Our Bodies Our Selves at the Women’s March, January 21, 2017
Today, from our sister publication Art Practical, we bring you Betti-Sue Hertz’s article from issue 8.3: Art can’t do anything if we don’t. Hertz explores the protest signs wielded at the Women’s March on Washington. She states, “At a moment when the right is emboldened to threaten hard-won civil rights, it is important to steadfastly embrace diverse gender expressions as represented in march signs and slogans such as ‘Black Trans Lives Matter,’ ‘My Child’s Transgender Rights are Human Rights,’ ‘Support your Sisters Not Just your Cis-ters,’ ‘I am a…Black Queer First Gen American Woman and I Refuse to Be Ignored’ and ‘Experience Dyke Power,’ ‘Never Underestimate the Power of a Faggot with a Tambourine,’ and ‘Not Gay as in Happy Queer as in Fuck You.’” This article was originally published on March 23, 2017.
Screenshot, Kim Atom, Twitter Post, January 21, 2017, 5:48 p.m., https://twitter.com/tmhzjm/status/822938829430648832.
The official poster for the Women’s March on Washington on January 21, 2017, featured three women’s archetypal profiles lined up in a row, in a color scheme of red, dark blue, and cream above rounded, bold lettering. Other designs were available as downloadable posters, featuring generic phrases in black lettering on a white background: “Together, We Rise,” “We Honor the Legacy of the Movements Before Us,” and “We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest.” The guide to the march encouraged participants to bring signs, and people actively embraced this directive at marches in 676 cities in the United States and 137 more around the world.
