Pop-Culture | Posted by Elinor K on 07/22/2010

Femme Toxic: How To Be a Healthy & Environmentally Friendly Consumer

My name is Elinor Keshet and I’ve been an intern at FemmeToxic over the past several months. What’s FemmeToxic? Well, it’s a project that was started by Breast Cancer Montreal in partnership with Girls Action/Fille d’Action. It is a feminist, youth-oriented, and environmentally safe cosmetics movement with a focus on changing federal regulations.

FemmeToxic combines a feminist outlook with environmental ethics. It demands structural change and encourages its members and participants to question the products advertised to them and consumed by them. It is a unique cancer movement in that it caters to a younger audience of women unlike mainstream breast cancer movements. FemmeToxic believes:

“Every woman’s body is toxic, but it’s not our choice! FemmeToxic aims to raise awareness about the potential dangers of cosmetics and personal care products. We also seek to provide young women with the tools they need to create personal change and national legislative reform. Refuse to be ‘toxifed’! Demand safer cosmetics.”

FemmeToxic is a feminist group and was inspired by the advent of the women’s health movement. Through do-it-yourself recipes, “take action!” ideas, and gatherings of like-minded young girls, FemmeToxic encourages young women to take their health into their own hands. FemmeToxic pushes girls to question the motives behind pinkwashing cosmetics corporations and provides them with the knowledge to reject the unattainable images of beauty being thrust at them by the media.

My involvement with FemmeToxic began during the second phase of the project after its launch in September. I was to take the stated goals and aspirations of FemmeToxic and express them to others as a young activist in the service of the local and global community. My internship with FemmeToxic was a way for me to benefit from the value of the individuals, resources, and privileges that surround me at school and in my community. This summer technically marks the formal completion of my internship, but I’m still trying to lend my hand wherever possible because I’ve grown very attached to my little soap box. The completion of the internship illustrated the success with which I have managed to apply what I have learned and take my experiences, and make them a resource for others as an advocate and an individual.

My passion for the human organism is what brought me to this internship, but the internship itself allowed me to form the basis of a future in public health that I will one day be involved with. Through my internship, I have learned that to teach is not in the act of demonstrating or explaining. It is in motivating young girls to discover. And to motivate them is simply to treat them as successes even before they have succeeded. When a girl who never considered herself an activist, feels empowered enough to turn to someone else and share their discoveries, teach them and take pride in the things she has created, FemmeToxic has accomplished its goal one more time.

Some awesome Femme Toxic Resources:
Frequently Ask Questions – everything you need to know about being a healthier and more environmentally friendly consumer
Natural, DIY Beauty Products
The Toxic Twenty: The Top 20 Chemicals to Avoid
What You Can Do

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