Latina Feminista Juliana Britto Says Being a Millennial and a Feminist Go Hand-in-Hand
Juliana Britto, the Latina Feminista, believes that being a millennial and a feminist go hand-in-hand, a notion that has been reinforced and popularized by the persuasive actions of showstopper Beyoncé and the fun and interesting listicles published by magazines like Cosmopolitan and Latina. Britto's faith in modern feminism prevails, even braving the #womenagainstfeminism trend, which accuses feminism of everything from inventing rape culture to depriving women of their "rightful roles" in the home.
The Brazilian-American blogger and frequent contributor to Feministing spoke with Latin Post about her identity as a Latina, a millennial and a feminist, confessing that while she's enjoyed watching the popularization of feminism among young people, aspects of feminism have been oversimplified into "watered down, or reduced to social media soundbites -- gifs, memes, listicles, etc."
"[Listicles] are so much fun, and I totally write and consume those as well, but I think it's important that along with all the sillier content, we Latina feminists keep pushing boundaries and challenging everyone to think critically even about the movement within which we are working," Britto said.
"Feminism isn't just about women, and it's definitely not just about the women you hear from the most. Feminism is about seeking out people you hear from the least and sitting down for a cafecito with them while they tell you about their experiences and how you can support them in seeking justice."
Britto found feminism as a teenager while exploring her ethnic identity. Raised in a predominately white neighborhood, she often felt conflicted and confused because of her Latina and mixed identity. But she quelled that confusion when she opted to lead a club in high school called "Mixed Ethnicity." It was a club that allowed her to explore her identity and prompted her to think about how her gender intersected with her ethnicity, feeding a future desire to blog about Latinas and feminism.
Being raised by "a typical Latina mom who will not identify herself as a feminist yet is largely the reason I am as confident, ambitious and passionate as I am," she found that her family was resigned to her newfound feminist identity. Her mother, a jet-setter, scholar and hard worker, pushed Britto to study engineering or to become a lawyer or a doctor, but her mother has since "given up and has resorted to getting me to change careers. It's a work in progress."
In her current career, Britto writes compelling articles and blog posts; the intention of these articles is to spark a revolution, a movement or, at the very least, a conversation. The prolific writer also runs an active Facebook page and Twitter account, where she shares articles and content about racial justice, social justice movements and funny and biting images from sites such as Colorlines, Upside Down and Latina Rebels, as well as thoughts on gender and racial politics, her own blog, Latinafeminista.com, and its social media channels.
"My goal is to demonstrate just how many incredible feminists are already out there talking about these issues, so that young women and allies don't feel alone. When I first started writing about Latina feminism, I had a really hard time finding peers to collaborate with," Britto said.
"They were certainly there, doing awesome work, but I would say that the community hadn't found each other yet, and we weren't using the same terms to identify who we were.
"My hope is that people who come across my blog or social media channels will never, for a second, think that they are the only ones who believe these things. In spite of what their mothers might tell them ;)."
Check out Juliana's work on Feministing, and look her up on Twitter and Facebook.