By Rachael Nuckles When I imagined my first year of graduate school at Sarah Lawrence College, I pictured myself finishing it out in my apartment in New York, going on my regular coffee date with a friend from the cohort to work on our papers, and citing all of my wonderful findings from the Riot Grrrl Archive at NYU. I packed a bag for a … Continue reading My Mom Made Me Feminist: A Thank You Note of Sorts
By Marian Phillips Marian is a first year student in the Women’s History Program at Sarah Lawrence College. This morning on International Women’s Day, March 8, 2019, I woke up to Lizzo’s “Juice” stuck in my head. Off to a good start, I continued my morning routine while Carly Rae Jepsen, Cherry Glazerr, Rico Nasty, and Dream Wife – amongst others – shuffled and played … Continue reading Revolutionary Women of Music: Nina Simone, Poly Styrene, and Valerie Agnew
By Christopher Hoffman A version of this article has appeared in The Huffington Post. It is in the light of the Pentagon’s lift of the band on women serving in combat that we acknowledge March 21st, 2013 as the seventieth anniversary of the death of Cornelia Fort, the first female pilot to die for the United States military. Besides experiencing the bombing of Pearl Harbor … Continue reading Sarah Lawrence’s Feminist First: Cornelia Fort, ’39, First Female Pilot to Die in Combat
Dear Readers, We are pleased to introduce our Feminist Firsts Issue of Re/visionist, which celebrates women and feminists who were firsts, pioneers, visionaries, and all-around badasses. Of course there are zillions of such individuals, but we have chosen a few that excite us with the hope that you will continue the project of bringing to light these stories as inspiration to all feminists. From millionaires … Continue reading Welcome to the FEMINIST FIRSTS Issue!
John Walker is a Sarah Lawrence graduate who really likes the internet a lot. When I heard that this month’s theme was “Firsts,” my mind immediately jumped to this image. Ah yes, the first staged moon landing. JK, that’s Neil Armstrong, the first person on the moon. Speaking of men on the moon, here’s Britney Spears winning her first “moonman” at the 2008 MTV Video … Continue reading First: A Visual Story
By Simi Johnston Simi Johnston is a student at Sarah Lawrence College who works in mixed media arts and studies gender theory. She grew up in vermont and recently went on birth-control. A week after my 20th birthday, I had my first naked photo taken of me. At the time, I was in Alaska with my family. With thousands of miles separated us from society, … Continue reading A Naked First
Caroline Biggs is a graduate student in Women’s History at Sarah Lawrence College, fashion addict, pop cultural junkie, and girl-about-NYC.
So I want to start by saying I have never really been a “tattoo person.” I quote and marginalize said persons because I always saw those who reveled in permanent body art (and I’m not talking about the occasional small of the back or hip tattoo) as committed to a lifestyle decision: that of being a woman who expresses herself via bodily adornment (that lasts FOREVER mind you). Unlike fashion, which constantly shifts and evolves stylistically, tattoos were more like a piece of statement jewelry—something that doesn’t define the person’s aesthetic but definitely functions as the focal point. And being the fashionista that I am, complete with outfits that are more often than not comparable to that of a costumed figure skater, the last thing I ever needed was to draw more attention to myself.
Then, at 18, after a weekend of heavy drinking and amidst the low-rise jean craze that I fell victim to, I got my first tattoo—a cartoonish flower on the small of my back that did not and will not ever represent anything symbolic other than being 18 and saying I had a tattoo. The entire process took about 4 and a half minutes (all of which I was crying from the pain of the needle) and I left Manhattan, Kansas forever marked with, well, a fuchsia cartoon flower. I was sure that was all of the tattooed symbolism I would ever need.
Re/Visionist 