Bitcoin is a feminist movement. Notice that I didn’t say only a feminist movement. Bitcoin is no more political than math. The math works for criminals and the mother attempting to stretch her budget at the grocery store. Being math, it empowers anyone who uses it. This simple truth prompted me to take the time between prepping treatment plans and a walk in nature to share my thoughts. Truth is a difficult concept, promoting quick clicks adhering to preconceived notions. The simple truth is that bitcoin is a code replicated by all of the miners and nodes supporting Bitcoin and Lightning Networks. Information about Bitcoin beyond that truth has been cherry-picked to support an agenda. As critical thinkers, it is important to ask about the agenda of the person sharing the information.
If you still need to question my agenda, you should. Assuming that you started to read this article because you are a feminist, I encourage you to educate yourself about Bitcoin. I was a Peace Corps volunteer, served in AmeriCorps, and earned my Master’s in occupational therapy while working and raising two children with help from my husband. I have worked as a school-based occupational therapist with children with special needs for over two decades, voted as a lifelong Democratic, and wrote as a Bitcoin maximalist. My agenda is simple. I want a better world for children.
Language is powerful. To quote Isabel Allende, “I can promise you that women working together – linked, informed, and educated – can bring peace and prosperity to this forsaken planet.” Too often, Toxic Bitcoin Bros is tossed around when Bitcoin is mentioned on various media platforms. At first, I thought it was funny. I am perhaps the polar opposite of the visual image that expression conjures. I’m fifty-plus years old, soft-spoken, and buy most of my clothes at Goodwill to reduce, reuse and recycle. Then I realized that the expression did the damage. By allowing the term to exist unchallenged, I was harming the feminist movement I have advocated for most of my life. It felt akin to accepting that only men are good at math or that only men can understand money. Bitcoin is for everyone.
You are one of the few that the current economic system supports, and you believe that children will inherit a better world if we continue down this road. If so, you are incredibly fortunate. If not, I encourage you to admit that we have a problem which is a huge, out-of-control problem. My caseload has grown over the decades I have worked as a school-based occupational therapist. It is an objective metric that measures the number of children who need support to benefit from their education. You may have your metric, an objective or subjective illustration of how the current system is failing those in it. Continuing to support a system that isn’t working seems foolish and dangerous. We need a change.
In Bitcoin, we talk about doing the work. It is the way that code replicates. But it is more than that. As a part of the community, my passion for helping create a world better for children has found kindred spirits. This will encourage you to do the work to learn more about Bitcoin.
Learning is an active process of exploration. Too often, people read one article and then generalize a conclusion about the Bitcoin community from that one article. It reminded me of when my husband talked about Minnesota when we were Peace Corps volunteers in West Africa. Yes, Minnesota can be incredibly cold, and Minnesota gets to minus 20 below zero without factoring in the wind chill. But if I planned for my vacation to Minnesota based on that information, I would be miserable in July when temperatures get to the high 90s. My point is Bitcoin is more complex than a specific miner, influencer, community, or even country.
The following are women that are knowledgeable about Bitcoin. I encourage you to educate yourself and demand that those representing us educate themselves.
- Lyn Alden
- Margo aka Jen Urso, host of A Progressive View of Bitcoin
- Anita Posch, host of Bitcoin for Fairness
- Nicole Dobrow, host of Progressive Values and Bitcoin
- Charlene Fadirepo, host of the BitcoinInAfricaShow
- Damilola Odufuwa, co-founder of the Nigerian Feminist Coalition
- Heidi Porter of Bitcoin Magazine
- Saidah Gomez-Fleury of Foster Inclusion
These are just a few names to begin your journey. Fellow feminists, we are just getting started!
This is a guest post by Christine Bothun. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Satoshi’s Journal or Satoshi’s Entertainment Company.
