1. Cory Booker Spreads The Love.

Cory Booker, AKA the sweetest and squishiest little political marshmallow of our dreams, responded to rudeness and hatred from the Republican presidential nominee with an unexpected (and arguably feminist) twist this week when he told the world that he “loves” Donald Drumpf. Through our LOL-ing, Booker the Looker explained his disinterest in spreading divisive rhetoric and instead his desire to shift the conversation to one of love and fairness. Why is this adorable political decision a feminist one? Politics has long been a hypermasculine front, dominated by aggressive discourse that can often feel like a game of whose manhood is bigger (until it literally becomes a game of whose manhood is bigger and everything gets awkward), and Booker’s peaceful approach--sure to be ridiculed as being too soft, otherwise known as too feminine--is entirely antithetical to the machismo coming from the GOP. All the more reason to love this New Jersey senator like the majestic land mermaid that he is.

2. Cecile Richards Bluntly Defends Reproductive Justice.

Obviously, Planned Parenthood has long been a fan of HRC, and they haven’t been shy with their support of her attempts to break the glass ceiling. However, at the DNC this week, Cecile Richards broke some ceilings of her own when she used a word that is often tip-toed around at party-wide events like this convention: the Planned Parenthood president used the word “abortion” (three times!). This verbiage was a deliberate choice (lol), made in an effort to combat the stigma that even many progressives perpetuate under the umbrella of women’s health. While most people simply rely on phrases like “a woman’s right to choose,” C Rich decided to hit the nail directly on the head to make a point about the way we talk about women's bodies. In her speech, Richards also slammed Drumpf--who in the past has said that pregnant women are an “inconvenience” to employers--reminding him that the biggest inconvenience he’ll experience from a woman will be when he loses to one in November. Consider the mic dropped, y’all.

3. Eva Longoria Addresses Anti-Mexican Racism Like The Queen She Is.

Despite the quotable nature of this past week--honestly, the nuggets of genius are unparalleled in sheer quantity--the best quote of the week thus far has come from actress and activist Eva Longoria. Born and raised in Texas as a 9th generation Mexican-American, Longoria unpacked some of her family history in a speech addressing the DNC crowd. With direct plays at Donald Drumpf, who has been very open about his stance on immigration and basically all Mexican people (spoiler alert: he says some pretty racist things), Longoria detailed the many ways her family members have contributed to this country, with careers in everything from armed service to special education teaching, pointing out how her family never crossed the border--”the border crossed us.” WOOF. Hitting hard at racism, colonialism, and xenophobia, Longoria def wins the week for most underrated speech. 

4. Sarah McBride Becomes First Openly Trans Person To Address A Convention Crowd.

Sarah McBride--a transgender woman, the national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, and a steering member of a group called Trans United for Hillary--will make history this week when she becomes the first openly transgender person to speak at any national convention for either major political party. As an active and vocal opponent of the harmful North Carolina bill HB2 that advocated against public bathroom usage for trans people (among other awful things), McBride is using her spotlight during the DNC to share stories of other trans folks in an effort to normalize trans experiences and end the still extreme discrimination that exists against the community. Yeah, we're only a liiiiittle obsessed with her.

5. 102-Year-Old Woman Announces Votes For HRC.

We don’t need to tell you twice that--despite having just officially nominated our first female candidate for a major political party--it wasn’t all that long ago that white women in the U.S. couldn’t vote, and even more recent that women of color couldn’t vote. This country legally disenfranchised women of every creed for a very long time (and in some cases, continues to do so today without the same legal justifications). Watching a woman rise to a position of presidential power would be (or at least, should be *rolls eyes*) thrilling for just about any observer; but it must be especially significant for the 102-year-old woman who announced Arizona’s votes for HRC this week during the roll call of the states. Jerry Emmett, the woman who did just that, was born pre-19th Amendment--into a world where egregious sexism like male-only voting was state-sanctioned--and has lived through decades of some of the most aggressive and rapid social changes in all of history. You could say the moment where she read Hill’s votes aloud was a bit of a tear-jerker (warning: ugly-crying in bed at 2 AM is to be expected).

by Team Thinx