What conditions nurture young feminist creation?
And who has the time and resources to imagine and create?
Image credit: Ani Hao. A broken sidewalk fence in Hong Kong, smashed in perhaps in part because of the widespread ire towards these overly protective fences.
A piece that I published recently took me nearly two months to source, research, write, and pitch - a considerable amount of time considering that it wasn't a feature and that I had originally pitched it as a timely piece. As I find myself increasingly frustrated with a publishing process that does not favor freelancers during a pandemic, I am simultaneously thinking about the people who are unable to put pen to paper (so to speak) during this crisis at all. Gender, race, class, disability are all factors that can either limit or support a person to fashion themselves into a public-facing creator role. There was already little infrastructure for working-class creators, artists, and activists to exist in this world and now a pandemic that has historically catastrophic impacts on women, the working class, informal workers, and so many more is here.
I recently read a large scale study which backs up earlier studies done this year that fewer women were publishing their research during the pandemic because of family-related obligations. How many others, especially those who are not academics, but working-class, racialized women from different countries around the world are unable to imagine and create, forced to respond to their families' and communities' immediate and most pressing necessities?
This has been an important year for reflection, and while much of the reflection that I do has to do with movement building spaces and in transnational spaces, a lot of it also has to do with privilege. I am privileged to call myself a writer and to write for a living. And part of the reason why I can write for a living is because I do not have to financially support my family. I don't have kids, family members with illnesses, life-crippling debt, or too many dependencies at all. I work transnationally, with an income unattached to any specific country; I hold an American passport. It may have taken me my entire career to recognize myself as a writer - I didn’t always introduce myself to people as one and I certainly didn’t begin my career writing publicly, but I don’t think that this is on the back of hard work alone. Systemic factors are at play here, privilege is at play here.
I'm not saying that it's easy for young artists and activists. We know that it isn't. Young feminists are creative and nurture this creativity despite all odds in an economic hellscape, which looks very different from region to region. But I hope that we can step back and interrogate our own privilege when it comes to creative careers and production, and whose art and perspectives are nurtured. In the last New Wave edition, I wrote about the price that young people pay in a society that constantly expects extraordinary achievement and greatness from them. The flip side is that many are more likely to value creativity, innovation, experiments, and failures from young people. Writing this, I am thinking about the courage it takes for a middle-aged salaried person to write their first book. For a retiree with little savings and no family support to finally cross a creative project idea off their long abandoned list of goals. For people who know that they don’t have to be full-time artists to be creative, or “professional activists” to work towards progressive social change, and still carve out the time and space to contribute to communities in different minuscule, yet major ways.
I'm writing this edition of the newsletter in the first iteration of the New Wave Writers' Group Call, where we gathered together in a "working call" and worked in three 20-minute sprints for an hour and a half. I decided to create the call after a suggestion in the feedback for New Wave (which you can still give here! it is extremely valuable and all taken into account) in order to create a space where I could be alongside other young feminists from different contexts, keeping each other accountable to feminist creation and production. I felt it was slightly hard to strike the right tone; on the one hand, I wanted to emphasize mutual accountability and holding space, and on the other, all of us desperately needed productivity hacks. We all have too many tabs open, in our minds and on our computers. The call was enormously helpful for me; I’ve spent every single day this week co-working with people in real life (the pandemic is largely controlled here in Hong Kong, despite a nascent new fourth wave). Talking with my therapist, I wondered aloud if I was too dependent on others even working in mainly solitary processes, such as writing. But then I remember that nothing really is solitary, and that intellectual exchange, gentle feedback, and collaboration truly make every piece of work better.
Creative process is collaborative in many different ways, which directly contradicts the myth of creative genius, who must always be solo, individualistic, and ordained by birth. In reality, the creative process really looks more like a creative network. And it’s a process like any other - just like life - influenced by the people that you meet, the books that you read, the music that you hear, and the political movements that you get involved in. I don't separate activism from creativity or the creative process in the way that I think many others do. Progressive activism and movement building requires huge reserves of creativity - energy, time, minds and bodies that intermingle with each other, feed and change each other. There are different factors that can create the right conditions for a movement to gain mass appeal, and for a young writer to begin shaping their voice and publishing the work that will define their career.
The most important thing to remember is that we are all human. In our activism and in our art, we are not machines. We will not produce against all odds, and we cannot stay on the streets 24/7; it is important that we have networks, families, and people to sustain and nourish us. It is important to rest, to come back to something, to ask for feedback, to be paid and to have resources available, and to know that collaboration will only hone our politics and strengthen our message. It’s important for our creative process not to die, and to also not beat ourselves up when we are unable to produce a single idea. In the end, we need people, all the time, but sometimes we need them especially to come back to ourselves and work on our deepest creations and ideas. They are, after all, meant to be shared.
5 recommendations for young feminists
Black women have been elected to Brazil’s City Councils in record breaking numbers. This also includes the highest number of trans women ever elected. If you think that representation politics are at play here, then you should know that Instituto Marielle Franco released a political platform called Agenda Marielle that listed Marielle Franco's political values: 1) Racial justice and the defense of life 2) Gender and Sexuality 3) Favela Rights 4) Economic Justice 5) Free quality public health 6) Free public education 7) Culture, Entertainment & Sport. When political candidates signed this document, they agreed to uphold these values. More than 700 candidates signed the document, many of them Black women.
Non-consensual Dissemination of Intimate Images (NCDII) is a wieldy term, but it is the correct one, not “revenge porn”. Four African feminists discuss how they have raised the issue in their work and communities, and the challenge of translating image-based abuse as gender based violence.
'Maru', an anti-harassment chatbot designed by young people to address the issue, recently launched. The chatbot provides advice and resources from a global team of experts and activists, as well as guidance on appropriate reporting mechanisms and tips for staying safe online. Currently only available in English, the service is a collaboration between Plan International and technology collective Feminist Internet and plans to be available in multiple languages in the future.
The feminist occupation of human rights commissions across Mexico is ongoing. Nidia Melissa Bautista reports on the latest developments and negotiations: “The occupation has since dwindled in numbers because of rifts and internal disputes among groups. In October, Bloque Negro said they no longer welcomed transgender women, and LGBTQ+ organizations publicly withdrew their support… While officials seem to cater empty promises, and rifts emerged among protestors, the occupation reflected the frustration of living in a country where gender violence is perpetuated with impunity.”
Feminist digital security training can come along with pleasure, creativity & curiosity. FTX:Safety Reboot is a timely resource from the feminist internet folks at APC to supplement digital security trainers with a feminist perspective on technology. Check out the different modules and especially the risk assessment exercise.
Ani Hao is a young feminist writer, journalist and media consultant. She reports on young feminist activism and youth-led social movements globally.
While this newsletter is currently free to the public, please consider buying me a coffee to support the time and work I put into this newsletter. My medium term goal is to begin commissioning other young feminist writers, and these should be paid commissions. If you are interested in joining the next New Wave Writers’ Group call, email newwaveletter@gmail.com - but I’ll send a signup next week!
If you enjoyed this edition, please consider forwarding this email to a friend so that they can also sign up for New Wave.
Been thinking so much about this too. As always, love all that you share and highlight in this newsletter Ani. Sitting with this line today: "But then I remember that nothing really is solitary, and that intellectual exchange, gentle feedback, and collaboration truly make every piece of work better."
I'm sad to have missed the call this time but hope to get on the next one. It sounds so wonderful. <3