Everyone Needs a Good Feminist Pick Me Up Time to Time

[Content note: mention of victim blaming]

This week has been hard.

Hell...this year has been hard already. I've certainly been experiencing my fair share of feminist fatigue. In addition to battling various mansplainers, receiving sometimes threatening (always hateful) troll comments, rallying on the state capital in support of reproductive choice (only to see the government constantly attack family planning), there's also been a litany of rape apologism in the past few days. And it's no surprise that being a feminist on social media can really magnify these challenges, as the effect of hiding behind a screen makes many people much more virulent.

It can sometimes be too much to handle.

But today, instead of punching a wall or smashing my computer with a hammer or crawling into a cave, I decided to harness the wonderful side of social media. Over at my Tumblr, I asked my followers to submit stories about the positive effect feminism has had on their lives. You can check out the submissions here and submit you own, if you'd like.

The results are really beautiful. And it's worth noting that so many of them are from young feminists. (So take that anyone who disparages youth culture and thinks the under 25 crowd is apathetic.)

I'm so glad I decided to do this. My Tumblr is really important to me because I have created a space where people can share, shame, and vent about online sexism. But to see all that content day in day out is tough to handle, if left unchecked. So I checked it.

Today instead of an inbox full of people thinking that staying sober is a way to prevent rape, I had an inbox full of the wonderful ways that feminism has helped so many people. Feminism is how I live my life. It's the lens through which I view everything which means that I'm often frustrated at our very unfeminist world. But I don't take enough time to appreciate how much more fulfilling, thoughtful, compassionate, and all around wonderful being a feminist has made my existence. Thank goodness for today.

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