Feminists of Toronto

"Feminist: a person who believes in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes"

[feministsoftoronto]

"To me, a big part of why feminism is so important is because it shows you that gender, and the values we assign to it, are social constructs. Once you start to see how our society values men above women, you become more aware of inequalities relating to race, class, sexuality, and other divisions. Some of the issues I study, like racial profiling by police, generally impact men more directly than women. But being a feminist has helped me to better understand the other social biases and injustices that most of these guys are up against" - Wyndham Bettencourt-McCarthy 

[feministsoftoronto]

"I grew up surrounded by male voices and male outlooks. I only read books by men, featuring complex male protagonists. I exclusively sought the approval of male teachers and leaders in my life. In a lot of ways, it was an excellent education, but there was an absence of any kind of female perspective. When I was 16, my mother left, and I suddenly found myself obsessed with PJ Harvey, even kept a little picture of her in my sock drawer that I’d cut out of Jane magazine. That was a half-life ago, and I like to think that I approach feminism differently now, in a more varied way than I did as a teenager. At that point, loving PJ Harvey provided me with a new set of eyes. Once I started to see women, I began to see others who hung out around the fringes of clear categories too — not just the men down in front. I’m still learning how to do it" - Naomi Skwarna

[feministsoftoronto]

"I always recommend that people seek out smart, curious, funny, ambitious, feather-ruffling, outspoken women. Specifically those from different races, places, sexualities, lines of work, and social strata. I say that they should make friends with them for unselfish reasons, and give them enthusiastic permission to help change how we see our world. Luckily, Toronto is brimming full of these wonders" - Saadia Muzaffar

[feministsoftoronto]

“Every time I see something happen in the world I always take a feminist angle in understanding it. Whenever I’m out searching for a new story to tell I think about a woman’s voice. I think about opening a door for someone who might not be seen because she’s a woman or because she’s young or because she’s a person of colour or because she’s queer. Feminism transcends women’s issues. It gets us thinking about the marginalized, the oppressed, the untold stories, and the different perspectives. And that feminist angle is what makes my stories more interesting and my journalism more unique” - Sima Sahar Zerehi

[feministsoftoronto]

“I’d love to live in a society where men and women are equal in terms of sexual politics. I don’t know why some straight men treat women badly in relationships, and when we see it happen we often say ‘He’s a sociopath’. Is he a sociopath? Or do men feel entitled to act this way? That’s what it comes down to. Entitlement. Men are told to go after women and women are told to wait for them to come to you. Men are taught to be specific with what they want and women are taught to settle in order to be happy. And we’re never going to be equal if one of us is always waiting and totally dependent on the other to tell them how they feel”  - Alessandra Vite

[feministsoftoronto]

“My feminism just gets more radical the older I get. But that's great because it's also become more inclusive, more intersectional - so, better. I think it's just getting better. The best thing about it is learning and evolving and I hope that never stops. I'm trying to end up like 85 years old, still learning about how dope women are” - Lauren Mitchell

[feministsoftoronto]

"I’m a brown, female trying to break into the TV writing industry and so naturally Mindy Kaling is one of my idols. There is a perspective that she can give that audiences are reacting to and I love it. White females are identifying with a brown female! And I’ve been identifying with white women on-screen all my life, just as women have been identifying with male characters because that's all we were shown. There is a great moment in the Mindy Project where she is shaving her arms before going to a fancy event. It was on-screen for about two seconds but I have never felt like I’ve truly seen someone like me on TV until that moment. It’s like a little secret that comes with different perspectives. And trust me, the arm hair struggle is real. If we've learned anything from women in television, it's that people like, crave, and seek out different stories with different perspectives" - Lakna Edi

[feministsoftoronto]

“My sisters are the most ambitious, smart, and fun people I know. They keep me re-evaluating my ‘truths’ and to me, that is feminism; re-evaluating beliefs about women and women's roles in society that are delivered as ‘facts or truths’; and discovering what you actually believe, think and experience. And in my experience, big hair is always the best hair” - Kirsten Rasmussen 

[feministsoftoronto]

“My all time hero is Julie Dumais. She is currently the Artistic Director of the Bad Dog Theatre Company, but previously she was the Regional Director of the Toronto tournament of the Canadian Improv Games. She is the kind of person who sees your potential before you see it in yourself and then nurtures it. She has had my back for more than ten years now. When I met her I was a fourteen-year-old doing really silly improv scenes about Harry Potter and she was like ‘Someday you’ll be an adult doing the exact same silly scenes and I support you in every choice you make’. She was one of the strong women I had around me growing up who led the way and showed me what I was capable of” - Alice Moran 

[feministsoftoronto]

"I was raised mostly by my mom, and when I was younger I didn’t appreciate how hard it was for her to be a single parent. She had to take care of me and my brothers, work, and deal with everything in her own life too. She made a lot of sacrifices for us. I grew up in Parkdale and if you wanted to get involved in trouble, you could. Easily. There were times that I was pretty close to going down the wrong path, but she never let me. Respecting women was always implicit in my family because the head of our household was a strong woman. She was the boss and we all had reverence for that." Jordan Sowunmi

[feministsoftoronto]

“When I truly identified as a feminist is when I realized that my choices really matter and that I have so much power in the choices I make as a woman, and as a black woman, and as a human being” - Vanya Garraway 

[feministsoftoronto]

“I’m working towards being a director, I’m an AD now, and I’ve been on sets before where I’ve heard executives say ‘Women can’t be directors’. It blows my mind that people think that. That conversations like that are happening in 2014 but it’s because it’s still a male dominated industry. Most films nominated for Academy Awards are male centric stories and every time a movie comes out and it does well and it’s about women people are like ‘Oh my god!’. Why is that shocking? It’s a story about a person. A woman is a person. A person who wants their voice to be heard. That’s why seeing great female directors succeed is so important to me. Any woman who is doing something amazing in her field for herself should be celebrated” - Julia Rowland

[feministsoftoronto]

“My grandmother was my first and foremost feminist idol. She was born and raised in Regent Park. She lived through an incredibly abusive marriage and escaped a number of times, and she did everything she could for all of her kids. She was my best friend and I spent all of my time with her. She got cancer and died when I was very young. Then when I was thirteen my mother gave me a gift on my birthday and it was from my grandmother. Right before she died she left a note that she dictated to my mother for me with her wedding ring. It basically said ‘I knew from the time you were born, you were going to change the world. You are intelligent, and you are attractive, and you are exactly the way you should be.’” - Jen Neales

[feministsoftoronto]

“I waited a long time to get pregnant. I never used to think I wanted children. But when I was twenty-nine I noticed that I was counting pregnancies I would see on the street. I would be like ‘Look at all of the bumps everywhere! So many bumps!’ and I thought ‘Maybe that might mean I want to have kids someday...’ I said I would give myself to thirty-two to do it but then that came around and I was like ‘I’m not ready! I’m not ready yet!’ I’m happy that I waited. I found the right person and we needed to see where our careers were going first. I wouldn’t have done it any other way. I mean, how can I teach a little kid what to do with their life if I never had the courage to figure it out for myself?” - Paloma Nuñez 

Update: Baby Oscar was born and he is beautiful. 

[feministsoftoronto]

“He’s very pretty but I don’t want everyone just telling him how pretty he is all the time. I always say to him ‘We focus on our insides in this house’” - Melissa Story 

[feministsoftoronto]

"I used to think that feminism was bad because I heard people say that feminists were all fat, hairy dykes. Now I can't believe I ever trusted anyone who hated the very idea of fat, hairy dykes." - Catherine McCormick

[feministsoftoronto]

“When I faced people saying I couldn't do something purely because I was a girl it shocked me. In junior high I played flute my first year in band and really liked it. But then I went to see what the drums were all about and the guy who played them said I couldn't change because ‘girls didn't play drums’. I remember thinking, ‘Well now I'm going to become a drummer’. So the next year I did. I was the principal percussionist on the drum set in regular and jazz band. I also played drums in an all girl punk band in bars around the city when I was 15 or 16-years-old. So for me inequality has been a beautiful motivator to be undeniable as a strong woman even as a child.” - Aisha Alfa