In the beginning of the school year, I and the rest of my social justice group went with the other women’s group to listen to an assembly in the high school about day of a girl. The kids in the feminist group from the high school all got up, and shared parts from their essays they wrote about their own life experiences, based on the ideas of day of a girl. This assembly was very powerful to me for a few reasons. The assembly showed me how passionate everyone in the group was about feminism, whether a girl, or a boy, and showed how even youth can take a stand. It was also amazing to hear the vast variety of stories people had shared. All the different angles and sides each person had on feminism, and day of a girl really struck me, and made me try to think of what my story might be.

This is a photo of the Day of a Girl logo

On story I remember pretty clearly was a girl who talked about her experiences at camp. She goes to a teen camp called Tamarack Farm that is within a group of other camps called Farm and Wilderness. I actually go to an all girls camp within Farm and Wilderness called Indian Brook, so when she said Tamarack Farm, the name jumped out at me right away. Anyway, this girl described how at camp, her, and a bunch of other kids decided not to shave, just because they didn’t feel the need to. I could tell that some people in the assembly thought of this as very strange, but to me, it was wonderful. The idea of needing to be the perfect beauty is so present in our society today, it is incredible to see people saying they don’t have to be perfect, and they can be beautiful no matter if they look like a supermodel or not. One other thing I remembered when at the assembly was a rule at my camp called no body talk. This rule states that no person can make a mean or nice comment about what someone is wearing, allowing for freedom of expression, and being able to be who you are without any pressure holding you down. Although some people might think it is weird that you can’t complement someone, the rule boosts everyone’s self esteem because if someone was around when another person was getting complimented, but they didn’t get a compliment themselves, they could feel hurt, or think they weren’t beautiful.

The day of a girl assembly made me think about how much feminism is around us everyday, and how people are trying to make a change much more than noticed by the general public. Many people don’t realize when they are taking part in supporting women’s rights, and how women are shown in our society, but it is wonderful that people are able to do so many little things to help support a bigger movement.

Here is the Day of the Girl website: http://dayofthegirl.org/