Can Your Conversations Change the World?

Can Your Conversation Change the World?, the third entry in the “PopActivism” series, written by activist, public speaker, and University of Toronto student Erinne Paisley, thoughtfully explores topics of equality and human rights. In the opening chapter, “A Different Type of Education”, Paisley shares her own experience of rising to social media fame in 2015 when she fashioned her prom dress out of old math homework, inscribed with the message, “I’ve received my education. Not every woman has that right. Malala.org”. The reactions weren’t all positive, and she received some criticism and even threats, saying she “was being too loud, that women don’t deserve equal opportunities and that it was not [her] place to speak out about other people’s rights.” Highlighting the work that still needs to be done, Paisley is committed to having “more conversations about what equality looks like, how it can be possible … We need to have conversations with those who agree with us and with those who do not … My hope for this book is that it creates a conversation – between you and me, between us and the world.”

Succeeding chapters take up that challenge and provide a brief history of feminism from 1893 to today. They examine some social media awareness campaigns (like #growingupagirl); question messages in popular culture; and explore ways to smash “the glass ceiling”. Paisley describes numerous projects, organizations and campaigns that are empowering people all over the world, including “Girls Not Brides”, a group that strives to end child marriage, and “She’s the First”, an agency whose mission is to “fight poverty and gender inequality by providing scholarships to girls around the world who will be the first in their families to graduate high school.” Paisley also profiles some of her favourite feminists, such as Buffy Sainte-Marie, Jazz Jennings and Gloria Steinem.

As in Can Your Smartphone Change the World? and Can Your Outfit Change the World?, the information presented here is engaging, conversational, and encourages reflection. Full-colour photographs throughout the book showcase diverse youth activists. Pop quizzes offer up talking points and discussion starters, like “How do you deal with online hate?”, and “How can you learn something from an opinion that is opposite to your own?” A glossary and a list of online resources are included at the end of Can Your Conversation Change the World?.

Erinne Paisley concludes her well-written book with these inspiring words for teens: “And remember to see change, share change and be change.”