Letters About Literature - Dear Jennifer Matheiu

Letter by Bridget Wilson, a sophomore at Eastlake High School, who sent this in to the Library of Congress' National Writing Contest, Letters About Literature, in which participants write letters to the author of a book explaining how the book impacted them. The essay received an honorable mention at the state level.​​

​Dear Jennifer Matheiu,
                The first time I heard the word “feminist” I was in 8th grade, and we were watching an old YouTube video of Emma Watson’s HeforShe speech as the ambassador for UN Women. She proclaimed herself a feminist confidently, and spoke fervently about equality between genders. I decided that day that I too was a feminist. I didn’t know exactly what it meant, but I agreed with everything that Emma Watson was saying she believed, so I just went with it.
                Feminism (noun): the advocacy of women's rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes.
                I’m now in 10th grade, and I still call myself a feminist, but I do it with a little more meaning thanks to a couple of different experiences. In January 2017, I participated in the Women’s March in Seattle. Because of some political events of 2016, I was starting to pay more attention to the injustice in our country – but more than that, I was looking at the injustice done to women. So I got on my pussy hat, grabbed my sign, and marched with my mom, grandma, and millions of other women around the globe. Also, in my honors humanities class in 9th grade, we had to make a documentary with a group about a problem facing our world today. My group’s topic was women’s rights, and we decided to focus on the pay gap in the United States. For five months, we researched facts, interviewed women (including a gender equity specialist), watched documentaries, and read books to be able to understand the problem. I loved and hated it. To see the evidence of such injustice in our country was hard, but I thrived on collecting new information, and I felt like I was making a (small) difference. I was discovering a love for social justice issues, and I proudly proclaimed it.
                However, I sometimes get confused about the way others my age see things. When I told one girl I was a feminist, she said that she wasn’t sure she wanted equality if it would stop boys from holding open doors for her or paying for dinners on dates. I told one boy about my gender pay gap documentary, and he told me women needed to stop settling for jobs that pay less money, and that there was no such thing as a gender pay gap. Another boy in my class told me that the women’s rights movement had already ended. At times I would feel I was the only one my age with my eyes open, and the only one who wanted to try to do something about it.
                I got your book Moxie for Christmas this year. I love to read, so I always ask for about 20 books for Christmas each year, but I didn’t recognize this title as one I asked for, or even had heard of. The cover of the book drew me in: a teenage girl, pumping her fist, with bright pink letters spelling out “Moxie”, and a little inscription below saying, “Moxie girls fight back”. I was immediately intrigued, and started the book the very next day. I smiled and laughed, and I raged and teared up. I finished the book 24 hours after starting it.
                All of your characters inspired me and gave me hope. I know of many Claudias in my school; girls who are maybe a little scared to call themselves feminists and join the fight for equality, but they do it nonetheless. I’m sure there are even more Emmas out there; girls too afraid to speak out against the injustices done to them. I know my own Lucy, a girl who started an ACLU club at my school with the goal of changing the community. And I know there are many Seths out there, guys who believe in gender equality, because I worked with one to make the pay gap documentary, and one joined me in a debate about the whether the gender pay gap was real or not. However, my favorite character was Viv Carter. I felt like I’ve lived part of her story – and not just because we are both 16-year-old girls in public high schools. I felt her rage and anger at the inequality, and I also felt her hope at the small victories won. She was confident in her movement, and she seemed not to care if what she said made others a little uncomfortable. I strive to be like that. I now place Viv among the ranks of my role models.
                Viv’s story did teach me something new. Everyone has heard a phrase along the lines of “it only takes one person to change the world”. I am someone who wants to change the world – I want to make it better for everybody, no matter race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation. I have always told myself I could do that if I became a social justice lawyer. When I grew up, I would make a difference by fighting for the rights of everybody. But then I read Moxie. Viv didn’t wait to grow up. She saw how the girls in her school were being treated, and she changed it immediately. At the age of 16, she started a feminist movement in her school, one that united all the girls, no matter race, sexual orientation, age, or popularity level. She took her school and its rules (tacit and written) and shook them up, whether it was by organizing a “bathrobe brigade” against the school dress code or by getting girls to tag the lockers or other property of boys who had sexually harassed them. It ended in a victory for all the moxie girls when they got the rules changed.
                My story is a little different – I’m not dealing with a sexist school, so I don’t have to start a feminist movement to change anything yet. But I do look at the world a little differently. I’m trying to think less of “I’ll change the world when I’m older” and more of “what can I do or get involved in to change it now”. I have joined the newly-formed ACLU club at my school, in hopes that I, along with the other members, will have a chance at changing our school or community for the better. I’m talking a little louder about feminism, though some people are quick to make a subject change when I bring it up. On January 20, I will be marching in Seattle again. I’ll have my pussy hat on, along with my new pussy hat earrings, nasty woman necklace, and feminist socks. I’ll be holding the same sign again, but I’ll be holding it a little higher, and chanting a little louder. And I’ll be marching with many women again, including my mom and sister, but I also know that Viv will be there alongside me because we are moxie girls, and moxie girls fight back.
                Thanks for introducing me to the moxie girls-
                Bridget Wilson