Holigay Gift Guide 2015: For Feminists Who Live, Breathe, Wear, and Drink Out of the Movement

2015 Autostraddle Holigays

Ah, the holidays. A time for family, nostalgia, reflection on winters past, and the subversion of society’s concepts of gender, sex, and sexuality! One of my favorite holigay traditions is putting together a massive list of cool stuff you can give the feminist activist you’re secretly in love with for Hanukkah, put on your own Christmas list, and also pepper your family’s stockings with in order to make an indelibly progressive statement on December 25.

And so, without further ado, here’s a bunch of cool shit your favorite feminists are likely wishing for this year — or should be and just don’t realize it yet.


Drunk in Love

I gave a sizable amount of my mug collection away in the move, and now I’m asking that you allow me to live vicariously through yours by using the holiday season as an excuse to buy matching girl power coffee cups for you and the rest of your girl gang.

PicMonkey Collage

This is What a Feminist Looks Like Mug | Distressed Feminist Symbol Mug | Girls Can Mug

AUTHOR’S NOTE: I originally featured a mug here and then found out that the design was stolen from the original artist, SUGARBONE. That really sucks and isn’t okay! So, we’ve removed the link and image and will keep you updated if it becomes available to purchase from them!


Shirts and Giggles

If you walk the walk and talk the talk, it only makes sense that you’d also wear the t-shirt. And the tank tops. And the pendants. And the tote bags. Basically, I’m endorsing the idea of emphatically broadcasting your feminist leanings to the world at the grocery store, on casual Friday, and also on your next date.

rebel girls shirts

Feminist Earth Symbol Tote | FEMINIST Crop Top | Smash the Patriarchy Pendant | Our Lady of Justice RBG Tank Top | Notorious HRC Tee-Shirt | Whatever We Wear Racerback Tank


Around the House

Last year, y’all bought Amazon out of feminist throw pillows because the movement is real and throw pillows are the best. This year, mix it up with a wall clock, some pretty prints, and one more pillow — for old time’s sake.

rebel girls housewares

Bitchcraft Pillow | Jane Eyre Print | Rainbow Feminist Symbol Wall Clock | BeYOUtiful Print


Feminist Things We Read and Loved

We worked our way through a bunch of feminist texts this year. Here’s some highlights, with links to our reviews and/or feelings atriums about them.

rebel girls books

Subversive Cross Stitch: 50 F*cking Clever Designs for Your Sassy Side (Review) | Not Funny Ha-Ha: A Handbook for Something Hard (Review) | Tomboy (Review) | Pedal Zombies (Review) | Borderlands/La Frontera (Review) | Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around (Review) | The Feminist Utopia Project: Fifty-Seven Visions of a Wildly Better Future (Review)

Oh, and don’t forget to check out those ten workbooks / how-to guides from our last lesson while you’re making a list of budding activists in your life and checking it twice.

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And, Duh

This pencil case is a monument to us all. Get it while you can!

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Rebel Girls is a column about women’s studies, the feminist movement, and the historical intersections of both of them. It’s kind of like taking a class, but better – because you don’t have to wear pants. To contact your professor privately, email carmen at autostraddle dot com. Ask questions about the lesson in the comments!

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Carmen

Carmen spent six years at Autostraddle, ultimately serving as Straddleverse Director, Feminism Editor and Social Media Co-Director. She is now the Consulting Digital Editor at Ms. and writes regularly for DAME, the Women’s Media Center, the National Women’s History Museum and other prominent feminist platforms; her work has also been published in print and online by outlets like BuzzFeed, Bitch, Bust, CityLab, ElixHER, Feministing, Feminist Formations, GirlBoss, GrokNation, MEL, Mic and SIGNS, and she is a co-founder of Argot Magazine. You can find Carmen on Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr or in the drive-thru line at the nearest In-N-Out.

Carmen has written 919 articles for us.

27 Comments

    • I completely agree with you I love the design. Its sad to say that the artwork was stolen from the original artist.the name she goes by is SUGARBONES you can find her on Facebook and Instagram. Its sad that people can just take someone’s hard work and profit from it.

  1. In the image for this article on the homepage where everything’s pretty small (okay, I also have terrible eyes), I definitely thought that pillow said “butchcraft.” Bitchcraft is good, too, though.

  2. I’m definitely in the “actions speak louder than cutesy prints” camp, but I have a mighty need for that tote bag.

  3. I’m not sure about the whole gun thing there, but I *still* want the male tears mug from last year.

  4. I’m rather relieved that the umlaut is over the incorrect E in that Jane Eyre print so as to save me from having to buy it. My Jane Eyre love is pure and true, as is my love of typography!

  5. Just a reminder that the symbol of the fist inside of the female sign is taken from black feminists and should not be used by those who aren’t womanists or black feminists.

    • I’ve seen it used in so many anarchafeminist contexts, I had no idea! Really glad I never got that tattoo … Thanks for the reality check, I’d hate to be permanently co-opting a symbol that wasn’t mine to wear. It’s obviously not your job to educate me, but if you’ve got a link regarding the origin of the symbol, I’d love to read more (I’m a pretty shit researcher, but I’ll do my best on my own, too!)

    • I also appreciate this information. It prompted me to remove an item from my wishlist that had this symbol on it. Thank you for educating me!

  6. Thanks for featuring my design ( the gun on the mug ) but this is actually my stolen artwork that has been printed on a mug and sold without my permission. Please do no buy this, I’m in the process of getting it removed from amazon.

    • Hi! I’m so so sorry your work was stolen! I’ve removed the link to purchase the item. Please keep us updated if the mug becomes available to purchase through you!

  7. your “fight like a girl” mug has stolen artwork on it from a Canadian artist named sugar bones. do the right thing and take it down. that’s not cool.

    • Women gamer theme if i remember correctly.

      Hahahahahahahaha some army.

      Gleefully providing info: dogs worked on the 8XX series – 950s otoh love dogs (or should i say simplistic sunday E-enthusiasts) and dogs love us. Skynet rules – Res dr/f/tools.

  8. I completely agree with you I love the design. Its sad to say that the artwork was stolen from the original artist.the name she goes by is SUGARBONES you can find her on Facebook and Instagram. Its sad that people can just take someone’s hard work and profit from it.

  9. I’m loving 90% of this list, and want almost all of it, but I’m not sure how offensive that middle finger hand of hamsa/fatima is?? I’m pagan so I can only use that symbol in a respectful and non-appropriative way, and it just seems off to me.
    What do any of you Muslim/Jewish queers think? Okay or not okay?

Comments are closed.