Every week here on Girlfriend’s Meet we have woman crush Wednesday. In the past we’ve used a huge number of A list celebrities who are lesbians and bisexuals themselves or who have been huge supporters in the gay community. This week we are going to focus on somebody a little less well known but who definitely deserves to be a woman crush.
Petra Collins is a 21 year old photographer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Although upon first Google she is known for some societal controversy, a la, an alternative fashion art T-Shirt design and a debacle on Instagram’s deviating terms and conditions when it comes to the female body. She is a strong leader for the modern day women’s right movement. I have been listening to her podcasts with Karley Sciortino, author of Slutever blog (and another woman crush) and learning that Petra is so much more than her top google search altercations. Though you definitely should not toss that work away. Google it immediately after reading this and read her essay titled Censorship and the Female Body. It’s literally the only essay on her website, it won’t be hard to find and you won’t have to write a 10 page paper with thesis upon finishing it. Do it because you want to not because you have to.
I want to bring a new perspective on why she is my woman crush. Her activism in the fight for feminism is crush worthy and she’s quite clearly gorgeous but there is so much more to the absolutely adorable Petra Collins.
The most endearing aspect of Collins is her ability to balance the stigmatized feminism role with a down to her Earth teenage attitude. She offers her work and spirit in a comforting, non radical way and backs up her perspective with views established in knowledge and valid academic understanding (references to a history of leaders in the female movement and references to modern day viral videos, pop culture and readings that show the relevancy of this cause).
A lot of Collins artwork is focused on teenage girls growing up in a society that feeds them what their image should be. She is a curator for art shows carefully selecting series of art pertaining to her goal of loosening societies clutch and influence on adolescents. She however, is never condescending in her approach. She is bubbly, lighthearted. She tweets, she has a cellphone, she can talk about beauty, she obviously has an Instagram (har, har) and she understands the artistry in the fashion industry without demeaning it getting rid of the stigmatized idea that feminists hate fashion magazines. It’s never okay to break someone else down to make your point and she understands this, although she lets her hair go natural and doesn’t shave you will never hear her saying that every girl should do this. She is keen on the idea of making choices based on your idea of beauty and not what you have been fed. Exercising opinions in healthfulness over artificial pulchritudinous.
She also works on a blog called Rookie Mag with fashion and feminist blogger Tavi Gevinson. Covering all topics that young teenagers needing advice on the pains of growing up can look to.
Lastly, she is my woman crush because of her high demand on self love. She is not pompous and never claims that she’s perfect or boasts that her self esteem is always 100% but she presents it in a way that you shouldn’t be afraid to love yourself and if your self esteem is always at 100% why should society knock you down for it.
Petra Collins is a perfect transition into understanding what goes on in our society to women, young adults and anyone that doesn’t fit the mold. You don’t have to change the way you act, dress or what you do but if you want to know more on the topics that Collins fights for, take a look at her blog. It’s a great stepping stone into realizing what goes on in the world around us, there may be some things that she has picked up on and you haven’t and that’s why she’s my woman crush.
