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Letting Her Speak, An Interview with Emily Pridemore

Writer's picture: Chandler SimpsonChandler Simpson

Are you a woman? Are the people you love women? Then you need to read this. Emily Pridemore, the prestigious poppy flower of Alamo Heights High School, reigns as Co-President of the first ever women empowerment and feminism club at AHHS. The first club ever, for women at Alamo Heights, has now been sincerely founded. As a senior, Emily has been representing GirlUp for two years now and has just recently fallen into the position of President of GirlUp Collison. GirlUp is a feminism campaign founded by the UN, outreaching to women on an international level. In this interview, Emily and I touch base on female oppression, the societal bias of the patriarchy and just the overwhelment we have felt ourselves as women. The biggest misconception about feminism is the idea that women are better than men. Feminism is the belief that women are equal to men. Much like how a black man is equal to a white man, or a gay man in equal to a straight, except with women. To start off the interview, I wanted to dive deep into Emily’s roots with feminism.


C: When did you first associate yourself with feminism?

E: Growing up I always had a very liberal mindset in contrast to my conservative family. Just by hearing the way my relatives degraded women made me feel uncomfortable and growing up in such a small community like Alamo Heights, it’s easy to get caught up in it all.


Summer going into her sophomore year, Emily found herself at a crossroads. She was caught between living with the PTSD of being sexually assaulted and coming clean to her community about her trauma. Helpless and hopeless, Emily felt alone after what happened to her. This soon sparked a light inside her, she said enough was enough. Something had to be done. GirlUp AHHS was born. Remotely, Emily couldn't do anything about what had happened to her, she couldn't reach out to her parents in fear of being neglected by her peers or being prosecuted as a lying slut. These double standards against women dabble with our minds. Stretching our esteems into silly string, saturating our pain with the sin of slut shaming. Woman lay tired and abused. Emily recognized that. And Emily made a change.


C: Have you ever felt that you were not taken seriously because you are a woman?

E: Absolutely, when the idea of starting a women empowerment club came to mind, a lot of my friends were very hesitant about the idea, always insisting on if I was sure. We had a lot of trouble finding a sponsor, getting a teacher on board with the idea. That is what surprised me the most. Eventually, we got hold of a sponsor and began building our club. Of course we got backlash from the football boys, mocking our organization with names like dyke or lesbian club. Another thing, we held a fundrasing event for gender based violence and I sent out the link to my friends and family, unfortunately my grandparents refused to donate because it was a feminist organization.


After opening up to her friends and family about the trauma she had experienced with sexual assault. Her propositions were constantly being challenged. Are you sure, Emily? Are you sure that happened? He doesn't seem like that kind of guy? I can never see him doing that? Emily faced shrewd judgement from her peers, labeling her a slut, whore, hoe. Degrading her worth with sinful labels, making rumours easy to spread. After meeting with a lawyer, Emily and her family sat down and began to digest the patriarchal truth of the matter. The lawyer basically said that this lawsuit was a waste of time, it would be sitting in a pile of files for about two years before even being touched. Soon hopelessness began to water Emily down, pouring ambitions into her club, she persisted, she matured, she grew.


C: What has GirlUp offered to the young women at heights?

E: GirlUp provides a place where women can feel comfortable talking about feminism, without the backlash of the community, as well as educatucating young women on their potential. I am most proud of GirlUp’s involvement in Haven for Hope. Our GirlUp tutors meet with young middle school/high school girls at Haven for Hope and help them with their academics. These girls are coming from completely different planets, worlds even. These girls have different mindsets and perceptions of the real world and thes tutoring sessions create friendships between women that would never meet in the real world. As tutors we have to be aware of the girls circumstances and mindful of their trauma and snuggles growing up in shelter.


C: What has brung you the most fulfillment as president and what you would say to young women in general?

E: Feminism is the fight for equality, not the fight to put women above men. Feminism is for 5 year old girls and 90 year old women. GirlUp is fulfilling in ways of donations, actually being able to see the impact you make. For instance, I got to experience seeing 10 UN workers walking into the african village with computers, no sound, completely silent. Just the sight of sobbing young girls, thrilled by the sight of a computer in their hands. We had a part in that and seeing real change was mesmerizing. High schoolers feel like we don't have power, one may think “Oh,I’m just in highschool what can I do?” Everything, you can do everything, you make your own potential.


C: What female role models inspire you?

E: Kamala Harris, I have always had an interest in politics and she embodies the idea of being a political woman and demonstrates opportunity as the first female vice president. Teala Cole, Ambassador of Haven for hope, also inspires me. Her life story is incredible, she was living on her own by the age of 16, after graduating high school she began picking up shifts to pay for her college education. After all that hard work she went into social work with ambitions of helping other people who have been through just as much as her. Today, as a single mother, she works two jobs aside from social work to pay for her son’s college education.


To put a great end to this outstanding interview, Emily and I pondered back and forth about how fashion connects to feminism. Appearance in general to feminism, fashion only being an extension of it.


C: How does fashion connect to feminism in your eyes?

E: Fashion is a statement, feminism is a statement. Amelia Bloomer for example, in the 1800s during the women's suffrage movement, Bloomer normalized wearing pants as a woman. Once women stopped wearing corsets, it was like the earth shattered. Fashion is an instrument to make a statement, dressing is feminism. Fashion can also demonstrate the oppression of feminism. Slut shaming is so normalized today. One story that really resonated with me was about the founder of Outdoor Voices, Ty Haney. Haney had a vision for her new Outdoor Voices campaign to use the tagline #doing things, showing everyday women doing things like hikes, yoga, swimming. Her ads had A LOT of diversity, plus size models, a wide range of races, genders, the most inclusive athletic ad by far. Soon the executive director, a man, gave Haney tons of backlash. Said he hated diversity and sought to push her out of her own company. To replace Haney, the executive director reelected an entire male board. This scandal demonstrated the fine line between professionalism and pure sexism.


As a woman, myself, I have been pried at by my family on my appearance. It’s always: are you wearing a bra? Do you think that's appropriate? Why are you trying to get attention? Attention, attention, attention. It echoes into the caved depths of my mind everytime my mother makes that remark. I feel striped from my own being. Fashion brings me alive more than anything. Fashion is a nonverbal statement. Fashion is rebellion and resistance. As women we need to embrace our bodies, wear the clothes we want, and repent the everlasting patriarchy.




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