important issues hinge on who is on the bench. If you haven’t yet made a call, People for the American Way shows you how in this blog post. There’s another important way to make yourself heard this month. On March 8, women everywhere are raising their voices together for A Day Without a Woman. Learn how you can join in.
And if you need more inspiration, March is Women’s History Month, and this website has some incredible audio and video clips to check out. Next month, we’ll be introducing a new theme, new products, and new free resources to share. Say it loud. Stay strong. Stay nasty.]]>“Such a nasty woman.” When Donald Trump uttered that ridiculous phrase, I had no idea it would bring us together! I had the Nasty Woman shirt designed and online before the debate was even off the air. I didn’t think I’d sell very many, maybe four or five. But then five turned into five hundred and that turned into thousands, almost overnight. Soon you started posting pictures in your shirts, doing the awesome things you do, and the Nasty Woman community was born. Together we made a donation this week to Planned Parenthood in the amount of $100,165. What better way to say “fuck Trump,” right?!?!
Seeing you wearing the shirts along with your friends, coworkers, sisters, and babies inspired me to do more. Today I’m so happy to introduce to you something new that I’ve been cooking up with my best friend: the Year of the Nasty Woman planner. It takes my “fuck Trump” motto to the next level. This 237-page weekly planner allows you to plan your days starting on January 20, 2017—the Inauguration Day we’re all dreading. In addition to space to write down all your coffee dates and organizing meetings over the next 18 months, it’s full of self-care tips and dates-to-know; illustrated bios and quotes from fierce and fearless ladies; and everyday actions and gestures you can take to improve your life and take action during a Trump presidency. It also includes lists of songs, books, movies, and artists that celebrate some of our favorite truly nasty women. It’s a labor of love and I really hope you like it. And if you order between now and January 1, you get free shipping on U.S. orders over $75!
XO,
Amanda
a.k.a. Google Ghost
Treat yourself...treat a friend...treat a coworker. Order today to arrive before Inauguration Day!
There have been a number of great articles lately on what self care means, how it can manifest, and why it is so critical now. This gem by student Mysia Anderson, originally published in the Stanford Daily in 2015, has been making the rounds again. Lawyer and activist Mirah Curzer offered her perspective via Medium on staying outraged while preserving your sanity. And the always spot-on Jenna Wortham shared how she found a care routine through trial and error on bonappetit.com (though we’ll agree to disagree with her about the power of a good body scrub).
The next four years are a marathon, not a sprint. And because small steps can make a big difference, we’re sharing some of the great resources that have emerged to make it easy and less overwhelming to think about where to begin your resistance efforts. The Women’s March’s 10 Actions/100 Days initiative offers a new action every 10 days to help you chart your course. The Daily Action sends daily texts to make contacting your representatives about the issues most directly affecting you by location a no-brainer. For more food for thought, check out the Complicity Cleanse, a clever and thought-provoking guide to divesting ourselves from systems of oppression one day at a time. Want even more inspiration? Smith College just kicked off a free, seven-week, online course via edX on the psychology of political activism.
And whenever you’re feeling you need a quick pick-me-up to renew your fire, there’s always this ass-kicking poem by Elisa Chavez.