Cake and Feminism: How The Sweet Feminist Created a Movement with Baked Goods
Becca Rea-Holloway, also known as @thesweetfeminist, has developed a following of over 150,000 followers on Instagram with her images of cakes. These are no ordinary baked goods, though; each cake is frosted with an icing message promoting different aspects of feminism. Rea-Holloway uses her cakes to garner attention, and then writes long captions sharing the issues women face today as well as ways we can take action to improve the lives of all kinds of women.
Rea-Holloway shared with DC Refined that “creative arts have always been these sites of community and resistance, especially for women.” Rather than simply write her thoughts, Rea-Holloway is creating colorful works of art that are attention-grabbing and creative. I also find it interesting that she has chosen baking, a stereotypically feminine pursuit. For decades, women were told that they should stay in the kitchen rather than join the workforce. Through The Sweet Feminist account, Rea-Holloway takes baking and gives it a feminist twist with the snappy quotes and statements iced on the cakes.
Here are a few of my favorite posts shared by @thesweetfeminist as well as how she has engaged with her community:
In this recent post, which gained over 17,000 likes, Rea-Holloway baked a cake stating, “Stop shackling incarcerated women giving birth.” Her caption explains the dangers women in prisons currently face when forced to give labor in shackles. She also calls attention to the fact that many states do not have laws that protect these women. Prison reform in general is a fairly controversial issue and one that is not often at the forefront of people’s minds, but now @thesweetfeminist has shared her message with her huge following so they can learn more about this issue.
Rea-Holloway also engages with commenters who have specific questions or concerns. One follower asked what people can do to stop the harsh treatment of women in prisons, and Rea-Holloway replied, “You can call your congress members and ask them to support H.R.6805 — the Pregnant Women in Custody Act — which limits the use of restraints on pregnant people who are incarcerated. You can also talk to everyone you know about why prison abolition is a feminist goal!” Not only is @thesweetfeminist using social media to educate people on the issues, but she is also providing ways for people to take action against injustice.
Rea-Holloway shared a beautiful rainbow cake with the simple word “DISSENT” on top. In the caption, she informs her followers that the Supreme Court is hearing cases on LGBTQ+ discrimination in the workplace. She also shares statistics on discrimination as well as facts about current anti-discrimination laws for the LGBTQ community.
To share this message with an audience beyond her following, @thesweetfeminist used the hashtag #RiseUpOct8. This drew the attention of the ACLU itself, who commented, “Dissent, our favorite flavor!” Both the hashtag and the engagement of the ACLU allow anyone who sees this post to find other information and resources on the Supreme Court cases.
Many of Rea-Holloway’s captions are long and contain lots of valuable information, however, sometimes she keeps it simple. This cake with the fun message “ladies to the front 2020” and the caption “mood for the foreseeable future” was extremely popular, with over 18,000 likes.
I think an occasional break from long captions can be a good thing, as not everyone can stay engaged with a paragraph-long caption. This kind of post keeps the account fun while still empowering women to participate in politics. I would definitely share this post to my own Instagram story since it is both cute and powerful — which is what I think @thesweetfeminist is really going for.
One controversy this account faced was when pop star Miley Cyrus used Rea-Holloway’s art in an image for a collaboration with Marc Jacobs and Planned Parenthood, without consulting with or crediting Rea-Holloway. While it was wonderful to see a message from @thesweetfeminist on such a large platform like Cyrus’s Instagram, it was extremely frustrating for Rea-Holloway’s work to be blatantly copied. While not on a cake, this is another feminist message that Rea-Holloway shared; women deserve to be properly credited and compensated for the work they do. Famous and powerful people cannot just steal from others.
@thesweetfeminist is a joy to follow on Instagram. Not only do her creations look delicious, they are also inspiring and informative. As her following continues to grow, more people will be aware of issues women face in our country today and ways that we can take action to improve the lives of women everywhere.
