I am one of the many people capable of saying that they were present at the Women’s March on Washington of 2017. As a young feminist, I knew I wanted to become an activist, so why not start with the largest protest march in our country’s history? I never expected the march to draw in as many people as it did. My aunt booked hotel rooms a few months ago, and I hadn’t definitely decided to go until one week before the march actually occurred. I’m so unbelievably happy to say that I made the right choice.
On the drive down to D.C., we pulled into a rest stop in southern New Jersey. To our surprise, there were dozens of women, men and children also on their way to the march. It was there when I began to feel the potential magnitude of the rally still to come. We made our way toward the Delaware Memorial Bridge through thick traffic, but not without several car-horn beeps of excitement and waves between car windows. Even on the road, there was an incredible sense of unity that could not be ignored.
The metro ride into D.C. Saturday morning could not have been more hectic. People were packed like sardines into the cars of the train with their p*ssy hats on and their protest signs between their legs. We were ready to go.
Let me elaborate on what a p*ssy hat actually is: it’s just a simple pink knitted hat. The hats are the symbol of the P*ssyhat Project which stated its goal this past Thanksgiving weekend of creating a “sea of pink” at the Women’s March on Washington. Some people got creative and knitted actual cat ears on their hats, but most stuck to the original design. My family and I totally missed the p*ssy hat memo. The hats represent a way of bringing power to the word of which is so commonly used as a synonym for weak or emotional. Thousands and thousands of people wore their hats with pride, and I’m not just talking about the women. Although I got close to the stage, most of the dialogue was hard to make out over the volume of the crowd. I know for a fact I heard Alicia Keys sing a lyric from “Girl On Fire,” and I’m fairly certain I heard Scarlett Johansson at some point during her moving speech. I didn’t need to physically see Gloria Steinem to feel her presence that day. Simply knowing that she and I were in the same city, let alone less than 50 yards apart, truly blew me away. For those of you who do not know the legacy of Gloria Steinem, I suggest you look into one or all of her published works and read about a woman revolutionary who paved a path of inclusion for second-wave feminism.
Steinem pictured third from the left at the Women’s March on Washington of 2017.
The crowd repeatedly voiced three immensely important chants, each relating to a specific issue:
- Women: “My body. My choice.” Men: “Her body. Her choice.”
- “No hate. No Fear. Everyone is welcome here.”
- “Show me what democracy looks like.” “THIS is what democracy looks like.”
The signs were undoubtedly the most entertaining aspect of the march. I learned that day that the American people get super creative and witty when they’re outraged. Here is a short list of some of the best sign slogans I saw:
- “Now you’ve pissed off Grandma!”
- “P*ssy grabs back”
- “Ratify the E.R.A.”
- Some people in the windows we marched past held signs that read, “I’m with them”
- My personal favorite was held by young girls in a storefront window: “FUture voter”
- An elderly heterosexual couple held matching signs with an important message: “This is what a feminist looks like.”
So now you’ve read about the experience of a millennial woman at the greatest protest the United States has ever seen, but what about the generations above ours? My aunt wanted to weigh in and give a quote regarding her own experience on that historic day:
“What was most amazing was when we went back to the hotel, we saw on TV what was happening all around us in Washington and around the world. You truly felt the power of democracy. It was an overwhelming experience.”-Ann Sperling
We stopped outside of a pub and looked in to find television screens flooded with pink hats. There were thousands of pink hats in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and many more locations all over our country. My good friend lives in Minnesota and she attended the march in Fargo, North Dakota. Chelsea Handler helped lead the march in Park City, Utah on the Sundance Film Festival. As if the hundreds of marches in the U.S. were not enough of a movement, there were multiple marches in other countries! I studied abroad in Galway, Ireland last year, so when I found out that a protest march took place in Eyre Square – a place I walked through almost daily – I completely lost my cool. Not to mention there were also marches in Dublin and London, two other wonderful cities I had the pleasure of visiting. You can turn your head to a few thousand (approximately 470,000) protestors in one city. You can even ignore the fact that 1 in 100 people in our country marched for a cause on January 21. But how much ignorance does it take to suppress the voices of the world when it stands up? Stay tuned.
It was a day of respect, peace and love. Tolerance turned into care, and anger and fear turned into unity. I walked into my house in Scranton on Sunday night to find my friends knitting p*ssyhats, and that alone gave me hope. Oh, and the police? Don’t even get me started…just kidding! They were fantastic. We even sang “Happy Birthday” to one officer as we started the march. Even as they peacefully passed through us in order to maintain some form of crowd control, we received smiles and waves from our brothers and sisters in blue.
On January 21, 2017, I graduated Advocacy High and moved on to the University of Activism. The only advice I have to give to anyone who believes in the power of social justice is to take action. Stand up and use your first amendment rights while you still have them. Fight for your rights and the rights of those around you. We are all humans, and we are all citizens of one nation where equality is a term used in our Constitution and is not yet a reality. Be good by doing good. https://www.pussyhatproject.com/