1. Amy Taylor
Amy Taylor is the lead singer of punk band Amyl and the Sniffers. I first discovered Amyl and the Sniffers at Glastonbury Festival in 2022. Amy was dressed like a cave woman, but her cloth was shiny and gold with a wild, bleach blonde, mullet to match. I was immediately obsessed. Her energy seems unextinguishable on and off stage, she exudes a vibrant love of life that I can only aspire to harness a fraction of. Her outfits are always to die for and the empowerment and don't-give-a-fuck attitude they showcase fires something in my belly. She constantly advocates for women, marginalised groups, and calls out cunts when they're being cunts. From Amy I learn to be confident in my own skin, to be bold and brave with my beliefs, and to be angry. So often women are conditioned out of their anger and it is so refreshing to see a woman channel and champion theirs.
2. Sara Ahmed
Just before Christmas I finished reading Sara Ahmed's
The Feminist Killjoy Handbook. I felt my brain shifting and developing as read through Ahmed's proclamations and affirmations. I'd felt a bit at a lost with my feminism at the time, as if it had become a job rather than a belief and a passion. This handbook helped to reignite that flame and I carried it's pearls of wisdom with me into the new year. The most notable quotation I have carried with me thus far is:
“What you are told you need to do to progress further or faster in a system reproduces that system.”
As a young woman entering the world of work, the comedy industry, and such like, it feels vital to have this in my back pocket, for it to be my forever mantra. I try to share it with as many of my female peers as possible, so I hope that it says something to you too.
3. Laura Bates
Where Laura Bates goes, I follow.
I adore and admire pretty much everything Laura Bates has done and is doing for women. From her Everyday Sexism website, to her books and school workshops, I think that Bates is doing everything in her power to challenge and change the system. I have learnt so much from her words, from watching her interactions on the news, and regularly checking in with her social media updates. I was lucky enough to interview Bates about her novel Sisters of Sword and Shadow and it was an immense privilege. When I discovered Bates' work in university, specifically Men Who Hate Women it quite literally changed my life overnight, I transformed from passive to active and I have tried every day since to be a committed intersectional feminist. Bates' work has influenced every faction of my life from my own writing and performance, to my stand-up comedy, and even my every day manner, in fact it has influenced that more than anything - I would not be the woman I am today without Laura Bates.
4. Lee Holloway
I am a broken record, but I simply must shout about Lee Holloway whenever I get the chance. I watched
Secretary (2002) and I fear it is the film that has the greatest singular impact on me and that is because of Maggie Gyllenhaal's portrayal of Lee Holloway. I watched
Secretary around two years ago now and I have shared that timeline with going on a mental health journey. I have watched
Secretary a LOT since then, but it's because Lee has held my hand during this period of self-discovery. I didn't realise how unwell I was, I hadn't taken into consideration how little I knew myself and what little control I had over my own life. Lee helped me to realise that. She helped me to realise that it was time to put myself first and to chase after what
I wanted. And I'm not saying I want to be spanked over a desk and all my problems would be fixed (okay, it might help a little), but what I am saying is I have turned to this film as comforting blanket as I asserted control in my own life for the first time, to remind myself that if I put myself first, happiness will follow. As I said in a comedy set I wrote about
Secretary, to be a woman in this world is hard enough, but to be one who loves herself and is her truest self without boundaries is truly astonishing - watching Lee become that woman touched me so deeply I couldn't not honour her on this day.
5. The Female and NB Comics of Fight Club
Last year my best friend and I set up Fight Club, a monthly meet-up for female and non-binary comics to collect and chat about their experiences in the comedy industry in the hopes that we could be a support group for one another and begin to see a change in the male-dominated and often unsafe industry we worked in. I always knew it would be fun and some people would show up, but I never knew I'd make so many wonderful, funny, talented friends. Friends who empower and challenge me and make me a better person. I feel energised, ignited and emboldened when I am with these wonderful individuals and hope they feel it too,
and I truly believe that the circuit will be a better place with us cutesy agents of terror in it.
6. Charlotte Cropper
Growing up I idolised many friendships on television and film, I hoped one day that I would be part of a group or a duo that would leave a mark on society, it was in many ways subconsciously perhaps my biggest dream. So subconscious, in fact, that now I am living it I often forget just how incredible it is that I have found that person. You may see Charlotte and I as just two girls terrorizing the North West comedy scene, and we are and I wouldn't have it any other way - but first and foremost Charlotte Cropper is my best friend. Not only have I got the friendship I idolised, but through being friends with someone like Charlotte I learnt the beauty and power of female friendship and I threw out the internalised-misogynistic belief that being friends with women was 'harder'. The powers that be don't want us to know how fulfilling and empowering female friendship is, because it changes lives and will change society. I am a better person for being friends with Charlotte Cropper, and I laugh fucking loads.
7. My Mum
Bit too personal for a public blog really, but my mum is a fucking legend and an absolute powerhouse and I love her to bloody pieces. If I am even a tiny bit like my mum, what a total fucking win.
~~~
Halfway through writing this, my housemate came home and we sat in the sunshine in our garden and had a massive heart to heart. I can not stress to you how important it is for women to talk to one another openly and honestly, for us to laugh together, to cry together, and be there for one another. If you do nothing else this International Women's Day, just call up your best gal pal and tell her you love her and that she's doing great, because I'm sure she'll assure you that you're doing the same - because you are.❤
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