If you’ve been to a bookshop over the past three months, or on Instagram, or pretty much anywhere except Philip Green’s personal library, chances are you’ll have encountered Feminists Don’t Wear Pink (and other lies): Amazing women on what the F-word means to them.
The book features a seriously starry contributor list – Emma Watson, Keira Knightley, Saoirse Ronan, Jameela Jamil and Zoella have all written chapters – but it’s the less famous names that really deserve your attention. Contributors as young as 17 prove to the world what we all knew already: that Gen Z is ready to fix the patriarchy’s mess, and fast.
But how, is the question? I asked them. Fresh from FDWP’s unapologetically pink pages, meet the young activists who’ll be getting shit done in the name of gender equality this year.
1. Scarlett Curtis
As well as the brains behind Feminists Don’t Wear Pink (and other lies), she’s the Sunday Times Style’s Gen Z columnist, Pink Protest co-founder and the reason you really want candyfloss-hued hair. But Scarlett Curtis hasn’t always led a charmed life – having struggled with chronic pain, PTSD and anxiety during her teens, she’s called feminism “my antidepressant” and often credits the sisterhood with helping her find strength and support when everything else felt distinctly un-rosy.
“The lies we have been told about feminism have been fed to us to hold us back from a movement that is actually for everyone,” she writes in the book’s introduction. “A movement that is more beautiful and more potentially powerful than we could ever have dreamed.”
Scarlett, what’s the most enduring misconception about feminism today?
I think the biggest misconception is that you need a degree or to have read a million books about feminism in order to ‘qualify’ as a feminist. All you need is to know that you think men and women should be equal and you’re in the gang!
What makes you proudest to be part of Generation Z?
The amazing activists who are a part of our generation and are changing the way the world works from across the globe!
Who would you like to thank for paving the way for where we are now?
bell hooks, Audre Lorde, Lena Dunham, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Gloria Steinem and The Queen.
If you could make a feminist New Year's resolution on behalf of the world, what would it be?
I want to abolish feminist in-fighting! I hate that so often we are most attacked by other women who call themselves feminists. We have far bigger fish to fry and we need to work together to take down our real enemy – the patriarchy.
2. Bronwen Brenner
At just 17, New Yorker Bronwen Brenner is already an award-winning poet, a contributor to Teen Vogue and Broadly, and feminist force to be reckoned with. Recovering Hysterical Female, her poetic contribution to Feminists Don’t Wear Pink (and other lies), is a visceral vision of girlhood raw and undone beneath frosted makeup and plastic jewels.
“There's this narrative that first wave feminists fought for the right to vote, second wave feminists fought for the right to birth control, and all contemporary feminists do is whine and nitpick. This is so wrong,” she says. “Around the world, women and girls are subjected to sex trafficking, child marriage, genital mutilation, honour killings and so many other forms of injustice. And even in places where these forms of oppression are less prevalent, microaggressions add up to a larger culture of misogyny.”
How did you find feminism?
Music was my gateway to feminism. Bands like Bratmobile, Babes in Toyland, 7 Year Bitch, and Team Dresch exposed me to my first feminist icons. As a countercultural queer kid, the women of those bands made me feel seen and understood in a way I had never experienced with other forms of media.
What makes you proudest to be part of Generation Z?
Our tendency to take our fate into our own hands. We know we don't need a degree, or a ton of money, or the support of adults to get what we want and need.
Which feminist would you like to thank for paving the way for where we are now?
Emma Goldman. She illegally distributed birth control, and was one of the first advocates for gay rights in America. The American government was so threatened by her values that she was deported.
If you could make a feminist New Year's resolution on behalf of the world, what would it be?
I don't really believe in "cancelling" people who have said offensive things, especially when they weren't trying to be hurtful and have apologised for their behaviour. It's not fair of us, as feminists, to deprive others of the opportunity to prove that they've learned and grown from their mistakes. And as for the world as a whole, I'd like to see a world where girls have autonomy over their bodies. That includes choosing who they marry, if and when they have kids, and who they want to have sex with.
3. Tasha Bishop
21-year-old Tasha Bishop became a feminist when she was diagnosed with Mayer Rokitansky Küster Hauser syndrome – a condition that means she was born without a womb. “For a long time I felt like I had no worth in society, as a woman who could neither reproduce, nor be a sexual entity,” she says. “I found feminism because I had to rewire my thinking and realise I was just as worthy as any other woman, and my body did not define me – I think sadly that’s a lesson so many women are still learning, for so many reasons.”
To help spread the message, Tasha founded The Pants Project [https://www.thepantsproject.com]: a not-for-profit enterprise that aims to educate and empower those facing infertility. The project hosts events, raises charity funds and collaborates with designers to sell beautiful underwear. Because feminists do wear pink, and that includes frilly knickers.
What’s the most enduring misconception about feminism today?
I think there still seems to be this tendency to see feminists as women who think they’re better than men, and should have more power than men – when in actual fact, it’s anyone who believes women deserve equality with men.
What makes you proudest to be part of Generation Z?
The proudest part of being a Gen Z baby is feeling the intense drive to make change a reality amongst my peers. Sometimes I worry about clicktivism and issues like feminism, racism or period poverty not being taken seriously, with people jumping on the bandwagon to seem ‘woke’... but I think there’s more people wanting REAL change than there are bandwagoners.
Which feminist would you like to thank for paving the way for where we are now?
Scarlett Curtis. Maybe I’m biased, but I do believe she really has changed the face of Gen Z activism.
If you could make a feminist New Year's resolution on behalf of the world, what would it be?
Stop allowing powerful men to be in charge of things they have little right to hold authority on – women’s health, for example.
4. Swati Sharma
The poet and activists contribution to the book is called ‘I Don’t Feel Like A Woman’, a poem that will speak to anyone who has ever been catcalled on the street or confused in a branch of Sephora. Swati grew up in India, “a country which is diverse and ever-changing but still holds deep-set patriarchal values.”
“I think watching the news, both national and international, for the last couple of years has been enough of a wake up call,” she says. “There is something deeply wrong with the way womxn and the LGBTQA community are talked about. I think that’s how the movement found me.”
What do you think is the most enduring misconception about feminism today?
I think the one of the worst misconceptions is that people think there is no place for femininity in feminism. The whole point of feminism that there is place for everyone! You just have to be yourself and believe that people are equal and multiple.
What makes you proudest to be part of Generation Z?
No matter what people say about our generation, I think we are incredibly open to dialogue, calling things out for what they are, and knowing what to fight for. Everywhere I look, it’s the young people who’re at the forefront of movements that are changing communities.
Which feminist would you like to thank for paving the way for where we are now?
So many! Frida Kahlo, Tarana Burke, Olivia Gatwood, Andrea Gibson, Jameela Jamil and Scarlett Curtis.
If you could make a feminist New Year's resolution on behalf of the world, what would it be?
Enough with the ‘go back to the kitchen’/‘make a sandwich’ jokes, please. On a serious note, I sincerely hope that feminism continues to expand to bring womxn of colour and the LGBTQA community to the forefront. Womxn’s lack of safety is (still) a serious issue all across the world and I hope that changes.
5. Em Odesser
Hold on to your imposter syndrome! The award-winning 18-year-old writer is editor in chief and co-founder of Teen Eye Magazine, a mag for creatives under 19 with over 950,000 readers “in every continent except Antarctica”.
Em also writes for Teen Vogue, The Sunday Times and W Magazine, co-hosted the Vice election series Eighteen With Issues, and serves as the executive assistant for mental health support collective Sad Girls Club. With a style she’s proudly described as “renaissance succubus meets prairie girl”, she’s also a solid gold Instagram crush.
What do you think is the most enduring misconception about feminism today?
Too many people seem to see feminism as a club you need to be in to sell products, and they treat it as a quick trend rather than an ever-growing movement. There are so many amazing and inspiring feminist artists and activists, so it's insulting when people who don't believe in or commit to the tenets of the 'feminist agenda' try to capitalise on our beliefs. Feminism is open to anyone, but if you're not fighting for us, don't try to cash in on us!
What makes you proudest to be part of Generation Z?
Our openness to hear other people's stories and learn from them, our bravery, our resourcefulness online, and our dedication to removing unnecessary stigmas.
Which feminist would you like to thank for paving the way for where we are now?
Sophie Scholl (the anti-Nazi activist who was executed in 1943, aged 21).
If you could make a feminist New Year's resolution on behalf of the world, what would it be?
Repeal the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) and Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA), stop sexualizing students by dress coding them, and free Cyntoia Brown and all the other people incarcerated for fighting for their life against abusive men. Protect Roe v. Wade (America’s constitutional right to safe, legal abortion). Allow women/trans/non-binary people to be themselves without so much fucking scrutiny. Stay tender.
6. Alice Wroe
“Women’s history gave me my feminism,” says Alice Wroe, activist, writer and founder of Herstory, a project using feminist art to engage young people with pieces of women’s history that have been lost – or, let’s be honest, systematically erased. From forgotten suffragettes to 60s civil rights activists to adventurers like Junko Tabei, the first women to reach the summit of Mount Everest, Alice believes that piecing together the patchwork of women’s stories helps build a better narrative for the future.
“There is a rich feminist past that surrounds us all,” she says. “Sometimes we need to look back and be critical, ensuring we make our movement better, but we can also look back to give us strength today.”
What do you think is the most enduring misconception about feminism?
A common misconception is that feminism is about to end – always at a perpetual moment of near completion. We have a long feminist past that is complicated and nuanced and a future ahead that is equally so. Feminism is a way of thinking and relating to each other, it is approaching the world with criticality, generosity and rigor. The patriarchy has a way of enduring, shape shifting, sneaking up in new and unexpected places – we need to be prepared to build it into our long term lives, not only focus on short term goals.
What makes you proud of Generation Z?
I don’t know if I’m proud of them explicitly, but I do feel defensive. I remember a badge a Second Wave feminist friend of mine used to wear: “Off your computer and onto the streets”, as if the two are mutually exclusive – it got my back up. I feel like Generation Z often unify the computer and the streets; real change can be born in the comments and end up in the Commons.
Who would you like to thank for paving the way for where we are now?
The Federation of South African Women, who came together to form one of the most important antiapartheid groups, campaigning for education, the vote and equality in marriage. I think of them often because of their chant: “You have touched the women, you have struck a rock” – I think that chant is genius, and runs through so much of the activity that dominates our feminism today. For me it says: women are solid, strong and most importantly, together.
If you could make a feminist New Year's resolution on behalf of the world, what would it be?
I would like to see feminism structurally embedded into school. A few years ago all 16-year-olds in Sweden were given a copy of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s ‘We Should All Be Feminists’. I thought this was such a powerful gesture, that young people of all genders were given permission to engage in feminism and the duty to walk into their adult lives with it. If we can create true equality in classrooms, think about the future those young people will create.
Feminists Don’t Wear Pink (and Other Lies) is out now.
