Justice

Amber Rose Has a Message for Women in Trump's America

September 30th 2017

Amber Rose wants women to fight back.

The third annual Amber Rose Slutwalk—a march dedicated to protesting derogatory sexist labels, victim blaming, and gender inequality—will take place on Sunday in Los Angeles.

amber-roseAP/SIPA USA - apimages.com

This year the Amber Rose Foundation added a women's conference on Saturday with workshops, speakers, and activists.

ATTN: talked to Rose ahead of the big event. She said women's voices are more important than ever in this political climate, and gave her thoughts on activism, inclusion, and President Donald Trump.

ATTN: Can you explain the mission of the Amber Rose Foundation?

Rose: We fight against social injustice, victim blaming, slut-shaming, and double standards. We have counselors to help rape victims. We make a safe place for women and the LGBT community to come and talk to other people who have been through the same things they've been through. We want to let them know that they're not alone.

ATTN: Why do you think it's still important to hold a Slutwalk in 2017?

Rose: I think it's extremely important. Racism and sexism is such a big deal, but I feel like sexism gets swept under the rug so much. Now is the time, with Trump in office, where there's a lot of people who are angry for a lot of different reasons. This is one of those things where you can come and let out your frustrations and talk to other people.

ATTN: What are the biggest obstacles facing the education of women and girls right now? Why is it important that we break down those barriers?

Rose: Knowing the issues is important. I feel like society has taught us to be a certain way for our entire life: what we should wear, how we should conduct ourselves. Even with Hillary Clinton—she was judged on her hair and it was complete bullshit. She was way more qualified, and now we have someone less qualified in office because she had a vagina. It's more important for women to understand that they can own their sexuality. They can be who they want to be. They can be body positive. There's so many girls who have killed themselves from being slut-shamed and body shamed. That's why I want to use my platform to help with those issues. That's why we have the women's conference besides the protest the march.

ATTN: Considering the current political climate, how can women play an important role in fighting for equality and reproductive rights?

Rose: They need to stop thinking that just because Trump is in office it's the end all be all. We can all make a change in our own communities. Don't let one man control your world. That's what we're fighting against. It's OK to be angry. It's OK to speak out, and you don't have to wait for a celebrity to do something. You can do a Slutwalk or a women's march in your own neighborhood, and you can film it. There's so many outlets to make a change in your own community.

ATTN: After the inauguration and the Women's Mach there were a lot of conversations about inclusion in feminism. Is it important for the broader feminist movement to fight racism and be inclusive for women of color?

Rose: Absolutely, it's really, really unfortunate that there's different tiers of it. There's racism and then there's racism in feminism, which is stupid. It's just stupid. Let's not segregate each other. We're already women. We're already segregated from the men and then we're going to segregate each other based on race. A lot of people are ignorant. Instead of getting mad, let's educate them.

ATTN: Will women be an important voice in the 2020 presidential election?

Rose: I do think so for obvious reasons. I'm trying not to call the president a Cheeto fuck. I feel like we have so many people who are angry. How he is with his wife is terrible. But I also feel like we didn't think that he could ever possibly be in office, and we all got too comfortable. So people said, 'let's not vote at all,' or I don't like Hillary and I don't like Trump so I'm not going ot vote for either of them. Really, they should have voted for her if only to keep him out. In the next election, we'll remember that and we kind of learned our lesson for this one.

amber-roseInstagram/amberrose - instagram.com

ATTN: What's your message for women everywhere?

Rose: The main thing with feminism is people think it such a complicated thing. We just want to be treated the same. We want to own our sexuality. Anything a man can do we can do as well. It's not just men, we need women to stop judging other women. I've said it a million times; Im a former slut-shamer. If I was uncomfortable with my sexuality, or I was insecure, I would talk badly about a girl. If I liked a guy who liked another girl, I would call her a hoe and try to down her. We can start with the girls first so we can educate guys. My boyfriend and his whole team, we have extremely long talks about feminism. One of them will tell a story about a woman and I'll say, 'you can't talk like that in front of me. Now I'm going to go off on you and educate you on why you can't say that.' They look at me and say, 'I'm so sorry Amber,' and now they now. We can educate.

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