Nancy Pelosi joined JLo & Shakira at the top of this week’s list of Best Badass Feminist Moves
What a wild week it has been! This week we’ve seen powerful women–including women of color and older women–taking center stage and delivering feminist and human rights messages where white men have traditionally commanded the attention and held control. From the 2020 Superbowl to the football field to Capitol Hill, women we already loved and respected have earned (and re-earned) their status as sheroes. And last night at the State of the Union Address, Nancy Pelosi’s badassery was on full disply again.
A brief history of our favorite Nancy Pelosi moments
Nancy Pelosi has made us proud so many times over the last couple of years. I mean who could forget her signature move: the flip of her sunglasses while donning her red Max Mara coat. She made sure then that we all knew who the Queen of Capitol Hill was. But she didn’t waste anytime solidifying her position. On Jan 5, 2019 she gifted Trump the kind of praise he deserved for his State of the Union Address. Handing him a binky in advance is the only thing missing from her iconic clap back.
But Nancy’s magic did not stop there. On October 16, Pelosi didn’t hesitate to stand up to Trump…literally. On that fateful day, the House and Senate leaders had gone to the White House to meet with Trump to discuss Syria. There are varying stories about what led to the now famous photo, but what happened at the table is pretty damned clear. A lone woman stood up to a table full of men and trump.
Trump mistakenly tried to use the image to paint Nancy Pelosi in a negative light by tweeting out a picture of the moment, and writing “Nervous Nancy’s unhinged meltdown,” but his antics backfired on him, and Pelosi came out looking like a supershero.
Nancy Pelosi Rips Trump’s Words to Pieces
But why has Nancy Pelosi landed on our list of this week’s women who have made the best, badass feminist moves? Well, at last night’s State of the Union Address, Pelosi did her best to play nice with trump and his gang when she offered her hand to trump to shake after he’s finished shaking Mike Pence’s. Unsurprisingly trump rejected her offer.
Did that faze our gal Nancy? Hell no! She announced him later and his “address” began. But Pelosi wasn’t done. When trump concluded his very partisan speech, she stood up behind him for everyone to see and ripped his speech papers in half. As she was leaving she explained her actions by saying, “because it was the courteous thing to do, considering the alternative.” We hear you Nancy!
Since, the address and her actions she has publicly explained that, “The manifesto of mistruths presented in page after page of the address tonight should be a call to action for everyone who expects truth from the President and policies worthy of his office and the American people.”
We agree. And we applaud Nancy Pelosi for being unafraid to stand up where others don’t, clap back when others are too afraid, and to destroy a speech that shouldn’t have been given in the first place!
Jennifer Lopez & Shakira make a stand at the 2020 Super Bowl
While we are still all a flutter over Nancy Pelosi’s badassery, we don’t want to forget the other women who crushed it. As a reminder, are still cheering for Jennifer Lopez and Shakira after their performance at the 2020 Superbowl Halftime Show. From reminding us that Puerto Rico IS America and deserves to be treated as such to putting the human rights atrocities that are being committed in the US (think kids in cages) in the spotlight, these two incredible women used their talent and called upon their own immigrant roots to get their messages across.
While in the aftermath of the show they’ve been slut shamed, body shamed, and suffered a slew of racist comments, we are celebrating their fearlessness. Their act has led to much needed conversations around sexism and racism in our country.
Katie Sowers kicks ass as the first female coach in a Super Bowl
Katie Sowers was the first woman to coach in a Super Bowl. And that’s not all. she was the first openly gay woman to coach in the prestigious game. Growing up Katie loved the game of football. Eventually she played in a women’s tackle league and had a dream of coaching in the NFL. Instead she ended up working as the athletic director for the city of Kansas City and coaching a fifth grade girls’ basketball team.
Scott Pioli, former general manager of the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs’ daughter was on the team. He was impressed with her coaching skills and when he became the assistant general manager of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, he offered her a coaching internship during the preseason as part of the Bill Walsh NFL Coaching Diversity Fellowship. He then kept her on as a scout, and she worked closely with him and the coaching staff through 2016.
Sowers has opened new doors for women who love football and want to play important and powerful roles in the game. We are cheering for her, and the barriers she has broken for us all!