My first introduction to Scarlett Curtis came through her brilliant anthology ‘Feminists Don’t Wear Pink & other lies’. That book helped to kickstart my feminist journey in a purposeful way, so I am thrilled to be able to share a little more of the wonderful Scarlett Curtis with you.
Scarlett Curtis is a 25-year-old English writer, activist, and journalist. These are just some of the labels you could use to describe Scarlett, but feminist and mental health advocate are also important. Scarlett was born in London to Love Actually power couple Richard Curtis and Emma Freud. Scarlett started her career as a blogger and has written for some influential publications, including The Guardian, Elle Magazine, The Times and The Telegraph. Between 2016-2018, her reputation grew as she was the Sunday Times Style ‘Gen-Z’ columnist. Scarlett is most well known for her 2018 bestselling & National Book Award winning ‘Feminists Don’t Wear Pink & other lies’, which is an anthology of 52 essays by different influential women on what feminism means to them. This insightful anthology is something the world needed to read and her sales are proof of this. When I thought Scarlett couldn’t rise any higher in my esteem, she released ‘It’s not okay to feel blue & other lies’ in 2019, which tackles mental health stigma and shares many different stories of mental health. Both of these books are on topics that shouldn’t be controversial or taboo but often are, which makes Scarlett’s publications even more impressive.
As if it wasn’t enough being a successful author and blogger, Scarlett also co-founded the activist collective, The Pink Protest. The Pink Protest is a community of activists committed to making activism more accessible and encouraging young people to join in the fight, as well as highlighting the actions of active youth activists. The Pink Protest created the #FreePeriods movement and their popular weekly Instagram series ‘On Wednesday’s We Wear Pink and Protest’ highlights actions everyone can take each week to start their activism. Not only does The Pink Protest have an impressive mission but the collective has already helped to change two UK laws! Scarlett was awarded the Change-maker Award for young activists in 2019 and she is also an official UN Women UK advocate.
Scarlett is bold and bright. She inspires young people, and not so young people, around the world to be change makers and I think that makes her really special. At only 25, I can’t wait to see what she does with the rest of her career.
Sources:
https://www.scarlettcurtis.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarlett_Curtis