Yo, Miss! (No. 43)

Cultivating Community

We started the feminist club at my school, the Feminist Eagles, in 2015.

Since then, it’s become a weekly safe and brave space for students. What makes the club special is that it is student-led, except for when we have an occasional guest.

Back in 2014, when students were first toying with the idea of starting the club, there was an initial hesitance about calling it “feminist” because a few students anticipated ridicule from their peers. The word “feminist” was not the popular term that it has become for Gen Z (and Gen Alpha) today. However, by spring 2015, in their first bold activist move, the students decided to call themselves the Feminist Eagles. We also made the decision to allow everyone to be members as long as they agreed in equality for all.

I’ve written about the club for AFT Voices and also for Public Seminar

The club has become an oasis for students with shared common values around social justice and equal rights.

In 2024, the Feminist Eagles club is still going strong. This is a testament to the leadership of the students as well as the thirst for these types of communities, both offline and online.

In fact, I have noticed a trend online, especially on TikTok, where women are starting to better support and empower one another. The most recent example is the 50-part TikTok series from Reesa Teesa where she chronicles her traumatic saga being married to a pathological liar. I have been watching it over the course of the past few days, as have millions of other people. In Episode 16, she shares her motivation for the series. Reesa Teesa says that if her story can help one woman not endure what she did, it is worth it.

I am pretty sure that she has helped more than one woman with her story. She has also created a community of people making their own videos sharing their reactions to her story as well as similar experiences. Although there is a lot of data about the harmful effects of social media, it can be helpful in creating virtual communities like the one that this TikTok creator has inspired.

However, nothing can replace the benefits of sitting in a physical space with others like we do at our Feminist Eagles club. At a time when, according to a recent Atlantic article by Derek Thompson “Americans suddenly stopped hanging out", I am proud of the IRL community that we’ve created at my school.

At a recent meeting with special guest Tamela Gordon, author of “Hood Wellness: Tales of Communal Care From People Who Drowned on Dry Land,” I was once again reminded of the power of our club. (By the way, you all need to get Tamela Gordon’s book!)

She spoke to the club about the currency of our bodies, desirability privilege, and the uninvited attention (as she so astutely refers to it) that comes with being a girl. She shared her own experiences with this and then the students also offered up their own. With each story and anecdote divulged, everyone in the room felt less alone and more empowered.

After our hour-long discussion with Tamela, I was so moved by the power of the brave community we all created. I honestly wish I could replicate this club at every high school around the country. Young people - and really all people - need spaces like the Feminist Eagles.

One of the most profound moments I often have with students as an educator is when they discover that there are academic terms that describe what they personally experience. I notice that learning about these words makes them feel less isolated as they realize that if there is a word for it, then it must not just be happening to them. For example, when the feminist club students learned about the phrase “currency of our bodies” when speaking with Tamela the other week, I saw a lightbulb go off for many of them. They have (unfortunately) already experienced first-hand the way that their bodies are commodified and have currency in society. However, they had not heard those specific words to describe it before the club that day.

The club members already requested that we continue this conversation at the next meeting. I can’t wait to hear their thoughts after they have been reflecting on these concepts over the past couple of weeks.

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As always, thanks for all your support. I do not charge for any of my content here, but if you want to send me a coffee or snack this is my Linktree.

I will be back again next week with recommendations and more updates. Have a great weekend. xoxo

@saribethroseHow I spent my winter break #reesateesa #legion #tiktok

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