Form of Resistance: A Collective

By Dorothea Qian on March 10, 2017

I was in the back seat of my friend Crispin’s car when the election results came blaring from the radio. It was eerily dark, the wind was crispy, and I felt trapped in a mixture of emotions. As a California native who attended college in New York City, I feel as if I have been caught in liberal bubbles my whole life and never saw the possibility of Trump’s presidential appointment as a serious matter.

Trailing election day, I remember seeing folks all throughout the city crying and embracing each other in what felt like the beginning of an apocalypse or rather, the Trumpocalypse. The winter had finally arrived, the weather was beginning to reach freezing temperatures, and the future of this country seemed to be heading down a mortifying direction.

More than ever, self-care and mental health became top priorities for me. I made reasonable goals to cook more often and lead a healthier diet. In my spare time, I would work on homemade body scrubs for myself and friends. But all that still seemed inadequate to me. There was more and more depressing news circulating every single day, but what could I do about it? Beyond just taking care of my mental and physical well-being, I was eager to find forms of resistance.

Around the time of Chinese New Year, my friends and I had gathered and discussed forming a collective to create and share art as part of the resistance movement. In the midst of feeling a lack of hope and ability to make an impact, the idea of a collective was exactly what me and my friends needed to motivate ourselves and join a very necessary cause.

As our nation stepped into the Trump era, it was clear that there would be major changes coming our way, one of which included health care. Currently, a repeal of Obamacare is still in the works but GOP representatives have made it clear that Medicaid expansion would be cut and Planned Parenthood would face defunding. Ultimately, health care changes under the Trump regime would directly affect the number of low-income families supported by services that Obamacare offered. Obamacare made it so that many underprivileged households would be able to afford health insurance and the repeal would ensure that subsidies would be cut.

Support for the defunding of Planned Parenthood was usually based on the context of people supporting pro-life stances and protesting abortion. Amongst my group of friends, we agreed on the importance of Planned Parenthood. There is a common misconception that the agency is solely geared towards offering abortion services. However, Planned Parenthood offers so much more than just that. One could walk in and get a pap smear, access to affordable birth control, STD testing, cancer screening, breast exam, sexual health counseling, reproductive health information, physical exams, pregnancy tests, and the list goes on!

Together, we named our collective the Nasty Woman Gang (NWG) and we’ve been showing up to protests and educating folks on women’s rights, climate change, and immigration rights ever since. The collective has been featured on Season 2 Episode 1 of a web series called the Sex Café in which I was able to engage with fellow women on the current political climate and specifically, the changes in health care. NWG has donated $2,000 to Planned Parenthood so far from selling our Nasty Woman Gang merchandise online or at protests and pop-ups, with hopes of reaching $100,000 by the 100th day of Trump’s time in office. Our next pop-up will take place at the Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe on March 11 to celebrate Women’s History Month.

Although I recognize that our money alone will not be able to save Planned Parenthood, I strongly believe that our social impact is far greater than the financial contribution our collective is able to provide. This election has brought so many people from different walks of life together. And that thought alone is beautiful.

In the midst of what seems to be a sociopolitical crisis, I am truly grateful that I was able to find comfort and inspiration in a collective started amongst my friends. Together, we seek to promote change through social art activism and share resistance literature and music. Starting a collective is not the only way one can get acquainted with the resistance movement because there are unlimited forms of resistance. Attending marches and protests, writing to elected representatives, being vocal on social media platforms, and speaking up about the issues that one cares about in local communities are ways to organize and promote change.

But it doesn’t stop there: the possibilities to create an impact are endless, and folks can find inspiration in more than one way. Lastly, it is integral to remember that any form of impact, small or big, is an impact and does make a difference.

To find your representative, visit the U.S. House of Representatives page: http://www.house.gov/representatives/find

To join the Nasty Woman Gang, visit our Generosity Page: https://www.generosity.com/community-fundraising/saveplannedparenthood

To learn more about the Nasty Woman Gang, visit our Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram: @nastywomangang

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