2015 Round up of Feminist New Year Resolutions

This post originally appeared on January 5, 2015 written by Kelly Ehrenreich.

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Last week as we said goodbye to 2014 and hello to 2015, feminist writers and activists reflected on the struggles and victories from the past year with a plan to move forward. We collected the top stories and tweets of Feminist New Year Resolutions, or #FeministNewYearResolutions.

Feminists wrote *a lot* this year about hashtags, as evident through our collaboration with Mic.com’s Elizabeth Plank on the Top Feminist Hashtags of 2014. Among the most prolific tags were #YesAllWomen and #BlackLivesMatter. Anushay Hossain of the Huffington Post declared that “Feminists rocked 2014” highlighting many moments for feminists to celebrate in 2014, such as Malala’s Nobel Peace Prize and Maryam Mirzakhani’s Fields Medal.

Some of the leading feminist voices in media and activism shared their views on how we can leverage energy and visibility of feminist issues in 2014 to make change going forward. Jessica Valenti wrote for The Guardian: “If you call yourself a feminist, make 2015 the year you act on those beliefs”; and Amanda Marcotte for Slate outlined the possibilities for feminist activism in 2015, citing both positive and negative implications.

Articles from Feministing, Washington Post, and Amber Gordon via Femsplain asked dozens of feminists to share their goals for the new year. A special tip of the hat to Ruth Tam for her piece in the Post as she also illustrated portraits of each of the 16 influential feminists shown (right).

Quotes from feminists of various ages, races, and backgrounds across the country show the diversity of feminist priorities; from political goals like a higher living wage, to combating police brutality and sexual assault, to personal goals of self-care and treating others well. Janet Mock addressed the variety of social justice needs and calls for collaboration in the feminist community:

My hope is that feminist, racial justice, reproductive rights and LGBT movements build a coalition that centers on the lives of women who lead intersectional lives and too often fall in between the cracks of these narrow mission statements.

Janet Mock, 31 | ‘Redefining Realness’ author and MSNBC’s ‘So Popular’ host | @JanetMock

#FeministNewYearResolutions

Feminist writer Ijeoma Oluo started the tag #FeministNewYearResolutions, which was highlighted in Suzanna Bobadilla‘s Feministing article. We collected some of our favorite#FeministNewYearResolutions tweets, and in the spirit of Feministing, and our other friends in feminist media, we list our very own #FeministNewYearResolutions below the tweets.

Stop telling dudes I have a boyfriend when I’m not interested. #FeministNewYearResolutions

— Ijeoma Oluo (@IjeomaOluo) December 27, 2014

Throw feral cats at catcallers. #FeministNewYearResolutions — Ijeoma Oluo (@IjeomaOluo) December 27, 2014

When people ask why you aren’t married, yell “I’M MARRIED TO THE STRUGGLE” & flip over a table. #FeministNewYearResolutions

— Ijeoma Oluo (@IjeomaOluo) December 27, 2014

Compliment other women more (on things other than clothes) #FeministNewYearResolutions— Muffin Winters (@MuffinTVB) December 27, 2014

When people ask “are you feminist?” reply “are you not?” and make them question all their life choices. #FeministNewYearResolutions

— Anya Maria (@spynasty) January 1, 2015

Finally making the switch: swapping male tears for almond milk in my morning coffee. #FeministNewYearResolutions — Shannon Miller (@Phunky_Brewster) December 28, 2014

Fuck more patriarchy #FeministNewYearResolutions

— Anne Thériault (@anne_theriault) December 27, 2014

#F’s #FeministNewYearResolutions

1. Involve at least two more regular contributing writers (if you’re interested in writing for #F,email us at inquiries [at] hashtagfeminism [dot] com).

2. Accumulate more subscribers for our monthly newsletter (sign up in the right side bar)!

3. Double our Twitter followers to 5,000.

4. Partner with more groups and individuals for larger projects involving media, feminism, race, and social justice.

#F’s Founder and Publisher Tara L. Conley’s#FeministNewYearResolutions:

1. My hope for this year is for us, feminists, to be better at being separate together. Let’s build together, but let’s also respect our separate spaces so we can accomplish similar goals.

2. My hope this year is also for white and mainstream feminists to privilege more race work in 2015, and especially rally around justice for Black and brown girls.

3. As an older millennial (born on the cusp in 1981), I also want to see more intergenerational collaborations between feminists inside and outside the classroom, on the ground, and in non-profit spaces and corporate America.

4. I also want to see more mentorship between established feminists and other feminists working in activism, business, education, and media.

5. I learned in 2014 that feminists need to build better strategic partnerships between feminist techies and content creators in order to establish workable technologies and systems to combat online harassment, hacks, doxxing, etc. It is real out here in these Internet and Twitter streets!

#F’s Editor Kelly Ehrenreich #FeministNewYearResolutions:

1. I want to be better about expressing my Feminist beliefs in 140-character increments, rather than waiting to write a post for #F or retweeting others who have said something I agree with.

2. I want to write more short pieces for #F to collect the receipts and keep the online Feminist conversation flowing.

3. I also want to continue my work from 2014 to actively take Feminist values into my relationships, particularly compassion and understanding; actively building up women around me; supporting both women and men to feel comfortable not leaning on gender stereotypes.

What are your #FeministNewYearResolutions? How can we build on feminist media and political action in 2015? Tweet us at @hashtagfeminism.