I have always known that I believed in equality. It seemed like such a simple decision to me. Why wouldn’t everyone want to promote love and equal rights? Who would want to stop anyone from embracing their complete selves? Over the past couple of years, I have realized that this type of acceptance isn’t everyone’s reality. There are people that believe that someone is unworthy because of their gender, sexuality, or race. We need to change that. I have started my journey to learn about these issues, and hopefully you will too.
I started by doing some research about the causes that I want to support. I came across websites like feministing.com and theestablishment.co and immediately related to the women that ran these websites and their stories. Many of them took their passion for gender equality and, similarly to fashion, used their creativity to connect and inspire their audience. Something about a group of creative women working together to make an impact made me spiral into a never ending google search to learn about the cause that I feel so connected to.
After the election, I knew that a lot of the causes that I supported were going to be put on hold at the very least, but after seeing my LGBT+ friends struggle I decided that being a silent ally wasn’t going to be good enough anymore. I always supported the community in conversations but I had never posted anything on social media or gone to any of the ally events on my college campus. I genuinely want to learn about the community, gender, and sexuality. I know that I will never be able to relate but I want to try and understand. I wouldn’t want a man who supported feminism to be quiet about it, so why should I be quiet about the other people that I support? I know now that by being quiet and standing back while the damage is being done, I am just a part of the problem. I want to take action. I want to talk to my senators. I want to understand.
Why can’t I use my passion to bring light to these causes? Fashion is one of the most influential medias on the planet—before you even speak to someone you notice what they are wearing. Trends can be started and spread all over the world overnight through social media. Fashion can start a movement without saying anything. So go support the causes that you love with a T-shirt or button and start conversations about these issues. We need to show that our determination to be heard will not be overshadowed by laws and distractions. They can’t take away our right to speak out with fashion.
If you know more information about these topics, let me know in the comments!
