Posted on 01/01/2017 12:56:57 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
Almost every day for the past few weeks Celia McCarthy has sat down to knit a pink hat. To be specific, a pink hat with ears, colloquially known as a “pussy hat.”
McCarthy has knit 12 pink hats so far, but only one is for her. The rest she plans to send to Washington D.C. where they will adorn the heads of some of the hundreds of thousands of women who are expected to march on Jan. 21, the day after Donald Trump is inaugurated as the nation’s 45th president.
McCarthy is not alone. Thousands of women around the United States (and a few from Thailand and Australia) are busy knitting pink hats for the Washington D.C. march. Some women are knitting the hats in the privacy of their own homes. Some have launched knitting circles. Others are going to yarn stores to knit with strangers with a common vision.
The idea, launched by two women in Los Angeles and the owner of their local yarn store, for the Pussyhat Project is a big “F … you” of sorts to Trump and the values he espouses. They are hoping that the 200,000 marchers all wear the pink hats and send a strong message of resistance.
“If everyone at the march wears a pink hat, the crowd will be a sea of pink, showing that we stand together, united,” the website of the Pussy Hat Project reads. “Pink is considered a very female color representing caring, compassion, and love – all qualities that have been derided as weak but are actually STRONG. Wearing pink together is a powerful statement that we are unapologetically feminine and we unapologetically stand for women’s rights."
The shape of the hat, with its “pussy” cat ears, is also a play on the statement Trump made while filming an episode of Hollywood Access with its host Billy Bush. Trump and Bush were riding on a bus and did not realize they were being recorded. They started talking openly about groping and kissing women. Trump bragged that since he was a star he could do whatever he wanted to women. He could even “grab them by the pussy.” Bush was fired for his comments.
The reference to pussy was just one of many inappropriate comments Trump has made about women. During one of the three presidential debates, Trump referred to his opponent, Hillary Clinton, as a “nasty woman.” Since then, many women have embraced those words and used them to describe themselves as a way to refute Trump’s sexism.
“It’s wonderful to see younger women embrace the term pussy, the color pink, and the power of the handmade and take all of those pejorative terms that have been used to put us in our place and use them to form some sort of communal power,” said McCarthy, who lives in Berkeley and is the co-owner of Piedmont Yarn in Oakland.
The Pussyhat Project’s genesis came a few days after the election. Krista Suh, 29, a screenwriter who lives in Los Angeles, had campaigned for Clinton in Ohio. She and a friend, Jayna Zweiman, 38, an architect, were devastated by Clinton’s unexpected loss and were spending time at their local yarn store, The Little Knittery, to knit and process the impact of Trump’s election.
Suh had decided to attend the Jan. 21 march and realized that it would be cold. She thought about making a hat, and then, in discussions with Zweiman, realized that having women all wear the same hat could be a powerful statement. Kat Coyle, the owner of the store and the two women’s knitting mentor, came up with a design simple enough for beginners. Suh and Zweiman got up the website the day before Thanksgiving and began advertising the project on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter with the hashtag #pussyhat.
Since then thousands of women have posted pictures of the hats they have knit. While it is impossible to know exactly how many people are participating in the project, Suh thinks there are between 30,000 to 100,000 pussy hats already made. Around 60,000 people have looked at that pattern posted on the website, with more looking at the website. There have been thousands of tweets and more than 2,000 Instagram photos. One woman wrote on Instagram about a 99-year-old who was knitting hats for marchers. A Pennsylvania woman has made close to 100 pussy hats and is selling them for $15 on Etsy.
“We are definitely making a dent,” said Zweiman. “We know we have thousands and thousands but we don’t know how many thousands.”
Your pink hat likely doesn’t look anything like the hats these NAGs are knitting/wearing.
Too bad these gals didn’t protest 0’s support for muzzie countries that allow abuse and discrimination of women, with their ridiculous hats.
The idea, launched by two women in Los Angeles...
sigh
Yes!!!! More symbolism. Just what this country and your cause needs, ladies. Go for it.
It is in incomprehensible.
Hey gals, make sure you knit them for your cats, too!
The map, at the link, shows where all of these, er, knitters are in the US.
Concentrated mostly in liberal bastions. Shocked....not!
Ha anyone started a petition yet to expel California from the union?
Not so fast, buster. The left succeeded in defeating the Soviet Union by floating hundreds of lit candles down the Mississippi River. That had to leave a mark.
The more they show their dumbasses and peabrains, the more they don’t get anywhere.
A bunch of loony broads in Berzerkely marching around in pussy hats-sounds like they need to a hobby-they’ve got too much time on their hands-but it is Berzerkely after all...
I guess a little hat with ears isn’t offensive as the actual vagina costumes women war at some event years ago. Can’t remember what that was all about.
LOL!! Maybe we need a counter protest...with Trump supporting women wearing bunny ears, or cashmere beanies with fur poms. That would drive the lib NAGs crazy.
“Pink” and “pussy”- Tribute to Obama?
It is kind of extraordinary - the same people who push things like the recent Deadpool movie, pornography, Fifty Shades of Grey, etc. claim to be horrified by Trump’s remarks. I happen to agree the remarks were quite disgusting and never should be uttered by anyone...but it is quite clear those on the left who promote and celebrate this filth - which is not make believe - the people in those films are actually doing and saying that stuff in order for it to be filmed - are clearly not sincere in claiming to be horrified by it, and it is why fewer and fewer people take them seriously...they never should have been to begin with.
Re: 52, red MAGA hats!
However, they are selling yarn-will probably make a million, which is what Trump is wanting. In fact, they probably voted for Trump...
Right, their supposedly offended by Trump talking dirty but think it is appropriate to have images of genitals out in public. They are not to be taken seriously.
Right, they are supposedly offended by Trump talking dirty but think it is appropriate to have images of genitals out in public. They are not to be taken seriously.
The organizer of this ‘event’ just so happens to own a yarn store in Berkeley. I pass it by every so often. I’m always surprised it’s still open. Rarely see anyone coming in or going out. If she can move a lot of merchandise via this ‘event’ the income may get them back in the black for a while.
Off Topic: Berkeley has mandatory rent control for many residential dwellings. I don’t know if that is also the case for commercial spaces. It’s become very expensive to stay and do lucrative business near Telegraph Ave. One of my favorite Pet Shops left town two years ago.
“...just one of many inappropriate comments Trump has made about women.”
“comments Trump has made about women.”
Yes, but it is comments he has made about PARTICULAR women. The phraseology “comments he has made about women” is inherently deceptive. Also, ALL men have made comments about women, just like ALL women have made comments about men.
I am sure these women knitting pink hats have aroused comments by the menfolk in their lives.
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