Thank You Thursdays: My Girls

As sparks flew this week about intergenerational feminism and the current election circus, there was one thing that continually buoyed me: my girls. I got emails from Michelle at Lehigh and Debbie at Girl with Pen, I got calls and texts from my feministing co-editors and feminist friends offline, and, of course, Jessica’s awesome post and Ann’s great editing officially allowed me to feel “in cahoots” (best word ever?).
No matter what intergenerational misunderstandings may arise, it is so heartening to know that women my age stand in solidarity. We respect our elders, but god damn it’s awesome that we also support, lift up, and value one another. I think we’re getting better each generation at perfecting the psychology of abundance–the idea that one of us having success doesn’t preclude anyone else’s, and that in fact, the more young women’s voices we get into the public debate and into positions of influence and power, the more all of us will be heard.
I know there are complexities within our generation of feminists–one can just look at recent blogosphere controversies for evidence of that–but I think it’s important that we also recognize how much progress we have made in forming supportive friendships across class, racial, and other sorts of divides. We are down for the cause, but even more beautiful and radical, I think we do a pretty powerful job of being down for one another.