Julia

History

Member for

2 years 22 hours

Blog

view recent blog entries

Quotes

view recent quotes

General Information

Gender

female

Age

14

Location

Virginia

Personal Information

Biography

While being born and raised in suburban Virginia, I managed to be the only girl on the block playing kickball. However, my real start in feminism and women's issues was at age ten, reading about women who kicked ass in fantasy novels, which led to internet forums on sheroes and feminism, which led to books on feminist theory, protests and heated debates, and eventually the AGA!

My sheroes

My feminist sheroes have got to be:
-Eve Ensler, for changing women's lives (and vaginas!) worldwide
-Meg Cabot, for being a mainstream writer not afraid to call herself a feminist
-Susan Jane Gilman, for injecting humor into the movement
-Florynce Kennedy, for her quirky replies and radical ideas
-Gloria Steinem and Ariel Levy, for noting the difference between pornography and erotica
-The Boston Women's Health Collective, for empowering women's bodies
-Tamora Pierce, for personally inspiring her own group of Sheroes
-Naomi Wolf, for truly recognizing the Beauty Myth
-Betty Friedan, for changing her opinion on lesbians
-Dr. Mary Pipher, for understanding teen girls
-My mom, for always answering my questions with truth
-Heather Corinna, (seriously) for providing teens with truth
-My friend Lexie, for her everyday quiet rebellions
-The Acid Survivors Foundation, for trying to eliminate a horrific crime against women
-All women that raise hell, worldwide.

Personal goals

My personal goals are to continue activism in feminism and other human rights efforts, to possibly get some writing published and to become a history teacher. For right now, however, I just want to enjoy high school without losing my feminist perspective.

Bragging Rights

-One of my best achievements was organizing a Day of Silence at my school last year. It ended up being a huge event- all the teachers knew and made provisions in their lesson plans, and about 150 students participated. Several students gravitated towards myself and other leaders in the event and said things like "I used to be a little homophobic, but now I really understand what they go through" and "I had no idea how much discrimination really still exists." It was moments like these that I felt I'd made a real difference.

-My other best achievement was creating a small zine, Feminisme Publications, last year. It became a feminist-geared publication to showcase different views on political issues, poetry and fiction, and everyday ethical decisions. We're starting Feminisme again this fall.

Favorite books

-Any books by Tamora Pierce
-Kiss My Tiara and Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress by Susan Jane Gilman
-The Vagina Monologues and The Good Body by Eve Ensler
-The Rainbow Boys series by Alex Sanchez
-Born Blue by Han Nolan
-Female Chauvinist Pigs by Ariel Levy
-All of the feminist classics by Betty Freidan, Gloria Stienem, Naomi Wolf
-How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America by Christina Page
-Any work by Roald Dahl

And many more, these are just some I've read recently.

Favorite music

I love Broadway tunes and soundtracks, as well as classic and soft rock, chick rock (think Lilith Fair), pop, R&B and rap...pretty much anything.

Favorite Films

-I'm a sucker for the Lifetime movies
-Rent, Chicago, Moulin Rouge, Grease, Fame, anything Broadway
-Classic 80's Brat Pack movies

Hobbies

I love to sing and dance (and all that jazz), read, babysit, study history and Latin, and hang out with friends.