Sam Maggs - Girl Squads: 20 Female Friendships That Changed History

There are some things you can only text to your best girl friends. You know the ones I mean:

If your date is bad Ill call you with an emergency

Can we see Wonder Woman for a sixth time?

I love you but you honestly cannot pull off micro-bangs

On a scale of one to ten, how angry should I be at the systemic erosion of my civil rights by the patriarchy

Will you come with me to the doc?

As girls and women, we live in a world that is incredibly difficult to navigate. And although many of us have caring, sympathetic men in our lives, there are some thingsno matter how many times we explain themthat theyll never fully understand: what its like to always wonder if youre being paid as much as the guy at the next desk whose work isnt even as good as yours; how it feels to walk home at night with your keys between your knuckles, wondering if your facial expression is tough enough to scare off assailants but not so tough as to invite aggression; the punch to the gut when someone on the internet threatens you with sexual violence just because you expressed an opinion about a superhero movie. Tell a guy about these and he might just stare at you; tell a gal and shell get it. These shared experiences help us befriend the girls and women around us. They link us with the kind of bond thats impossible to describe unless youve felt it.

Female friendship is a thing. So why does TV portray women as catty, competitive, and constantly looking for opportunities to undercut each other? Why do movies often feature a lone token girl (if there are any women at all) in an otherwise entirely male cast? Whats up with those weird, jealous feelings toward other women that we might get sometimes? And why doesnt the world recognize the amazing power that comes when girls and women team up, bond, and respect one another?

For starters, until very recently, it was the men doing all the writingmen who either didnt think womens stories mattered or, worse, were invested in keeping women in their place, which meant apart from one another. A tale of inspiring female friendship was just too empowering.

But that doesnt mean those friendships didnt exist. In fact, if we dig deep enough into history, we find that many women who pushed the boundaries and won victories did so because ofand not despiteother women. Who else would cheer them on? The first women to be formally educated, the first women to demand suffrage, the first women doctorswe owe all these success stories to women supporting women. Girl squads might be trendy these days (and its a trend I am 100 percent on board with), but theyre not at all new. These trailblazing ladies were the first, and arguably the most important squads of all.

Fortunately, the tide is turning. Everyone is all about the girl squad. Which is awesome, trust me! But its more than just a solid hashtag (though it also makes a great hashtag). Believing in the strength of women and girls banding together is a shift in consciousness. Promoting positive ideas about female bonding changes how we interact with our own buds. And the magic power of friendship can help us tear down the barriers that are holding us back.

So while society would rather see us compete against each other instead of care about each other, we dont have to listen. We can draw inspiration from historical gals whove lifted each other up and do the same in our own lives. We can connect rather than divide. Because why would we want to talk behind another womans back when we could compliment her sharp-as-heck winged eyeliner or her new career move and watch her face light up?

The girl squad is about supporting and believing women when they tell us their stories. Its about stopping the fight over the right to be The Girl in the room and insisting that we all have a seat at the tablefemmes of all ethnicities, races, classes, sexual orientations, gender identities, and abilities. Its about finally getting the women-dominated entertainment and media we are so desperate for (Oceans Eight, anyone?). Its about being more together than we are apart.

So lets rewrite the narrative by seeing how much the amazing girl squads of history have already done. Join me on this journey of lady solidarity, and bring your best girl friends along too.

Oh, and heytext me to let me know you got home safe, okay?

CHAPTER 1

ATHLETE SQUADS

It wasnt long ago that women couldnt even think about hiking up (or taking off) their skirts to swim, dribble, volley, or ski, let alone dominate these athletic endeavors with their incredibly kick-ass skills. So the groups of women who did band togetherovercoming discrimination to dominate on the field, in the water, or atop the courtdeserve some long overdue recognition (and lots of high-fives). Lets learn more about some of the raddest sporty squads of all time.

The Haenyeo

THE DARING FREE-DIVERS OF THE KOREA STRAIT

ACTIVE CIRCA 400 ADPRESENT

Many cultural legends tell of mermaids, supernatural aquatic nymphs with bewitching powers who swim the seven seas. Mythical? Hardly. Mermaids are real, and you can find them a mere hours flight from Seoul, on the South Korean volcanic island of Jeju. But instead of luring mariners to their deaths or falling in love with sodden princes, these mermaid-like women are amazingly brave (and amazingly skilled) free-divers known as haenyeo. And theyre even more badass than their mythical counterparts.

A word of Japanese origin, haenyeo can be translated as sea women, and these divers carry on a tradition that dates back centuries. Each morning, they head out across the volcanic island to the rocky shoreline; swim out into choppy, chilly water; dive down over twenty feet; and stay there for around two minutes while they grab sea life by hand. When they resurface, the haenyeo gulp air with a sharp inhale that sounds something like a dolphinand then they pop back under to do it all over again and again, sometimes up to six or seven hours a day. Every time I go in, I feel as if I am going to the other side of the world, 75-year-old Yang Jung Sun told