Burning Bras Done Right
Feminist Slam Poetry on Campus
Student Jose Sierra showing his support to the feminist cause and his friends.
Burning bras is so cliché, that’s why “Speak Like a Girl” burns tampons instead.
A feminist poet duo that calls themselves “Speak Like a Girl” came to EvCC in April, and they came with a message.
Poet duo Olivia Gatwood and Megan Falley getting ready for the big show.
The two poets, Megan Falley and Olivia Gatwood, do an hour-long, interactive, feminist show that uses poetry to educate students about gender inequality. The duo brings the problems of street harassment, body image, rape culture and the perils of the patriarchy to light.
In poems like “Directives” and “Fat Girl” the duo spoke of problems they’ve had in their lives with added comedy.
Although they make jokes a lot, their message is nothing less than serious and they will not be silenced, for “this is a call to all girls.”
They spoke of how if women stopped buying cosmetic products, the economy would shut down over night, to which Falley and Gatwood called for all girls to “cover our scented tampons in hairspray, light them on fire and throw them at Maybelline’s headquarters.” As for Weight Watchers, all they had to say was, “Just wait and watch as I burn this motherf@#&%# down.”
They then took to Super Mario Bros. to explain how not every princess needs to be saved. They said, “Maybe Princess (Peach) hired Bowser as a bouncer because she didn’t have time to reject you at the door.” Since she had plenty of “shit” to deal with.
Two female students posing with a sign after the event showing their feminist pride.
But, then they took on something more serious: the female orgasm. Gatwood said thanks to science, “turns out I’m not just a fertile animal meant to scream during child birth.” She also wanted to thank science for “pretending I haven’t been f+*&#$%g myself the right way since 2004.”
Gatwood finished with a wishlist of inventions from science that she’d like to see, like “a dildo that turns into a whisk so I can bake a cake after” or “a dishwasher safe dildo that’s safe for me and can wash my dishes.” Let’s not forget “a vibrator that is also a taser.”
Though they did have more serious messages like their poem “Fat a Girl” to explain a girl’s life as a bigger women and how it doesn’t matter what others say as long as you’re happy with yourself. In their words, “fat girl don’t hate her body, fat girl hates the world.”
