the evolution of the feminist symbol by shaneen tyrese
hey sarah! hey ginnny! what are you reading?
its a book about the feminist symbol.
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oh, i’ve seen that before. i thought it was a sign of fertility or something.
it kinda is, but its so much more.
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oh goodness, i feel like a history lesson is coming.
you know me so well!
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its symbol actually began around the 11th century, but it looked like this...
oh...really?
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and later the cross was added to form the christian cross in the 12th century to look like this...
it originates from the initial letter of the ancient greek name (phosphoros) of the planet and was adopted later as an astrological symbol for the planet venus. venus represented fertility. 7
when did the fist come in? i've seen this sign with different types of fist on posters, marches and online.
well, when it began is unclear but it's documented that in the early 20th century, a raised fist was seen in protest all around the world. here, lets take a look...
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in 1912, A large raised fist rising from a crowd of striking workers was used to promote a mass strike in budapest.
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in 1917, a raised right fist was used in a cartoon by the industrial workers of the world (iww).
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the graphic symbol was made popular in 1948 by a print shop in mexico called taller de grรกfica popular and they used it to advance revolutionary social causes. the female icon
it also spread throughout the united states in the 1960s when it was used by students for a democratic society and the black power movement. 15
by the 1970s, a raised right fist icon is incorporated within the venus symbol prominently as a feminist symbol as it was seen on the covers of two major books by feminist advocate robin morgan, sisterhood is powerful and sisterhood is forever.
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is the symbol still the same today?
well despite a few color variations, it is.
wow, i didn’t have any idea about any of this. i wonder where feminism and the symbol will be in 10 years? or 100 years? the female icon
hopefully women wont be still fighting for equality then. hopefully its just a powerful story in history about the evolution of human rights.
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i found a few websites where we can get some more information. they are iwda.org.au and awid.org.
great, lets check them out.
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already typing it up.
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the end!
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thanks for learning with me!
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created and illustrated by shaneen tyrese, 2020
informational credits:
womanatthecenter.org cfr.org historyextra.com artsandculture.google.com https://www.loc.gov/collections
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