The Women's March is celebrating its historic March on Washington, held one day after President Trump's inauguration in 2017, with an anniversary march that's part commemoration and part a mobilization effort toward voter registration. Women's March 2018 takes to the streets of Las Vegas, Nevada on January 20th with the message "Power to the Polls," and if you missed your chance to craft a snappy sign last year, these unique Women's March 2018 sign ideas are waiting for you. The mission this year, say organizers, is to "channel the energy and activism of the Women's March into tangible strategies and concrete wins in 2018." And if you can't make it to Las Vegas, there are countless local chapters of the Women's March happening in cities across the country.
This year, the Women's March doubles as a kick-off event for a national voter registration tour, which will target swing states to mobilize registration, advocate for policies and candidates who stand in line with the stated values of the Women's March, and work toward getting more women and progressive candidates on the ballot and in office. To that end, organizers behind the Women's March held the Women's Convention this past October in Detroit, MI, to prep strategies going into the 2018 midterm elections. "Power to the Polls" was borne of this gathering.
Last year's Women's March also suffered a ton of criticism, because no resistance is perfectly crafted, which hopefully means that this year's group of protestors will have gleaned a lesson or two about gender essentialism, problematically quoting racist suffragettes, and the accessibility issues facing women who can't necessarily show up to march. For example, radically reclaiming ownership of your body is a great and powerful political act, but an overload of pussy-centric signs further marginalize people of non-cisgender experience, and unwittingly drop them from the conversation. Hillary Clinton quotes and Ruth Bader Ginsberg doodles are amazing, but there are scores of activists who aren't white and have been doing the same work for decades, only receiving a fraction of the credit. How can we recenter them in this narrative, given that they've built so many of the grassroots organizing frameworks now used by the Women's March? Here are some signs that stand in support of women and other marginalized genders, and a solid number of ways to center the experiences, voices, and identities frequently left out of the mix.
Signs For Kids
If You're Into Mixed Media Protesting
The Meme-Based
The Blunt
Take Accountability
For The Second-Wavers
A Punny Option
Be Inclusive
For Occult Nerds
A Multi-Lingual Option
Try A Quote By A Non-White Person
Childcare Is A Feminist Issue, Too
Or Just Shut It All Down
Of course, what matters way more than the content of your signs is that you actively participate by protecting, preserving, and amplifying voices of folks who are less powerful than you are and prioritize your own self-care (even if that means it's healthier for you not to participate in person). For all its issues last year — and there were many — the Women's March enjoyed an overwhelming show of global support and many women reported feeling heart-warmed, morale-boosted, energized, and motivated from the solidarity of collective organizing. This year probably won't be perfect either, but learning from past mistakes and growing toward a more compassionate, inclusive, and progressive world has always been a worthier goal than perfection. Humanity is complex and progress isn't simple. If your feminism is challenging even for you, then you're probably doing it right.
