Activism can be defined as acting to be heard and create a change in a social justice matter. Everyone who has a voice and an issue they really care about can be an activist. Activism can be done in multiple ways, one of them is talking to family members, friends, colleagues, etc, about the issues that matter to us. Explain to them more about what is going on, try to educate them about the matter, and tell them why is it important to act. We can also give film recommendations, books about the history of the topic that explain better the context, or any helpful web pages and articles. Nowadays, most of us have access to the internet and have social media accounts, another way to be an activist it’s sharing content about the topic we care about on social media platforms. It can go from creating entertaining tiktoks with accurate information about the matter or sharing about your personal experience, to retweeting a tweet about an opinion about the topic you care about. There are millions of users on social media platforms, if you share about an issue that you deeply care about, I’m sure that someone else will feel identified and is interested too. Movements like Black Lives Matter and Me Too became viral and many people who felt identified got involved in the cause, and many allies shared information and spoke up as well. Another way to become an activist is by joining an existing organization. Becoming involved with an existing organization allows meeting other like-minded people and being part of any protests or activities they organize to actively fight for the cause. You can also create your own organization by finding other committed activists for the same cause. Activism can be done in many ways, we just have to speak up and be hopeful that a change will be done.

The film I decided to watch is “Girls Connected”. This film is about five activist girls from underdeveloped countries all around the world. Michelle, Josi, Ghazal, Latifa, and Ayesha, were constantly inspiring their communities to join them to combat social injustices that affect women in those countries. These issues are teen pregnancy, child marriage, and the lack of women in STEM. Also, one girl was destroying gender stereotypes since she was the first girl on her school soccer team, she proved to her community that a woman is capable of doing anything a man does. Another girl who is a champion in a self-defense sport was taking advantage of her abilities and teaching women of her community self-defense techniques to protect themselves against abusive men. Each one of these girls is an activist since they are fighting for their rights and standing up against injustice, I think they are an inspiration and if they keep fighting, they will see a positive change.

I didn’t consider myself an activist since before this week’s reading I mainly had the idea that an activist had to be part of an organization, be very active in it, and constantly do stuff to support their cause. Now, I guess that I am an activist in a way because I speak up about some issues that matter to me and share information on my social media. For example, back in 2019, there was an LBGTQ parade in my origin country, Guatemala, and someone brought a Guatemalan flag but with the colors of the LGBTQ flag colors. People were extremely upset about that because they thought it was disrespectful. On Facebook, I saw a lot of posts of conservative people complaining, and in Guatemala, that’s the majority of people. I got so tired of them and started arguing with them and sharing posts about why that flag was not disrespectful to the country. Also, I shared a lot of posts supporting my argument.

Another example is when on new year’s day, we were watching a music video with my family and my cousin made a comment discriminating against an artist that was crossdressing. My cousin was saying that men shouldn’t be dressing as women and made other dumb comments. I told him that clothes and make-up do not have a gender and everyone should dress how they like. I also told him that his masculinity is very fragile, and a man who is sure of who he is doesn’t rely on his appearance.

The last example is that I always talk with my mom and friends about LGBTQ+ and women issues, share posts on Instagram, and retweet on Twitter. Yesterday a law that criminalizes abortion, teaching sex education, and considers nontraditional families, not families at all was approved in Guatemala. Seeing all of this makes me very upset and sad, I feel plenty of impotence and so do other Guatemalan women and LGBTQ+ people. I can’t do a lot about it, but I share information on Instagram about the law and how it disenfranchises Guatemalans, I share my opinions about it, and I discussed it with my mother and some friends. Even though there is not so much I can do, I try my best to share my thoughts and create awareness, and I think that is activism.