Power Tool #6: Wear the Shirt

“I love your T-shirt,” chuckled Jenny, my twenty-something personal trainer, as she stretched my aching legs. “I never saw that before.”

I hadn’t noticed which of my many message T-shirts I had thrown on when I rolled out of bed before sunrise. Most of the folks who populate New York’s Columbus Circle Equinox gym sport workout clothes that bear designer labels, but seldom do I see any that pack a message punch. I figure my chest is valuable real estate—why not use it to communicate my convictions?

I looked down and saw that I’d grabbed one of my favorites: Well-Behaved Women Rarely Make History. Historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s wry observation became one of the guiding principles of the women’s movement during the 1970s, and living it seems as natural to me now as balance ball crunches do to my lithe trainer.

Perhaps because of their delicious candor laced with felicity of expression, these words have become a slogan for boundary-breaking women everywhere. But just because it’s proudly emblazoned on mugs and bumper stickers and, yes, T-shirts, doesn’t mean we should let the message be reduced to merely a personal assertion of gutsiness. The context of Ulrich’s observation, the thing that actually makes it true, is both personal and political. Although history is often taught in schoolbooks as a sequence of significant acts by Important Men (and the occasional important woman), what Ulrich recognized is that making history is a communal act, requiring us to break the boundaries of what is considered proper behavior.

“Wear the Shirt” becomes a metaphor, then, for taking a bold stance about your convictions, and not hiding your light under the bushel basket. When you wear the shirt to the grocery store, the gym, or to pick up the mail, you are inviting people to have a conversation with you.

INTENTIONING

Sex, Power, Pandemics, and How Women
Will Take The Lead for (Everyone’s) Good

The new book from Gloria Feldt about the future, taking the leadership lessons learned from this disruption and creating a better world for all through the power of intention.

What shirt expresses you? If you’ve got a photo, or can take one, of yourself in a sassy shirt, I’d love for you to share it here. We’ll start a photo gallery next week, so send me an e-mail with your photo if you’d like to be included.

10 Comments

  1. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by JayAckroyd, Gloria Feldt. Gloria Feldt said: New post: Power Tool #6: Wear the Shirt http://bit.ly/aFDnzw […]

  2. Colette on November 15, 2010 at 2:12 pm

    Love the shirt!

  3. Beth Corbin on November 16, 2010 at 1:34 am

    You wear it well!

  4. Shannon Drury on November 16, 2010 at 2:27 pm

    The photo on the home page of my website features my favorite feminist (my five-year-old daughter) in a favorite shirt (“Feminism runs in my family”) from a favorite website (www.stickersisters.com).

  5. Lynda Waddington on November 16, 2010 at 9:45 pm

    I wore a t-shirt with that quotation on it to the grocery store & had a young girl (10 or 11) point it out to her father. He put a protective arm around her and steered her cautiously away from me. I’m fairly sure that his own actions will ensure that young girl remembers that quote for the rest of her life. LOL!

  6. Bonnie McEwan on November 18, 2010 at 9:46 am

    I have a great shirt that I got at the Feminist Expo in 2000 (sponsored by the Feminist Majority Foundation, Ellie Smeal’s group). It says “Failure is impossible,” a quote from Susan B. Anthony. It’s ratty now, but I still wear it to the gym.

  7. Debra Condren on November 19, 2010 at 7:04 pm

    Gloria, you’re Definitely making history! Love the shirt. I know several of us will be adding ours stat. Power to us!

  8. Manisha Thakor on November 20, 2010 at 9:40 pm

    Ditto to the above – you wear the shirt so very well in every sense of that phrase, Gloria!

    One thing that struck me as a just turned 40 year old was hearing that your 20-something trainer liked – but had not heard – that slogan before. To me that’s another classic example of why your book is so vital for all women… but especially “the third wave”… to read. There is much work still to be done. Many in my generation feel frustrated at the state of women in the world & are looking for tools and inspiration. So your book is such a welcome guide.

    In my own case, while I identify clearly as a self-proclaimed loud & proud feminist… I find myself feeling like @#$% when I “break the boundaries of what is considered proper behavior” – and get a “verbal slap down” in response. Thank you for reminding us all that “well behaved women don’t make history.” While I had heard it before, it’s been quite a while. Seeing you in that shirt is a great reminder of the power of communal change & the slogan is a mantra I look repeating often from here on out… with NO EXCUSES !!

    • Gloria Feldt on December 1, 2010 at 2:38 pm

      I am going to quote you tomorrow, Manisha, when I speak to the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce Women’s Round Table at an event cosponsored by the International Museum of Women. Just watched your fantastic video again. You truly rock!! I’m so glad to know you.

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