Colouring Is for Badass Feminists

Crayola Crayons - photo by Bookgrl https://www.flickr.com/photos/bookgrl/860163491/

In case you didn’t know, colouring is the shit. There are truly few artistic pursuits that are both therapeutic and require little-to-no artistic talent to enjoy, and don’t leave you harshing yourself about your skills (or lack thereof, in my case.) And colouring is maybe the finest among them! You know what is even cooler than colouring? Having a kickass colouring book featuring an amazing array of feminists, curated and drawn by none other than the amazing “writer, speaker, internet yeller,” Ijeoma Oluo. Like she says in the intro to her Kickstarter video for Badass Feminist Coloring Book, “It’s a feminist colouring book, YAY!”

Portrait of the colouring book artist by KivaBaby
Portrait of the colouring book artist by KivaBaby

“But Gabby,” you might say, “isn’t colouring for kids? I am an adult. I have a job, a mortgage, and I don’t cry when I drop my favourite bag of chips.” As of 2014, in France, therapeutic colouring books for adults are outselling cookbooks. And Oluo knows what’s what. During a recent interview about the book with HuffPo, she talked about how the adult stress of being a mother, woman of colour, feminist, activist, and artist is what inspired her to create this project:

“I’m a feminist writer and a woman of color, so I spend a lot of time neck-deep in misogyny and racism… To be honest, it can really start to wear you down. I’ve always loved drawing, and picked up drawing again as an adult primarily as stress relief. Nothing is more calming and strengthening to me than focusing on the amazing feminists fighting to make the world a better place. I realized that I could make coloring pages for myself and was very excited. I started sharing them with friends and the response was overwhelmingly positive.”

Heck yeah, it’s overwhelmingly positive! This book is amazing for a lot of reasons. Oluo’s style is perfect for this medium, and her artistic talent is evident in every page of the book. More importantly, this is something EVERY feminist can enjoy. There are people of different races, sizes, identities and abilities. There are sex workers, celebrities, writers, and lesser-known feminists who are “living true feminist badassery,” kicking butt for our rights out of the spotlight (like crimefighters or something)!

jennyyang
And an artistic outlet.

This book truly is badass: in a short 48 hours, it reached its modest $4,000 goal. Now with 19 days to go, its almost hit $9,000! So this isn’t an urgent plea to fund an amazing project. This is an urgent plea to go get something great for yourself or loved one to help with the “being-a-feminist-in-the-21st-century-in-a-time-where-people-shouldn’t-be-racist-sexist-‘phobes-but-still-are-is-so-stressful-but-I’m-here-and-I’m-doing-my-best-to-fight-the-good-fight-but-goddamn” blues. In short, get inspired by these fantastic people and take some time to decompress!

Here’s where to get your copy: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/347021647/badass-feminist-coloring-book.

In the meantime, check out some other great feminist and feminist friendly colouring books:

girlsarenotchicks

Girls Are Not Chicks by Jacinta Bunnell and Julike Novak

avisdreams

Avis Dreams by Makeda Lewis

fatladies

Fat Ladies in Spaaaaace by Theo Nicole Lorenz

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