The Power to Drive Change: Activism as Self-Care for Loyalist Women

February 16, 2025

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February is LGBT+ History Month in the UK and the theme this year is Activism and Social Change. To mark this, we’re celebrating LGBT+ loyalist women who have used their activism to achieve amazing things. You can check out the series here. In this article we want to take a deeper look at the personal impact of activism, how activism is a form of self-care but also the importance of self-care for longevity as an activist.

“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation and that is an act of political warfare” Audre Lorde

Activism is itself an act of selfcare. Dedicating our energies to forwarding causes we care about allows us to find community, turns anger into positive action, and helps reduce depression and anxiety. Activism has the potential to be a particularly powerful form of self-care for loyalist women due to the high levels of discrimination and disengagement we experience. In our report We’re Still on Mute 98% of over 500 women surveyed had experienced discrimination because of their loyalism and 66% believed they could not influence change. Finding ways to engage in activism could tackle these issues by building resilience and creating a network of women to drive change together which might feel impossible to do alone.

Activism is a route to finding community

Finding a supportive community is key to activism working as a form of self-care and to our longevity as activists. Mainstream feminist activist spaces can be inaccessible to loyalist women. Academic research has found that in these spaces loyalist and unionist women were met with an expectation to prove their right to be there. This took the form of being “checked out” regarding their commitment to equality because they were loyalist or unionist women and included other activists attempting to trip them up or catch them out (Mukungu 2022:214). Her Loyal Voice was established to provide a safe environment where loyalist women can speak out, be heard, and create positive policy change. If you’re a loyalist feminist looking for a feminist home, you will find it with us. Her Loyal Voice has a range of options for loyalist feminists to become involved in activism.

Activism helps turn anger into positive action

For our report, We’re Still on Mute, all the loyalist women interviewed had experienced some form of abuse, harassment, or discrimination for identifying as loyalist. This included sexist, misogynist, and sectarian comments. The abuse was particularly virulent online, with the combined oppressions of misogyny, classism, anti-loyalist hatred, and sectarianism compounding the abuse experienced by loyalist women. Engaging in activism aiming to amplify the voices of loyalist women allows us to turn understandable anger at how we are treated into positive change for the entire loyalist community. It’s tough doing this alone so please reach out to Her Loyal Voice if you’d like to get involved.

Activism reduces stress, loneliness, and depression

The intersectionality of discrimination faced by loyalist women has resulted in sustained abuse aimed at intimidating, degrading, belittling, and silencing our voices. All of this understandably has a deleterious effect on our self-esteem which can have a corrosive impact on mental health. Low self-esteem can lead to depression and anxiety as well as the development of coping mechanism which can result in physical ill-health. Engaging in supportive activism can help us manage these negative impacts of oppression. An academic study found that activism was positively associated with social wellbeing whilst another academic study found that engagement in activism “resulted in clinically meaningful reductions in depressive symptoms and … an upward trend in measures of resilience”.

Watch out for burnout

Burnout can occur when an activist gives too much for too long. It can lead to physical and mental ill-health so be aware of the signs and keep a look out for yourself and your friends.

Lethargy
Irritability
Indecisiveness
Depression
Cynicism
High blood pressure
Exhaustion
Memory concerns
Helplessness or hopelessness
Anger and frustration
Inefficacy
Weakened immune system

One of the ways to prevent burnout is to remember that whilst activism is a form of self-care, you also need self-care to deal with being an activist. Being an activist is wonderfully rewarding but it can also take a toll. Change can take a long time to achieve and sometimes it can feel a bit futile considering what we’re up against. Activism is a marathon, not a sprint and you need to take care of yourself if you’re going to have longevity as an activist.

Self-care for activists

Below we’ve grouped some essential self-care ideas around three categories: Body, Boundaries, Buddies. We’ve included sources at the end so you can find out more about why these actions are recommended as well as other sources used in the article.

Body

Prioritise good sleep
Hydrate
Stay active

Boundaries

Be aware of your triggers and allow yourself to set clear boundaries around them. If an event or action is going to trigger trauma, you don’t have to take part.
Its ok to say no.
Have a clear idea of how much time you can commit to activism and make sure to balance this with leisure time to reduce burn-out.
Allow yourself to mute WhatsApp groups etc if you’ve just have enough for the day or want to secure some uninterrupted time.
Your social media is yours so block trolls and time wasters, working class loyalist women don’t owe anyone our time.

Buddies

Make time for friends that isn’t activist time.
Curate a social media feed that’s joyful. Many of us use our social media for activism and it’s great for that but it can also be a source of anxiety and limit our ability to switch-off. Consider establishing a social media account that you deliberately keep joyful. You could have a Reddit account, for example, where you just follow joyful subreddits.
Seek support from friends and offer it in return.
Be a buddy and let someone know if you think they should take a step back.

Learn more on Instagram @herloyalvoice, X @herloyalvoice, Bluesky @herloyalvoice.bsky.social. If you are interested in getting involved in Her Loyal Voice, please DM us or email herloyalvoice@gmail.com.