Looking for something to listen to on your morning commute? Want to learn about girls over your lunch? There are loads of amazing podcasts out there about and by girls. Join us as we share some of our favorites in this series.
Estée Lalonde begins her pilot podcast episode talking about her experience of going to an anti-abortion protest at as a young girl, on the side of ‘pro-life.’ She talks about the excitement of being at a protest, but the feeling of being on the wrong side. Fast-forward a number of years, Estée is protesting at the Women’s March in London and interviewing Nina Donovan for her podcast, At The Heart Of It.
Author of Bloom: Navigating Life and Style, Estée Lalonde is no stranger to discussing female issues. Bloom delves into lifestyle, work, beauty and fashion with a female view. The pilot episode of At The Heart Of It has Estée interviewing Nina Donovan, the incredible and inspirational 19 year old poet behind Ashley Judd’s Nasty Woman speech at the January 2017 Washington Women’s March.
But yeah, I am a nasty woman?!
A loud vulgar, proud woman.
I’m not nasty like the combo of Trump and Pence being served up to me in my voting booth.
I’m nasty like the battles my grandmothers fought to get me into that voting booth.
I’m nasty like the fight for wage equality. Scarlett Johansson: Why were the famous actors paid less than half of what the male actors earned last year?
See, even when we do go into higher paying jobs our wages are still cut with blades, sharpened by testosterone. Why is the work of a Black woman and a Hispanic woman worth only 63 and 54 cents of a white man’s privileged daughter?
This is not a feminist myth. This is inequality.
So we are not here to be debunked. We are here to be respected. We are here to be nasty.
They talk about the experience of protesting and the community and energy that protesting shares, especially in the contexts of both the London and Washington Women’s Marches. Estée talks about her Instagram, one of her most liked, of her standing proudly with a banner saying ‘Nasty Forever.’ While the instagram is one of the most liked, it’s also received the most negative attention. There is something about girls and women sharing their political views that leads to a hateful response, something Nina has also experienced. As a Dunkin’ Donuts worker, Nina shares that since her poem was used at the Washington Women’s March, people have been harassing Dunkin’ Donuts, demanding her dismissal.
So, what is it about protest that are so important to girls? Protests, by and large, at least attempt to be inclusive. Regardless of education, girls can be involved in a protest. Unlike studying politics academically, or running for office, protest is inclusive. Protests can exist for girls as a space of community, with the Washington Women‚Äôs March and the marches all over the world proving that. There were 700 marches across the world, with an estimated 4.5 million marchers in all. The Women’s Marches were among the biggest human-rights protest in history.
The Washington Women‚Äôs March was a safe space for girls and women to demand more, to demand equality. Even for girls not directly involved in protesting, the women marching on their behalf are role-models. Seeing the Washington Women‚Äôs March on mainstream media sends out a strong message to girls all over the world that there are protesters fighting their corner, demanding more for them. Goldiebox, multimedia company, have even released a video this July as part of their #BeLikeHer campaign, celebrating women in politics with young girls recreating the march. The legacy of the Women’s March lives on. Podcasters like Est√©e, poets like Nina, and protesters at the Washington Women‚Äôs March believe in girls and believe in protesting for them and with them.
We have a number of blog posts about protest, from Junior Girl Kaitlin Froom’s experience at her college campus at Florida State University, to Junior Girl Jennifer Lee discussing pussyhats and the Women’s March on Washington. Protest is important to us here at Girl Museum, as we believe girls are the key to a brighter, better future and that girls deserve to have a museum of their own.
-Chloe Turner
Volunteer & Instagram Manager
Girl Museum Inc.