Excerpt from our December 2018 Feminist Oasis Action Plan:
In her book “A Burst of Light”, feminist revolutionary/author/poet Audre Lorde wrote that “caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation and that is an act of political warfare.” Angela Davis offered this piece of wisdom to activists during a talk in 2014: “Self-care has to be incorporated into all our efforts. This is something new, this is something I have learned from younger generations. I had to learn from younger people that it’s as important to take care of yourself—and to do this within a collective context. So, yes, this means exercising the body. Yes, this means finding a place for spiritual expression. This holistic approach to organizing is, I think, what will eventually move us along the trajectory that will move us to some victories.”
As outlined in some of the articles below, “self-care” has — like any concept that gains popularity — been hijacked by capitalism. There’s a lot of money to be made by selling self-care, but in order to be sustainable, our self-care cannot be limited to solitary acts. As noted in our Values: “We incorporate ‘self-care’ in a way that is community-initiated, community-driven and community-accountable.” (Thanks to Feminist Oasis pal and member Serena Galleshaw for undermining the importance of adding the concentric circles of care of others and community in addition to our solo self-care efforts!)
Learn more about the benefits of self-care and its roots as a political act, not a marketing tactic:
- Read about how stress affects the human body and how you can protect both your physical and mental health via National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI):
- Read about how the self-care movement was started as a political act:
- Learn about how the millennial revival of self-care is improving a generation’s wellbeing, inspiring contemporary music, and has helped create a $10 billion dollar self-care industry:
- Watch the full Angela Davis talk at Pacific University in 2014 (quoted above):
Participate in communal self-care time: Make time for “self-care” in a communal setting — either with your own pals, or join us for our monthly #GetCozyandCreative events, which we created for this!
Response: Tell us how communal self-care felt in comparison to solo self-care.