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It was the eye-roll felt around the world.

Happy Women’s History Month! This month, we appreciate and recognize the women that have made history. Here’s one who’s making it right now: Liang Xiangyi, a reporter with financial news site Yicai, for the world’s most iconic eye-roll. 

Ms. Liang was one of the reporters attending China’s annual parliamentary session, a notoriously scripted, coiffed, airtight event–questions are screened heavily beforehand, to the point where many correspondents question the value in going at all. Even after recent news of Chinese President Xi Jinpeng’s removal of term limits, politicians were still getting thrown softballs. 

When the reporter on the right lobbed a particularly fawning, paragraph-long question their way, Ms. Liang couldn’t help but roll her eyes so hard she felt it with her whole body. 

All of China’s netizens felt it with her: all over social media, users were praising, sharing, remixing, and GIFing the moment faster than the censors could snuff it out. It even inspired merch on e-commerce site Taobao. Within hours, it became the most censored term on China’s Twitter equivalent Weibo, and many of the remixes, including the merch, were taken down. 

As funny as her reaction was, it’s important to remember how incredibly brave it was, too. She had her media accreditation revoked, and it is entirely possible she will face further repercussions. 

Ms. Liang, we support your bravery and your brutal honesty. Keep on rollin’!

As the new year rapidly barrels toward us, many are coming up with plans on how to approach 2018. The past few years have been hard; in the wake of all the bad news, alarming headlines, rampant bigotry, and hard fights behind and ahead of us, we need to have a plan on how to take care of ourselves so we can keep pushing forward and enjoy 2018 despite everything. So without further ado, here is the 2018 Moxie Girl Survival Guide!

Jam out to some awesome riot grrrl tunes!

Indulge in your favorite outlet of expression! Whether you put love in every stitch, sadness in every chord, or let it all out in every kick, practicing your favorite hobbies is a great way to get fulfilled and feel better when you’re down.

Create awesome art. And if you make something feminist or Moxie-inspired, don’t forget to post it and tag us! We would love to see it.

Make time for the important people in your life. 2018 should be the year of strengthening old connections and creating positive, new connections.

Don’t wait to get texted first! Take the initiative and reach out first and set something up. We’re all busy, but that person certainly misses you, and wants to see you, too.

Take a breather. You deserve it. Don’t think you have to save all the good things for special occasions! Go ahead and wind down with your favorite cup of tea, a bubble bath, a delicious snack, or your favorite piece of media.

Look at some positive news. Because we’re constantly barraged by bad news, it’s important that we also see the progress that is being made around the world. Not only does it make us feel better, but it replenishes hope: the greatest fuel for fighting back.

Try new things! Rock that top, get into that weird new hobby, put your work out there. As we grow up, our confidence blooms; now is a better time than ever to be the you you’ve always wanted to be.

“I wanted to make something that I wanted to hear that I wasn't hearing.”

Happy Moxie Monthly! As release date approaches, we’d like to honor a Moxie girl central to our story: Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill! Instrumental in the beginning of third wave feminism and the inclusion of women in punk, her title of Moxie girl is well deserved. And while most know her iconic songs and what she stands for, we’d like to dig a little deeper and show you how she got where she is today.

Kathleen Hanna was born in Portland, but spent much of her early life constantly on the move. At age 9, she first became interested in feminism when her mother started attending rallies and reading feminist publications. The two quickly bonded over feminism, her mother checking out feminist literature like The Feminine Mystique and subscribing to Ms. Magazine, and young Hanna cutting up those magazines to make her own feminist posters and collages. The two had to hide their new interest from Hanna’s disapproving father until the divorce.

Her passion grew every year, and she began to express her experiences and frustrations with sexism in other mediums. In college, she and a friend set up a photography exhibit dealing with subjects like sexism and AIDS; it was promptly taken down by the school, and Hanna cites this act of censorship as her first foray into activism. She also got into spoken-word poetry, but finally switched to music after a discussion with feminist writer Kathy Acker, who admired Hanna’s desire to express herself but noted that she’d be better off in the music scene where she’d have more listeners.

She started and played in many bands, including Amy Carter, The Julie Ruin, Viva Knievel, and finally, Bikini Kill, which became a staple of the Olympia music scene in the 90s. She and her band emphasized political action, awareness, and empowerment of women. Her songs, zines, and ‘girls to the front’ ethos not only encouraged women to enjoy punk, but helped keep them safe while they were doing so, out of dangerous mosh pits and safe from harassers.

Looking back, Hanna acknowledges criticisms of the riot grrrl movement as a largely white, cis, and middle class movement and regrets it was not more inclusive. She looks forward to new projects, like the People of Color Zine Project, that aim to make riot grrrl intersectional and accessible to all.

And although that about sums her up, we can’t get enough of Kathleen Hanna! So before we go, here are 5 fun facts about this riot grrrl:

She invented the title of "Smells Like Teen Spirit". Referring to the deoderant, Hanna scrawled "Kurt smells like teen spirit" on his wall.

She battled Lyme disease. The chronic illness made it difficult & even impossible to play some days, but she was pronounced Lyme free 2015.

She was a hostess at a gay bar. Her signature hostess songs were The Clash's Should I Stay or Should I Go & Kool and the Gang's Celebration.

The biggest feminist issue to her is poverty "because if you're just trying to put food on the table, you're not part of the conversation."

"I want history to remember me...not as the first black woman to have made a bid for the presidency of the United States, but as a black woman who lived in the 20th century and who dared to be herself. I want to be remembered as a catalyst for change in America."

Happy Moxie Monthly again! Although there's plenty of progress to be made ahead, we've come a long way. And it's always important to remember those who blazed the trail for us. Before Obama or Hillary, there was Shirley Chisholm: first black congresswoman, first black woman to run for president, and founder of the Black Congressional Caucus.

Chisholm was born to Barbadian immigrants in Brooklyn, New York. At 5, she moved to Barbados to live with her grandmother and attend school. Here, she gained a lifelong passion for education, strong speaking and writing skills, and her trademark West Indian accent. Her firm but loving upbringing instilled a strong sense of pride in her identity, confidence and dignity that propelled her to success.

She went on to study education, receiving a degree from Columbia while teaching at a nursery school. Eventually, she became a director at a nursery school, and was widely regarded as an authority in her field. Managing the school got Chisholm interested in politics and she began to volunteer at (predominantly white) political clubs in New York.

Chisholm was known for her fiery personality and excellent speaking skills. She ran on a platform of improved access to education, immigrant rights, women and minority rights, and benefits for the working class. She was fiercely anti-war, even when it was unpopular. She faced discouraging amounts of racism and sexism, received death threats, and had to sue to be included in televised debates.

Despite her tough exterior, she was a kind and caring soul. Chisholm surprised everyone when she went to visit her segregationist opponent, George Wallace, in jail post-assassination attempt. Despite their stark differences, they became friends and he even helped her pass a minimum wage bill through the House. After retiring from politics, she went back to teaching and volunteering. She toured the country giving speeches preaching tolerance and warning of polarization until she retired.

She couldn't join social clubs in college because of her race, so she made her own. "In Pursuit of the Highest In All" or IPOTHIA for short.

Her campaign slogan was "Unbought and unbossed". Even her opponents recognized her refreshing consistency and moxie!

She had a battle cry, too. She'd campaign by driving through neighborhoods and shouting, “This is fighting Shirley Chisholm coming through.”

She was well-loved by Latinos. She appealed to the large and growing voter base by addressing them in Spanish; a unique advantage.