FEMINIST FRIDAY: Tackling Body Shaming In India & Accessories Brand Created By Mexican Artisans

Welcome to another edition of Feminist Friday, our weekly wrap up where we share a handful of videos we are loving right now. It’s also our way of sharing a wider definition of what feminism looks like in the world in a bid to dismantle many of the negative myths about the movement. We’re always on the lookout for great videos to share so if you have a project or video you want us to help you promote, be sure to get in touch and share your links!

This week we’re celebrating sisterhood among young women, the work of artisans in India and Mexico, and tackling body shaming narratives. Our first video is from an apparel line called Garage Clothing based out of Canada. They have launched a campaign called #garagecollective which is all about girls coming together to take a stand by choosing collaboration over competition.

“Girls who stick together are stronger together,” says the website. This is the kind of empowering sisterhood message we had when we were growing up, so kudos to the creators of this campaign allowing a generation of young women to see videos like this at a young age.

To help further spread the campaign message, Garage Clothing enlisted 5 popular female Youtubers, all aged 14-20, to take part in a series of 7 videos altogether, discussing a range of topics connected to the importance of collaborating vs competing as teen girls. Check out the first video:

The second video we wanted to feature in this week’s Feminist Friday roundup comes from an accessories line called Catrinka, founded by Brooklyn, NY, mom Megan Reilly Cayten. A feature on the brand in Glamour magazine explains that the label’s explicit mission is to empower women and girls.

We live in a time in our culture where there is far more awareness of what goes into creating a brand, and more knowledge about the ethical (or lackthereof) practices around a product. As Glamour writer Shay Maunz explains, female empowerment and a transparency about ethical practices are baked into every aspect of Catrinka.

“Catrinka partners with women artisans in Mexico and India to make gorgeous traditional textiles that are used in modern bags and accessories. The products are sold by a network of female brand ambassadors who can make some extra income for themselves while also supporting a great mission, and part of the proceeds are used to fund the Catrinka Girls Project, a life-skills mentorship class for young Mayan girls living in Guatemala,” she writes.

Founder Megan has a background in international development, working on projects to build power plants, remodel airports, finance wastewater facilities, so she is well aware of the kind of life girls and women in developing countries like Guatemala and India face.

Catrinka was founded in 2013, and by the end of that first year, the brand had created more than 1,500 days of work for women, and more than 47,000 days of education for girls. What had initially started as side project for Megan while she was raising children had turned into a powerful way to uplift the lives of less fortunate women and girls across the world.

“To date, Catrinka has provided work for more than 250 women in 16 countries, and supported 440 girls in five countries. Its work centers around indigenous Mayan women in Central America, a group that has been discriminated against for centuries,” writes Shay Maunz. We’re all about supporting brands and collections that are built on a culture of empowering women and girls. Learn more about Catrinka in the video below:

Our final video this week contains a large dose of body positivity. It comes from Vitamin Stree, an Indian-based Youtube channel by content studio Supari Studios. They have recently released a campaign video called ‘Fit is not a body type’, which is designed to combat body shaming in Indian culture, according to an interview with Tara Kapur, head of original content (non-fiction) at Supari Studios on TheDrum.com.

To help the message spread far and wide, they created a music video similar in style to the UK-based ‘This Girl Can’ video, showcasing 46 athletes and fitness enthusiasts engaging in various athletic and sporting activities.

“The primary objective of this video is first and foremost to create a fitness anthem for anyone who has struggled with body issues and trolls. We also wanted to drive some attention to Vitamin Stree as a whole, and the type of content we create, ‘Fit is not a body type’, is a video around fitness and body image, but we also create a lot of content pertaining to urban Indian women,” explained Tara.

She also talked about how social media has exacerbated the problem, where trolls feel they have a license to shame anyone who posts about their body or fitness regime online. While this is not just an Indian problem, the video is geared toward an Indian audience but is inspiring to anyone who has felt the sting of body shaming at some point.

“We have all struggled with body image issues at some point in our lives, and the illusion of what makes a “perfect body” is usually the reason for that. ‘Fit is Not A Body Type’ is a celebration of active women everywhere, irrespective of their age, shape or body size,” says a description of the video.