One small group of 50 members has blown up to over 3 million over the past month. And it’s all because of a particular woman in a pantsuit.
“Pantsuit Nation” started out as a tiny Facebook group of 50 friends who wanted to come together to comfort each other during and after the Presidential election.
According to The Nation, Libby Jones, 33, a mom to two kids and works two part-time jobs started the group to “encourage women to don Clintonian business wear on their way to the polls” but it went further than that. Chamberlain also said in the article that she created the group “space where people could be enthusiastically, passionately supportive” of Hillary Clinton—a friendly clubhouse of good cheer in an online campaign landscape scarred by hostility, abuse, and threats”. Basically a safe space for women and Hillary supporters to post excitement about potentially electing a woman as the President of the United States.
This one group has started a trend all over the United States and even the world. Almost every state in the country has at least one or multiple “Pantsuit Nation” groups on Facebook, including Kentucky.
Three prominent groups around Kentucky have been getting a lot of internet traffic ever since the election. People are turning to social media to cope with their side’s victory, whether they are a Republican or Democrat, and finding small groups to communicate with. Pantsuit Nation Eastern Kentucky, Pantsuit Nation: Louisville and Southern Indiana Chapter, and Kentucky National Organization for Women (Kentucky NOW) have received a huge jump in membership or “likes” since the election.
According to their Facebook page, Kentucky chapter of the National Organization for Women began in 1966, right around the time of the Civil Rights’ and women’s movement. This specific chapter was established in 1987 and based in Lexington. The Facebook group says “we fight for a variety of issues including but not limited to: constitutional equality, promoting diversity, reproductive freedom, ending racism, LGBTQ rights, economic justice for women, and ending violence against women. We support the principle that everyone should be equal under the law”.
Karen Dobss, Vice President of Kentucky NOW, says that the group has seen a major spike in membership not only on the social media accounts, but in person as well. She says the possibility of the spike is that women need a safe space to belong and help make changes to our community.
“Women are very concerned on both a state and local level that the rights our parents and grandparents have fought so hard for are in jeopardy. This group has been a safe place for women to come together and voice their concerns and become pro-active – which helps to empower them to speak out. We are coming together in various ways.”
One group member joined the Pantsuit Nation because it’s a more liberal community in a state that is so republican. Shannon Maple is a former journalist and not a Kentucky native, but has lived in Eastern Kentucky for over a year. She said the main reason she joined was is because she couldn’t express her anger over the election results without getting dirty looks or stares.
“One friend of mine and I had lunch right after the election and we were both so angry, yet we were whispering back and forth because we didn’t want anyone to overhear us talking about our support for Hillary. I’ve only been in Kentucky a year and a half, and it’s been a culture shock just how red it is here.” Maple said.
It’s not just the pantsuits that Hillary wears that women love so much, it’s Hillary and what she stands for and believes in. The pantsuit is symbol that any women can do a man’s job without wearing a skirt.
Maple went on to say why she voted for Hillary and what she fears with Trump in the next four years.
“I voted for Hillary for a number of reasons – I felt she is experienced, rational, her views align with mine more closely than Trump’s for sure. I’m very pro-choice, pro-women and children and I felt I could trust her to make those issues a priority. With Trump, I fear a lot of things – deportation and the ensuing breakup of immigrant families, restrictions on religious freedoms, restrictions on a woman’s right to choose and overall, just the basic lack of respect for women and people of color he’s setting as an example for our society.” Maple said.
A lot of women have felt outraged over President-elect Trump’s comments over women, POC, LGBT+ people, and others with disabilities. Some women in these groups turned to social media and found their voice in these groups, like a woman from Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Amanda Jones, 35, fits under most of the categories that Trump has made derogatory remarks about. She’s in the LGBT+ community, being in a same-sex marriage, and she’s a mother to a child on the autism spectrum. She is involved with three Pantsuit Nation groups; the national group, Pantsuit Nation Eastern Kentucky and Pantsuit Nation Middle Tennessee. Jones said she joined these groups to feel less alone in this election season. Jones says that groups are not only good for sharing each other’s thoughts but for helping people who are willing to donate to causes like Planned Parenthood or donating to local government officials.
Jones feels unsafe for not only herself but her wife and her son. “For the last 8 years I have felt safe here. I’m scared now. I expect worse than what I saw in 2004 after Bush was re-elected and my state voted to ban gay marriage” She continued. “I am really afraid for my son, he is special needs and he has two moms (and he was adopted). Scary stuff. At least he is green eyed and blond? I can’t believe I am even thinking that. His public school is very diverse and he worries about his friends. So far there hasn’t been anything ugly said, but I know some of his teachers were Trump supporters and it makes me sick to think what they really think of these kids they are supposed to nurture and protect”.
Jones said the support from the group members has helped her cope with the election and gives her hope and insight to the next four years.
Jessica Willoughby had been added to the national Pantsuit Nation group and saw that other states were creating smaller groups and decided to create a Louisville and Southern Indiana Chapter of Pantsuit Nation.
“I thought a Louisville chapter would allow for people to meet in person, so I created the page. I truly thought maybe 15 people would want to get pizza with me, but within 48 hours, it was pretty clear that I’d underestimated the number of people who felt the same way I did”. Willoughby said.
She started out with less than 20 members before the election and now has over 6,576 and counting members on Facebook. Willoughby said the reason she even thought about starting the group was because she seen so many women and people horrified over the results of the elections. Like other groups, she just wanted a safe space for people to communicate with each other. The group has also begun to create events to help march against discrimination on the basis of gender, race, sexual orientation across the Louisville area.
On outcomes of the group, Willoughby hopes America starts a movement similar to the Civil Rights’ back in the 1960s.
“I hope we learn how to effect political change. I hope we can create a movement that is too large for politicians to ignore. I hope we inspire women to run for office.”