Oh hey everybody. Since the year is coming to a close I wanted to take a moment to shout
out [horn sound] some of the women who really helped shape 2015 and also shout out this
inflatable beard which has already paid for itself. Look how easy it is to look wise now.
Hmmmmm.
One woman who certainly had the biggest year of her life was Caitlyn Jenner. Snaps for
coming out as transgender and starting a lot of conversation. Some trans activists have
been concerned that she isn't necessarily representing transgender identity in the most
helpful way by sometimes making it very much focused on the glitz and the glam rather than
what's going on on the inside. Nonetheless you got to give Caitlyn snaps because she
was, I mean really one of the most important figures of 2015. Another athletic superstar
who had an incredible history-making year is Serena Williams. She won 4 Grand Slam tournaments
in a row. She also just became the very first African-American woman named Sports Illustrated's
sports person of the year. I wanted to highlight some of her speech in accepting that award.
'I've had people look past me because [of] the color of my skin, I've had people overlook
me because I was a women, I've had critics say I [would] never win another Grand Slam
when I was only at number seven - and here I stand today with 21 Grand Slam titles and
I'm still going.' An amateur athlete that I want to give snaps to is MIA drummer and
all around badass Kiran Gandhi. Gandi ran the London Marathon while she was on her period
and did not use a tampon. It started this whole viral conversation about women's bodies.
It was great to see all of this period pride. The next lady on the list is Full-Stack engineer
Isis Anchalee who started the viral hashtag 'I look like an engineer'. The company she
worked for used her in an ad campaign. So many just gross comments about how the ad
couldn't possibly be real. Someone that hot could not be a Full-Stack engineer. This hashtag
was kind of the culmination of this experience but it went viral. Women posting photos of
themselves doing cool things or also just taking random selfies, just being like, 'hey
this is my face and this is what an engineer looks like, essentially saying that engineers
can be diverse. Celebrity shout out to Jennifer Lawrence who started a massive conversation
about the gender wage gap in a hilarious and infuriating Lenny Letter essay in which she
just like basically owned her own poor negotiation skills because she didn't want to be seen
as less likable for asking for more money and then was like I am over this. All the
while acknowledging that when she talks about a gender wage gap we are talking in millions
of dollars and that seems completely ridiculous. Those kinds of conversations had so frankly
by people that everyone is paying attention to does have a trickle-down effect. Another
one of the most important women in Hollywood this year was director Ava Duvernay whose
film 'Selma' was essentially snubbed by the Oscars but that did not stop her from raising
so many important conversations about the need for not only more women behind the camera
but particularly women of color behind the camera. To the point Matel created what was
going to be a limited edition Barbie of her but there was so much public excitement over
it they did a general run and it sold out in like 17 seconds. Also have to give a huge
2015 lady shout out to Cecil Richards who's president of Planned Parenthood who had what
could have been the like the worst year ever because of the lies and doctored footage,
casting them as this evil organization. A) like, abortion is an important healthcare
service, not to mention all of the other important healthcare services like pap smears and mammograms
and STD tests that comprise a majority of Planned Parenthood's business. As the president
of Planned Parenthood Cecil Richards is the face of all of this and had to sit through
over 5 hours of a Congressional hearing where she was continually interrupted by just blatantly
misogynistic Congressman who were trying to challenge the validity of the work that Planned
Parenthood does. One of the more controversial women who definitely shaped 2015 especially
on college campuses is Emma Sulkowicz whose 'Carry that Weight' performance art piece
was also a protest against Columbia University not expelling the guy she alleges sexually
assaulted her in her dorm room, carrying around the mattress where the alleged assault took
place all the way to graduation. As with pretty much anytime a woman alleges sexual assault
she attracted just as many haters as she has supporters but I cannot think of a more visually
arresting example of the activism around campus sexual assault that has really been taking
place across the country especially this year. Last but certainly not least, all, all of
the snaps to Alicia Garza, Parisse Cullors and Opal Tometi who founded Black Lives Matter
and even though it did not start in 2015 it has been such a powerful movement that it
continues to shape our world and will continue shaping I'm sure 2016 as well, such as at
the University of Missouri. Those protests partially spurred by the hunger strike of
a dude named Jonathan Butler who was when he was being interviewed also gave shout outs
to three queer black women who took notes essentially from the black lives matter movement
and sort of re-purposed it for the University of Missouri protests that eventually got the
president of the university to step down. I think that the movement is pretty unstoppable
at this point and has sparked conversations long overdue in the United States about race
and privilege and identity. It feels good to look back on the year amid a lot of awful
things that did happen and see some beacons. This is by no means a comprehensive list of
all of the rad ladies doing rad things that helped shape 2015 so if I missed folks, let
me know in the comments. Here's to 2015 and here's to 2016 ladies killing it too.