Bay Area Teen Reflects on Women's March One Year Later

The following is a personal essay from Amanda Weissman who attended the Women's March on Washington in 2017.

This Saturday, people in San Francisco and Las Vegas will be gathering in the streets to assert their right to be regarded as equals to men. Even though I’m only 14, today's rally will bring back one of my most treasured memories. Nearly a year ago today, women all across the United States congregated in the streets to march.

Washington D.C. hosted the main march, which was attended by thousands of people the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration. According to The Washington Post, last year’s rally was probably the largest single-day demonstration in our country’s history with the 1970 Vietnam War Moratorium as its only potential competitor. Furthermore, the Women’s March not only took place in the U.S. but inspired women worldwide to rally as well.

My mother and I flew from our beloved foggy city of San Francisco to Washington D.C. to demonstrate during that same weekend. While I was there, I wrote two articles for KQED, both talking about the importance of speaking out for what we believe in. Last year’s march left me in utter awe. I had never been to a rally and being in such a crowd was something I had only dreamt of. I believe it was important for me, at age 13, to know that not only the people in my daily life are feminists but that feminism can be found all across my country. It starts from my city of San Francisco all the way to Washington D.C.

When Donald Trump was elected, I was shocked because I had listened to all the accusations against him heap up. Later, when we found out about the travel ban, my mother instantly drove to the airport to protest. I was one of the hundreds of people who spelled out the word resist on Ocean Beach in February, accompanied by my parents and a close friend. Over the summer I wrote two slam-poems that discuss my relationship with feminist issues. Through these two poems, I’ve been able to explore my definition of feminine which, for a while now, has been difficult for me since I feel a constant desire to decimate gender roles. The second poem talks about conflict over what society expects women to look like. In addition, I’ve been reading the news and doing my best to stay informed.

My opinions on gender have changed since last year. I now understand that gender and sex are not the same thing. I came to terms with the latter by realizing that sex is specifically biological and gender is not. What I mean by this is, if we were to remove sex from the equation, gender would have nothing stable to support it. One can slip along the spectrum of gender with fluidity, whereas sex can only be physically changed through long processes.

This Saturday, people in San Francisco and Las Vegas will be gathering to march and I am thrilled to participate in my hometown. My mother, father, some of their friends and I are going together and I’m so happy to be taking to the streets again with hundreds of other Californians. Last year’s event was spectacular and I am especially glad about this one because I’ll be with both of my parents. Above all, I will carry within me my pride in being a young woman.