The Burning Man from the the Burning Man Festival. Photo by Aaron Logan.
For girls, 2016 has been a fairly typical year. A year characterized by suicides, kidnappings, rapes, systemic abuse, and cyber-bullying. But there have been good moments as well: the amazing girls at the Olympics, Isabella Springmühl Tejada’s premiere at London Fashion Week, and Marley Dias’s campaign for more diversity in school reading lists with #1000BlackGirlBooks. On the balance, though, every year since we started Girl Museum there seem to be more atrocities committed towards girls. However, there is also more awareness and strength in response. Our takeaways from this year would have to be SPEAK OUT and STAY VIGILANT.
For us at Girl Museum, we’ve done some work we are very proud of, especially our latest exhibition, Warrior Princess. We have built a terrific team and have exciting projects scheduled for next year. I went to a conference in Istanbul that opened my eyes to a new world of advocacy. When we step back, this has actually been an ok year with a few low points, not just for girls, but for everybody.
We hold out hope that 2017 will bring a revolution.
Stay tuned for the American Spring.
-Ashley E. Remer
Head Girl
Girl Museum Inc.