What Does Dressember Mean to Different Participants?
What Does Dressember Mean to Different Participants?
One dozen 2023 participants share what it means to raise awareness to end human trafficking through this fashion-focused activist project
I spent the first half of December interviewing individual participants in Dressember, which raises awareness about fighting human trafficking around the world. Everyone participates for different reasons. Today, I wanted to round up the responses sharing what each of the people I’ve already interviewed say Dressember means to them. See all full interviews here.
“I was introduced to Dressember by a fellow military spouse friend while stationed in California and have been participating almost every year since then. To me Dressember is being a part of something bigger. Seeing individuals and teams come together for a common cause brings me so much joy. Learning the stats provided by the Dressember team each year emphasizes how important advocating for human trafficking victims is.” - Kristen
“I'm currently on a healing journey that has led me to realize that I am disconnected to be femininity. I think that I will be able to connect more to my femininity and put an intentional effort to take care of myself by wearing a dress or skirt for 31 days. And I can raise funds and awareness for a great cause while I do it!” - Brenda
“I am doing dressember this year to raise money for National Deaf Children’s Society. It means a lot for me to participate as the charity has helped my family over the last year coming to terms with my son being hard of hearing due to glue ear.” - Claire
“Dressember is not only a way for me to advocate for a cause I feel strongly about, but it allows me to do it in community - which I think is important. I am participating this year because it has become a part of my regular December traditions!” - Library Lady Life
“It means spreading God's love, speaking up for those with no voice, and trying to grant justice and freedom to the people trapped in trafficking situations.” - Naomi
“This is my 11th year participating in Dressember. It's a big part of what my December looks like. Every year, I find that I am learning new things that make me even more on fire for this cause. My first year participating, I didn't have any kids. It was my second year participating when I had my newborn in my arms, she was all I could think of when I read any of the stories about children. It should not happen to any child, and it needs to stop.” - Alysa
“Dressember is an opportunity to use my voice to do something good. The injustice of human trafficking is something we can all take a part in combating and I love the opportunity through Dressember to join a community to fight against it. I am participating this year as I've seen the good that has come from advocating through this movement and want to continue to do so.” - Kat
“Choosing to participate in the Dressember Challenge has been an important part of my healing journey in a number of ways. It feels good to be at the point where I can creatively inspire and give back.” - Kristy
“Dressember to me means opportunity. The problem of human trafficking seems like an overwhelming task to tackle, but Dressember makes it accessible. I have always cared about Justice issues and have always equally felt unsure how I could help. I met a girl back in 2012 who had been rescued from human trafficking. she had just graduated from a rehabilitation program, and I asked her what she was going to do next. She said she wasn’t sure, because she never thought she could have a normal life again. That broke my heart. But she had all sorts of ideas to follow up on and was genuinely excited for her new chapter. Meeting her and hearing her story was the big reason I started participating in Dressember. This year Dressember is kind of therapeutic for me. This is my eighth year doing it. I’ve had a year full of tears, and I looked forward to the familiarity of a December wearing dresses, participating in something bigger than myself.” - Justine
“Dressember was originally something I did for my sister because she was unable to wear a dress for a month but is very passionate about human trafficking. Every year I participate it is a reminder that even if I don’t *love* wearing a dress every day and it can seem like I’m screaming into the void, doing this is a symbol of solidarity and a way to amplify the voices of the marginalized.” - Christy
“It's a small thing that allows you to do something about what feels like an unwinnable war, and doing a little bit that joins with all the other little bits, eventually does a lot, which is better than screaming into the void.” - The Bearded Ladies Team
“Dressember for me means the opportunity to connect with a diverse group of people who are all creatively working to raise awareness about a critical issue. I am participating this year because I believe that there’s a unique opportunity here to amplify the voices of other participants by focusing the topic through my lens of the complex relationship between art and mental health. Being in community with people in this way is important to me.” - My response
If you believe in the power of creating an online library of resources related to the complex relationship between art and mental health including essays and interviews written from lived experience as well as historic and contemporary research, please subscribe. Only through your support can this work continue. Learn more here.
10% of all December Substack income goes to Dressember. For every five new annual subscriptions, I’ll immediately support another Substacker in their growth.