With how progressive modern society has gotten, activism can now be done anywhere from marches to social media. It’s an opportunistic generation for anyone to get involved nowadays. A project that is occurring soon that is the perfect opportunity to show your support for by attending, over social media, or even from your very own home is the “PUSSYHAT PROJECT”. The PussyHat Project is a march taking place on January 21, 2017 in Washington, D.C. to support women’s rights.
The project was co-founded by Krista Suh and Jayna Zweiman, two remarkable women who have taken charge of the program. They began the project with the intentions to empower woman all over the country. The objection was taking characteristics made about women that are considered weak and to embrace them to instead make them what makes women resilient and fierce.
The project’s main source of grasping attention is, well, pussyhats. Pink, knitted hats with cat ears were made by lovers of knitting and amateurs to create a unified visual proclamation for the march. It is also for those who cannot attend the march themselves to still be able to make a statement right from their own home and social media. Using witty wordplay with “pussyhat”, they were able to create a symbol of empowerment from a demeaning term for women. It’s the concept of taking back what society has deemed women and making it their own strength. A statement of saying, “We are here.” It’s become a collective way to include everyone all over the country as well as possible small businesses that specialize in knitting to unify over this activity. The project’s website also has provided instructions on how to knit for beginners to reach out to all and get them included. Meant to be worn either during the march or from your very own home, it’s inspiring to see how advanced activism has gotten.
A single action such as making knitted hats can join together in large numbers to be allowed to be recognized by society.
What’s really innovative about this idea is how unifying it is even if you cannot personally attend the march yourself. It’s allowed larger groups to become a part of a movement that can make an imprint on Washington and the country itself.
On their Facebook page, currently 111,000+ people have made the pledge to participate in the march. You can take the time to make a pussyhat to send to someone that could attend the march, for yourself to proudly show in solidarity in your hometown, or to attend the march yourself. By catching attention with these statement hats, the voices of thousands will be heard and notified by Washington that they are a present population that demands support for women’s rights. If you are someone who could possibly be interested in taking part in this collective group activity, their website, PussyHat Project, will have more information on how to get involved.
