Rachel Allen
rallen19@uwyo.edu
On Dec. 2, the slam poetry duo Speak Like a Girl graced the education auditorium with their presence, delivering feminist pieces addressing equality, fat shaming, rape culture and other topics.
Poets Megan Falley and Olivia Gatwood broached some pretty tough subjects, but Speak Like a Girl was still a celebration of feminism and women, and an empowering eye-opener.
The stage was set with four bottles of water, two microphones, two music stands and a chair. Falley and Gatwood were on stage with a sign language interpreter, who signed all of the poems as they were spoken.
Gatwood was bold, outgoing and full of energy, while Megan Falley was more soft spoken but always poignant. Both were passionate, and provided great contrast to each other. Together, they became unstoppable, a superhero duo, a force to be reckoned with. The show was a little over an hour long, followed by a question and answer session and a book signing.
Falley and Gatwood performed powerful pieces, such as “He, Him, Him,” “Princess Peach Speaks” and “Collapse the Economy.” Some poems were on societal norms, which are standards that men and women are expected to follow, while others were anthems or odes to the power of the fairer sex.
Most poems were followed by a long moment of awed silence, as the audience digested what had just been delivered to them. When the silence passed, there was a round of thunderous applause.
Before delivering a poem on sexual assault, the poets asked members of the audience to raise their hands if they’d ever been catcalled. A large majority of the audience raised their hands. Falley and Gatwood then asked them to keep their hands up if they’d ever felt unsafe when being catcalled and only a few lowered their hands.
The number of hands in the air was truly unsettling. Following the short survey, Falley and Gatwood performed a poem, exposing the frightening truth about rape culture. “These aren’t isolated incidents,” Gatwood said, referring to acts of violence towards women, particularly ones who refused to participate in sexual acts.
Gatwood encouraged everyone to begin acting out against catcalling and inappropriate comments directed at women. She insisted that nobody should feel unsafe when they are out and about.
“If you want people to feel scared or unsafe,” Gatwood said. “There’s the door.”
Approximately halfway through the show, Gatwood and Falley pointed out their merchandise, a few poem collections and shirts printed with the phrase, “Human decency isn’t foreplay.”
The poets also read a few hateful comments directed towards them, as an example of how feminists and female activists are viewed and treated. Falley read one from YouTube that said, “All feminists should be shipped to their own country.”
The audience responded with laughter before Falley asked, “Do you guys want to come with us to our feminist country?”
The last piece of the evening was “Collapse the Economy,” an anthem for women, calling them to arms and rallying them to defy social norms and traditional standards of beauty.
After the show, Falley and Gatwood held a short question and answer session. There were a few questions about writing and performing, but the most powerful of the evening addressed the topic of activism.
An audience member asked if the poets had any advice for speaking out and making a difference.
“Speaking out manifests itself in different ways,” Gatwood said.
Falley added, “Maybe it’s not standing on stage. Maybe it’s something else.”
Falley praised the workingwomen who got higher educations and became doctors and teachers. She said that we need women in these fields to keep other women healthy, so that women can help each other.
The performance was enjoyable, and after the show ended, the house was filled with an excited buzz, as girls banded together to take selfies holding signs that quoted Gatwood and Falley’s poems.
