Women’s bodies are routinely scrutinized, policed, touched without their consent and decided upon without their having a say in it. Don’t worry, it gets worse: being pregnant does not really change that; in fact, strangers might feel motivated to touch your belly or force you to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term. All we have is chocolate, ladies.
Today is National Cancer Survivors’ Day, and it’s a day that’s close to my heart. In 2014, I was diagnosed with leukaemia, and after a gruelling two month hospitalisation, I had to go through a month of physical therapy to re-learn how to walk, talk, swallow, everything that I had so easily done before. A few months later, despite having nearly died three times during my treatment, I boarded a plane to England to work on my PhD. It wasn’t easy, and two years out from my remission date, I still struggle every day. And I have met so many people with similar stories, who, against all odds, persisted and showed the world (and, most importantly, themselves) that they would not be brought down, that they would fight with every fibre of their being.
We at She Who Persisted want to take today to honour everyone who has persisted, through cancer, sexual assault, depression, university work, job interviews, activism… Every journey is unique, and we want to hear about your persistence!
Below is a link to a poster we’ve created to tell us about your persistence (you can see the example image and then we’ve included a download link below). We’d love it if you’d download it, print it out, and send us a picture with a few words about how you’ve persisted. We want to build up a community that can support and love each other. You can send it to us either on Facebook or tag us in your posts on Instagram! We’ll be putting together a collage of some of our favourites, so you may even be featured on our pages! We also want to invite you to send us a picture, even if you don’t want to be identified in the photo – simply take a picture of it in front of your face or on a flat surface, like a desk. We still want to hear about your story.
Here’s some inspiration: my two-year in remission transformation!
Cheers to you all, and stay nasty! <3
— Beth
May is postpartum depression awareness month! So, Heather sat down with a postpartum depression survivor and her partner to talk about her struggle with the illness in this minisode.
Are you afraid of pregnancy? You’re not alone. Grab your chocolate as Beatrice, Elizabeth, and Heather talk about tokophobia and fear of pregnancy, childbirth, healthcare, and death.
In this Mother’s Day episode, Heather explains pregnancy while Beth, Beatrice, and Liz realise that they need inhalers to get through the episode. Grab your chocolate and your Feminist rage and learn about as much as we could stomach about the pregnant female body. We’re sorry for everything we put our mothers through, and we thank them for going through the torture that led to our birth.
YAY! INTERVIEW SPECIAL!! As an epilogue to episode 2 (women in academia) and prologue to episode 3, Heather interviews inspiring perSister Dr. Boni Wozolek. She tells us about her struggles in academia as a woman, as a woman of colour and as a mother and strategies her for resistance and persistance. You can find her at: https://kentstate.academia.edu/BoniWozolek
(PS: her dog Sati, too, is very persistant and very very hungry for fame.)
Dear nasties, this week, joined by Elizabeth, the four women of She Who Persisted tackle sexism and struggles in academia. So get your chocolate ready, get pizza, and a therapist and listen to this episode. Being a woman in academia sucks but at least you’re not alone. Let’s commiserate.
Welcome to the She Who Persisted Podcast! For our first episode, we decided to take a look at the history of Easter and our personal relationships with the holiday. We hope you enjoy.