All this year I’ve been getting emails each week from a list I joined called Feminist Challenge 2017: http://feministchallenge.wixsite.com/fc2k17/about

I haven’t done every week, even though I intended to at the start. At this point, I’m comfortable with the balance I’m taking of adopting the weeks’ challenges that I feel I’ll get something significant out of but that also won’t disrupt my everyday life (including, for example, making me stressed that week until I accomplish something difficult).

Challenges I completed from previous weeks include:

- Shaving my legs (this first challenge was surprisingly hard to do because I’m self-conscious about changing my appearance)

- Taking a pregnancy test (which specifically involved going to the store and asking for where they were)

- Waiting to speak in conversations (this was painfully hard in work meetings where I definitely could have answered questions quicker or resolved misunderstandings)

Obviously though, every bit of discomfort and annoyance was purposeful. All of these exercises are to increase awareness in ally feminists who are not subject to the experiences of people we wish to elevate. The first challenge forced me to introspect on why it was so uncomfortable for me to do this thing I do on my face multiple times a week. The second was a more direct experience of knowing the basic steps of this crucially important moment surrounding pregnancy that men don’t usually see. The third gave me a glimpse into the perspective of not feeling able to speak when you have the answer (for me because of an artificial challenge, for others because of social norms) as well as reminding me of all the important things I could hear if I didn’t interrupt.

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This week’s challenge was to not use your pockets. Tons and tons of women’s clothing either has no pockets or have ones so small they hardly count.

This is extremely disruptive to me and exactly the kind of challenge I wanted to take.

I like being prepared, being able to complete transactions quickly, getting information from my phone immediately, and in general having an elegance and economy of motion and effort to get through my day-to-day.

- Front left: Tic Tacs (sometimes headphones)

- Front right: Keys

- Back left: Phone

- Back right: Wallet

This dedicated system had to be abandoned for either (i) taking my messenger bag with me to unusual places; (ii) carrying things around in my hands; or (iii) going without things.

Tuesday was my sister’s graduation, where I had to have someone examine my bag to get in. After the ceremony, it started raining heavily, and in a bright moment of positivity, I had an umbrella with me that I wouldn’t have had otherwise, so my sister was less drenched.

Friday I went to a park to see a quad-copter fly around and record it. Over and over I had to set my phone on a table out of reach rather than my pocket and chance missing an interesting moment.

Saturday I biked downtown with a friend, which required me to bring my messenger bag again (and actually tear it up a little on my tire) to carry those 5 items I listed above.

All between those two larger moments were major interruptions to my routine. I usually listen to podcasts constantly through my phone in my back pocket: not so this week. Buying food at Jimmy John’s while meeting a friend was a hassle. Using the self-checkout at Target yesterday was super clumsy. I like my things being clean, so having to place them all over the place or handle them way more often when I hadn’t washed my hands was frustrating. Walking to get my mail was that little bit extra annoying because I had to hold on to my phone and keys. Remembering where I put my phone and worrying about it being stolen was an extra mental burden.

I dropped my phone I believe twice this week, which I absolutely hate doing and cringe on the rare occasions it happens. This may be a third of all phone drops I do in the average year.

But every bit of frustration, every bit of change from my normal life and routine is precisely the point. The relief I felt today when I could just put my phone in my pocket while walking around my own home is also the point. It’s building an appreciation, an understanding of someone else’s life, and that’s exactly what I want to spend mine doing.

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As an addendum, I want to get a little more concrete. I feel like a lot of times, these efforts fall on deaf ears because it seems pointless or performative or just needless pain or annoyance. I have specific concepts in my head of how I’ve changed based on this.

- When someone complains about lack or pockets, or asks me to hold something for them in part because of that, I will better understand and sympathize with why. I will be able to point to specific experiences.

- When the subject of pockets or women’s clothing is brought up in any context, I will be more vocal about this issue, because it sucks.

- I believe things are more easily stolen, lost, or broken when pockets are less of an option. I will have more patience and consider this factor more when I hear of these things happen to people who have fewer pockets in their life.

- I will view purses in a new context of necessity.

- I will notice whether articles of clothing have pockets.

Experiencing something firsthand is way more impactful and immersive than just reading about it or being told it. If we remove ourselves from any political topics and just think back to elementary school days, working on an art project to illustrate a story or designing steps to run an experiment certainly engages children more with the subject. It’s easy to make the case that the same applies here.

