F.R.I.T.E.S is an awareness campaign that has just launched to start a new conversation around feminism in the south. Katie Cleary Fitzpatrick is the founder of this campaign, was raised in South Carolina and believes the south has a lot to gain from feminism and feminism has a lot to gain from the south!

On a personal level feminism helped Katie to experience a great amount of healing and personal growth. In Katie’s experience growing up in South Carolina the word feminism was a dirty word, and received only criticism from both men and women. She only began to really learn about feminism after leaving the south. In her process, as she moved past resistance and a commitment to being open, she discovered many of her beliefs about feminism were wrong. She even eventually grew to see it as a valuable tool for personal healing, and a school of thought that could contribute to a more free society for both women and men.

Over the last several years Katie has lamented knowing that others from the south have not been able to have the transformative experiences she was so blessed to experience. Furthermore, she believed that southern culture and southern women had a lot to offer to the feminist movement.

Eventually her heart’s desire gave rise to F.R.I.T.E.S (Feminists Raised In The Everlovin’ South)…and yes for those of you who are familiar with G.R.I.T.S (Girls Raised in the South) her concept was partially inspired by the popular t-shirt line.

In addition to being an awareness campaign, and the opportunity for a new conversation in the south around feminism, Katie’s hope is that it can also be a vehicle for fundraising money to support non-partisan organizations supporting women’s leadership and empowerment. F.R.I.T.E.S first fundraising goal is to fund 18,000 women completing the SheShouldRun.org non-partisan incubator designed to teach women how to run for office. This translates to selling 150,000 of their t-shirts on the Bonfire platform (https://www.bonfire.com/frites/) Their first campaign ends on Febuary 26th. Katie says they will continue to release new designs until they reach their goal of paying for 18,000 women to complete the SheShouldRun.Org Incubator. Save & Add To Library

Why 18,000 women? Katie says 18,000 is roughly half of all elected seats at the town level of government in the United States. Katie figured that was the perfect place to start bringing a more balanced perspective to the table.

75% of all revenue will go directly to sheshouldrun.org. The remaining 25% will be used as seed money for future projects to inspire uplifting change, foster deep community, and create opportunities for celebration.

In addition to being a source of fundraising for various organizations, F.R.I.T.E.S is campaign to start a new conversation around feminism in the south.

It is a campaign to:

– give a voice to the feminists who have been raised in the south

– give southern women the opportunity to experience the personal growth and healing that comes from studying feminism and women’s history.

– give feminism the opportunity to benefit from a uniquely southern perspective

– overcome myths and stereotypes associated with feminism in the south

– decouple feminism and feminists values from political affiliation

If you want to support the cause, here are 3 ways you can help:

1. Buy a tshirt: https://www.bonfire.com/frites/
2. Like the F.R.I.T.E.S fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/SouthernAndFeminist/
3. Share this post below with your friends and family