Campaigner Gina Martin writes about how enthusiasm is key to her work
This article was originally featured in Issue 1 of VORACIOUS Magazine, but with the instagram post making the rounds again, I thought I’d share the full thing here. Gina Martin writes about how enthusiasm is the key to her work even when — especially when — the world is on fire…
When I talk about my previous work – most visibly my campaign to make upskirting illegal in England and Wales – one of the questions I get asked the most is “how did you keep going when it was really difficult?” My answer to this is literally never as #girlboss or inspirational as people may want it to be. I've never said that I woke up every day feeling powerful and "ready to take on the patriarchy”. Because I didn’t, it usually came down to a good support system, some therapy, early nights and crying a lot. But there was also something else that keeps me going and that's passion and enthusiasm.
You see, I need to do this work more than I want to do it. It’s a belief system not a job. I think people are worth fighting for. I care about people and I want them to be okay. I want us to see each other more than we do. A lot of the root of activism, organising and advocating is from a place of love.
Progress only happens if you have enthusiasm for it and a hope that things can get better, and the best educators and organisers I know have the kind of passion and enthusiasm that invites people in, in a way that shame or demand can’t. When we namecheck activism or campaigning we're really just talking about spreading ideas or experiences and getting people emotionally engaged with them, before harnessing that engagement to create momentum for change. I’ve watched many people talk, teach, conduct workshops, facilitate conversations, organise protests, and all the most effective ones have been people with enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is an energy you give out that people can't help but engage with. It’s entirely infectious.
That’s why I’ve always tried to keep positivity central to my work. I've never been a pessimistic, guarded or quiet person – not that there’s anything inherently wrong about those traits, I know some beautiful people who are – but it’s just never been in my make up. I've always been an open book, positive and energetic. I’ve always had an enthusiasm for life and everything that goes with it. Whether I'm working on hard topics, researching something that makes me sad, strategising, or working with young girls in schools I have to stay totally myself while ensuring that side of me is visible.
When I was working in parliament during 2017 to 2019, I found myself silencing that side of me. I wanted to assimilate into politics so they’d “take me more seriously”. Later, I realised that I’d internalised the idea that you can't do serious or important work if you're a joyful, bouncy, enthusiastic person. I now reject that. I've come to the realisation that the very reason I'm good at this work is because I think deeply about the world but lightly about myself. The reason I can get people on board is because of my enthusiasm, because of my positivity, and because I invite people instead of tell or demand. The world is a dark scary place a lot of the time, but lightness is what will get us to a better one. We can recognise hardship, suffering and inequality with the weight it deserves and still stay enthusiastic in our hope for a new world. In fact, without joy, enthusiasm, positivity and hope, we wouldn't be able to get there at all.
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Gina Martin (she/her) is a campaigner, speaker and writer best known for founding and running the national campaign to make upskirting illegal and changing English and Welsh law through The Voyeurism Act (2019). Three other countries have since followed suit. Gina also worked alongside Nyome Nicholas-Williams in 2020 to change Instagram’s global breast-squeezing policy. Her TEDx talk has half a million views on YouTube. Gina’s debut book, Be The Change* is a practical guide for activists starting out and she has written for platforms such as Stylist, Grazia, The Telegraph, World Economic Forum, Refinery29 among many others. Gina was named one of the Evening Standard’s 1000 most influential people in London, TIME Magazine’s #100Next Influential people, Stylist Remarkable Women of the Year. Gina is an ambassador for UN Women UK and Beyond Equality and advocates for regular people creating change in their communities.
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Instagram: @ginamartin @ginasinkgirls
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