My First Experience At A Feminist March
On the 9th March 2019, my best friend and I decided to go to a Feminist March for woman’s day. Despite everyone we told (half) jokingly telling us not to get arrested we trecked out in the rain anyway.
My Thoughts on Feminism
Growing up, I remember the word ‘feminist’ often being translated and interpreted as a taboo. Some people (including women) would say things like “I’m not a feminist, but I do believe in equality.” This is probably due to the media’s dedicated mission to portray all feminist as angry, irrational bra burning and men hating enthusiasts.
But it’s like we’ve forgotten that these women were literally denied the right to vote and work in the professional sphere. So whilst bearing the appropriate facts in mind, I think a moderate amount of fuss was made regarding the issue.
However, I definitely think that the focus has now shifted as modern-day feminism strives to be intersectional by including and uplifting all narratives. The importance of intersectional feminism was first vocalised by Alice Walker in her book In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens (1983). She introduced a theory called ‘Womanism’ that highlighted the lack of diversity in mainstream feminism.
In recent years, through the help of influential women and men like Emma Watson, Michelle Obama and Matt McGorry feminism has been given an entirely new meaning. Role models like these have pretty much confirmed the fact that only amateurs are still using the phrase “I’m not a feminist but I believe in equality.”
Why Did We Go to the Feminist March?
I think the internets romanticised depiction of feminists marches are enough to spark enough curiosity to go and check one out for yourself. Did I go because I wanted to see what I saw on the internet was true? Did I go because I wanted to tell everyone that I’ve been to a feminist march? Both tbh.
My best friend and I were so late that when we reached the carpark, they had already left the starting point that was given on the event page on Facebook.
But how do you catch-up with a feminist march? Just follow the faint but aggressive shouting I’d imagine.
It was raining and cold so we decided to follow the faint but aggressive shouting from the comfort of my best friends car.
Getting There
We literally drove for 20 minutes trying to find the march and we even started to put the aux cord down every time we had to stop at a traffic light just to increase our chances of hearing anything.
The March meant that most of the roads were closed so we just ended up driving round in circles with the occasional rash u-turn. When we finally caught up with the event, we parked the car and made our way down because there was still 35 minutes left of the entire March.
I think we had missed most of the protesting because when we got there the leaders of the march were setting up the mics whilst everyone started to put down their witty signs.
Most of the people there were pretty welcoming and friendly. I actually started talking to a trans woman because I complimented her sign and we started chatting about feminists like Frieda Kahlo and Emma Watson. Then she asked me why I wanted to attend this Feminist March and my last brain cell replied with: “This feminist march? Because I’m a feminist and I was born in March.”
The feminist March mostly consisted of listening to the main leader through a microphone. She was incredibly articulate and empowering. She made me believe that I can become the CEO of a small to medium company by the time I’m 30 or that I can work my way up the career ladder in a global corporation or build an empire on my own.
The March and what I learned:
Everyone knows that most minorities have a hierarchy system of privilege of their own and this March mainly focused on addressing that. For example, it was clear that this March was a clear advocator for women- cis, trans and other.
Identifying as a woman or feminist was enough to get a seat in this club and this feeling was nice.
Featured Image Source: https://unsplash.com/search/photos/feminism
