These are dark and scary times, and it can be hard to hold onto joy. But it’s also difficult to motivate people using pure doom and gloom. Activism and action without considering our own happiness leads to burnout.
Since 2021, Becky Bullard has been encouraging playfulness, a spirit of mysticism and even sexiness in political action through Democrasexy, the organization she founded. Her first event was a “Texorcism,” a gathering to symbolically “cast out the demons” at the Texas Capitol who had brought on the state’s six-week abortion ban.
“We all dressed like witches. I had drag performers. We had a panel on abortion rights and a tarot reading for Texas,” Becky told me.