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I'm youth activist Naomi Wadler.
Last year, I gave a speech at the March
for Our Lives rally in Washington, DC.
It is my privilege to be here today.
[CHEERING]
Since then, I've been on a mission to change the world one
conversation at a time.
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I sat down with Jameela Jamil and was blown away
by her courage to speak out.
As a young activist, she is definitely
somebody I aspire to be like.
Is it you?
Yes.
Is it you?
Hi.
Hello.
I'm such a big fan.
I read that you were bullied when you were younger,
and I wanted to know how you've grown
to overcome those challenges.
I was very, very badly bullied because I was not thin enough.
I was not light skinned enough.
And I didn't have any money.
And so I didn't really have any friends until I was about 19.
I was very, very lonely.
It's unbelievable how little children
are educated about the damage that bullying does
and how one statement can go on to form a person's
entire opinion of themselves for the rest of their lives
because it means so much when you're young.
But truly, the thing I've learned--
it's not about you.
It's about them.
You are such a success story.
Everything about you resonates with me.
This still happens to me now.
I still have women treat me like this sometimes.
And I've realized-- and it's taken me a long time
to realize-- that they're afraid of me.
Other girls are afraid of you.
It scares women when they see another woman sometimes-- not
all women.
It scares some people when they see
someone else of any gender being bold and outspoken because it
makes them feel bad about their own lack of freedom
and being able to do that same thing.
Yes.
So take it as a compliment, which is what I do.
I will.
I think if they have a problem with you,
you're doing something right.
Tell me about the 'I Weigh' movement.
What made you want to start this amazing community?
So I got Instagram and pressed on that evil little button
called explore.
And when I did, it opened me up to this world
of what it is that social media thinks
I should be looking at as a woman, which is thin,
Photoshopped supermodels, weight loss supplements, and pictures
of very successful female celebrities
with numbers written across their bodies.
So I assumed from far away that those numbers would be how much
money they'd earned, but it wasn't.
It was how much they weighed.
I was furious when I saw this, so I
wrote a post saying what I weigh, how I weigh myself now,
which is in my achievements, my attributes,
the contributions I've made society,
my bingo wings, which is the bit of fat
that I have that hangs off the back of my arm that I love.
I love it very much.
It creates a nice breeze when I'm feeling hot.
I put it out to the world just as a statement.
I didn't mean to start anything.
And it struck a chord.
And now, we have almost half a million followers,
all real people who send in thousands of posts
a week telling us what they weigh.
It's just so great to hear somebody
who I look up to speak so well.
The reason more women don't speak out-- we're
fear mongered about being seen as
unlikable or difficult or problematic or annoying.
Annoying is a word that gets used to silence women.
And so I think it's just very important
to not listen to that because that's just misogyny
and sexism.
The people who matter will like you.
And the people who don't like you don't matter.
Wow.
That was great.
On those days where I feel rubbish about myself,
I genuinely do have to write down
a list of everything I am that is
impressive and worthy of being in this world.
I make sure that I continue to return
to my list of what makes me an important person to the people
that I love.
Just because people who are advertising to you
don't care about your life, you need to.
You have to take back that power and that respect.
Me and my mom, we were just talking
about how I often don't feel that good about my body
and about myself in general.
That's so infuriating that you have
to be made to feel bad about the way that you look.
And aside from the way that you look,
you are such an impressive, important human being.
You are doing things that people 20 years older
than you, 30 years, 40 years older than you
don't have the guts to do.
It's ridiculous that you feel bad
about anything about yourself, least
of all your wonderful face and body.
Every time that you feel content with yourself
and you feel powerful and you feel
like you are good just as you are,
that is an act of feminist resistance.
And so I implore you to do that.
You are amazing, and what you're saying is amazing.
And it feels so good having somebody telling me
all of this.
Thank you.
I just wanted to give her a hug.
[INAUDIBLE] and I so know how you feel, and it's so rubbish.
But it will only make you stronger.
I loved talking to Jameela because she
inspired me to love myself.
I'm not all the way there, but with taking her words
and thinking about them more, I'm sure I can get there.
Time to recognize someone who exemplifies Cheerios'
generation good mission.
Makenzie is a 9-year-old and recently started a little free
pantry in her neighborhood that is open 24/7 to anyone
who needs it.
The pantry has been used over 1,000 times.
We salute you, Makenzie.
Thanks for chatting.
Let's keep the conversation going.
Time's up, which sprouted from such a terrible topic, really
brought us all together.
It made us realize that there were other women who were
going through similar things.
Yes.
When we recognize the sisterhood,
we are so much more effective.
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