If you identify as female, 2016 and 2017 were not easy years. If you were anyone, really, to be totally honest. From the election of a self-confessed grabber of non consenting pussy as the leader of the free world, through the #MeToo and Times Up movements, it has not been easy to keep moods above the zero mark.
By the end of 2017, I, personally, was feeling drained, exhausted, furious, sad. Probably even a little bit scared. And a lot more than a little bit impotent.
What could I do? How could I impart a little positivity, yes for others, but more for my ever declining state of mind? I do not have the means at my finger tips, or the platform to do something huge and momentous, but I do have a voice. It’s 100 years since the first women in the UK were allowed to use their voices to have a say in the direction their futures would take. And in addition to my (very opinionated) voice, I do have *a* platform, thanks to big bad social media (which I love).
I have been using my accounts on Facebook and Twitter to share my opinions, my work projects, my socially awkward interactions, and videos of John Oliver and Trevor Noah for years, and years. Why not use them to spread a little positivity?
Women have been having such a tough time, for such a LONG time, be it at the hands of the Vikings, or the prison services force feeding the suffragettes, or POTUS 45 and his tangerine face grabbing anything he felt like without asking for permission.
So I made it my mission for 2018 to celebrate women. All women. Women of all nationalities, and ethnicities. Women of all body shapes, sizes, and abilities. Famous women. Less famous women. Dead women. Living women. All. Women.
Every day, I nominated an exceptional woman. One day Marie Curie , the next day Cher.
And as I carried on doing this (initially posting more than one on the odd occasion, to make up for the 7 days at the start of the year that I’d missed), a beautiful, moving thing started happening. My ‘social media bubble’ joined in. People were sending suggestions. People I’d only met once or twice through work things were sending me messages telling me what a wonderful thing this was. I was reading about the women suggested to me, and other people were reading about the women I nominated.
I was sent links to podcasts, books, radio programmes, documentaries about women, so many glorious wonderful women.
2018 was my year of female celebration, and it has been a little glimmer of hope in a currently dark world. I corresponded with new, brilliant, people. I learnt about some astonishing humans. I laughed, cried and raged about how they had been treated.
It was so positive and enlightening, and although I can’t keep that going ad infinitum, I do want to keep something going, so I am changing vehicle, from status to blog entries. It will be a lot more sporadic, but also a bit more detailed.
I’ll be talking to people about women who inspire them, so do drop me a line if you would like to sing the praises of a woman deserving of recognition.
Hop aboard!
DW x
This post was originally published as ‘”Backwards in High Heels”
My Name is Not Debbie 