Reclaiming What’s Ours: Remixing Our History, Owning Our Future #7

 

There’s something electric in the air. A steady pulse, like a bassline rising beneath the noise. Women reclaiming what’s rightfully ours. Our work. Our names. Our histories. Our futures. Our Money. It’s not just a movement. It’s a mixtape of resistance and renaissance, and we’re turning up the volume. Reclaiming ourselves along with our time, energy and legacy.

Taylor Swift’s tracks were sideswiped. As was Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s style.

When Taylor Swift began re-recording her early albums to regain ownership of her masters, some saw it as a publicity stunt. But for many women, especially creatives, it was a clarion call: Own your story before someone else sells it. She reclaimed not just her catalog, but the narrative. That’s power. That’s IP sovereignty. Sister Rosetta’s style became what we all watched Elvis perform, videos of her just broke the mainstream in the past few years. That swagger? All Sister.

The original woman chess champion was sidelined.

In 1927, Vera Menchik became the first Women’s World Chess Champion—and kept that title for 17 years. Her story was largely sidelined until recently. Why? Because the spotlight wasn’t built for women back then. But we’re dusting off the archives now. The board is being reset.

Black women have been side stepped and used for research for decades.

Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman whose cells were taken without her knowledge or consent in 1951, has made one of the most profound contributions to modern medicine. Her cells, known as HeLa cells, were the first human cells to survive and replicate indefinitely in a laboratory setting. These cells have been used to develop the polio vaccine, advance cancer and HIV/AIDS research, study the effects of radiation and toxins, support in vitro fertilization, and even aid in COVID-19 breakthroughs. Despite the immeasurable impact of her genetic material, Henrietta was never informed, and her family remained unaware for decades until just recently. Her story stands as both a testament to the invaluable contributions of Black women to science and a stark reminder of the injustices that have often accompanied medical progress.

Indigenous women have been forced to assimilate and silenced. 

Zitkála-Šá (Gertrude Simmons Bonnin), a Yankton Dakota woman born in 1876, was a writer, musician, and activist whose legacy was long overlooked. After surviving the harsh realities of a missionary boarding school, she used her voice to expose systemic abuses, advocate for Native sovereignty, and co-found the National Council of American Indians in 1926. A classically trained violinist and powerful storyteller, she fought for Indigenous rights and cultural preservation at a time when Native voices—especially women’s—were silenced. Her story, once nearly erased, is now being rightfully reclaimed and celebrated.

Asian women have fought for their children’s education and against discrimination.

Another reclaimed story is that of Mamie Tape, a Chinese American girl at the center of an 1885 court case, Tape v. Hurley, after she was denied entry to a San Francisco public school because of her race. Her mother, Mary Tape, fiercely challenged the discrimination, writing letters and taking legal action that resulted in a California Supreme Court ruling affirming Chinese American children’s right to public education. Though largely forgotten for over a century, the Tapes’ fight laid early groundwork for civil rights in education, decades before Brown v. Board of Education. Their story is now being rediscovered as a crucial part of Asian American and American history.

Nobel prizes once awarded to men are finally echoing with women’s voices.

For decades, women’s discoveries were often sidelined, sometimes even stolen outright. Rosalind Franklin’s critical role in discovering DNA’s structure. Lise Meitner's work on nuclear fission. Jocelyn Bell Burnell, whose discovery of pulsars was credited to her male advisor. The list goes on. The curtain lifts, and the credits are finally being corrected. The truth has a way of echoing through time—and it’s sounding a lot like herstory, she-ritage, lega-shee or anceshe-try.

We are shouting, not whispering. And giving a lot of side-eye.

There’s a rising practice among Gen X women (hi, sisters) and all generations of women to archive our work, protect our ideas, and build for the long game. And we need to.

A reminder of what women couldn’t do until the 1970s

✅ Open a credit card in our names
Most banks required a husband or male relative to co-sign until the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974 was enacted.

✅ Get a mortgage without a male co-signer
Women often had to bring a husband, father, or brother to the bank—even if they earned enough to qualify for a loan.

✅ Serve on a jury in every state
Some states (like Mississippi) didn’t automatically include women on juries until the mid-1970s.

✅ Take legal action against workplace sexual harassment
Sexual harassment wasn’t recognized legally as discrimination until 1977, and it wasn’t explicitly named as such in EEOC guidelines until 1980.

✅ Attend Ivy League universities as undergraduates
Yale and Princeton didn’t admit women until 1969. Harvard and Columbia were later still (Radcliffe and Barnard were “coordinate colleges”).

✅ Keep their job while pregnant
Employers could legally fire women for being pregnant until the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978.

✅ Have access to birth control if unmarried
The Supreme Court case Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972) extended contraceptive rights to single people.

✅ Get an abortion legally in most states
Roe v. Wade legalized abortion nationally in 1973.

✅ Refuse sex in marriage
Marital rape exemptions were the norm, and it wasn’t explicitly criminalized in every state until 1993.

✅ Apply to military academies
Women were barred from West Point, Annapolis, and the Air Force Academy until 1976.

✅ Run the Boston Marathon officially
Women were banned until 1972 (though Kathrine Switzer famously ran unofficially in 1967).

✅ Take out business loans independently
Financial institutions routinely required male co-signers even for successful women entrepreneurs.

✅ Own property outright in some states if married
Certain states had archaic “head and master” laws giving husbands sole control over marital property—Louisiana finally struck this down in 1979.

✅ Serve in combat roles in the military
Combat restrictions persisted for a long time, but major openings began in the 1970s.

✅ Have equal access to athletics in education
Title IX, passed in 1972, finally prohibited sex discrimination in federally funded education programs.

There are more but isn’t that list already long and annoying.

My generation, Gen X (mostly born in the 1970’s), is was the first generation to have genuine autonomy, and in the past few years, with the Dobbs Decision and the overruling of Roe v. Wade, we are rolled back on bodily autonomy to just before we were born.

As we stare down the most significant transfer of generational wealth in history, much of it will be passed to Gen X women, and that wealth encompasses our creative capital, our businesses, our digital legacies, and our cultural contributions.

“Between 2024 and 2048, an estimated $54 trillion will pass from one spouse to another, rather than to children or grandchildren, in a wave of “horizontal” transfers that follow the death of a husband or wife. And more than 95% of that wealth will go to women. The money is coming from aging baby boomers and members of the silent generation, who have amassed a staggering sum in home equity, investments and other assets over the years.” - USA Today and Investment News

“Black women are already doing the work. We lead in education, entrepreneurship and civic engagement. We are raising the next generation while caring for the last. But labor without legacy is a trap. And pay without protection is a mirage.” - Jehan Crump‑Gibson, Op-Ed, Essence.

Watch a clip from Ida Liu of Citi Private Bank - talking about how women will control over 50% of the global wealth market in next 5 years - posted Dec 13, 2024.

Always follow the money.

That is why new laws, legislation, etc… are being “suggested” right now. Directly from the think tanks that have been thinking about this money and erasure for decades.

Wondering why the SAVE Act is being pushed to require citizenship paperwork for voting, risking the disenfranchisement of married women (65 million), renters, and older voters without perfect documents?

Wondering why the EARN IT Act threatens your online privacy and could censor reproductive health and LGBTQ+ resources under the guise of safety?

Wondering why over 4,000 books—many centering women’s stories, queer stories, and Black and brown voices—have been pulled off library shelves and are disappearing from classrooms in the last two years?

Wondering why proposed federal abortion bans keep surfacing, aiming to criminalize care even in states where voters have already said no?

Wondering why state legislatures are advancing personhood bills that define life at conception, banning many forms of birth control, and potentially criminalizing miscarriage?

Wondering why there’s a push to restrict or ban medication abortion with mifepristone, the most common and safest method?

Wondering why there are efforts to block the Equal Rights Amendment from finally taking effect?

You’re not imagining it.

These are coordinated attempts to erode our autonomy, silence our voices, and undermine our rights. And get after that money.

So let’s not just take back what’s ours—let’s amplify the stories and ensure we own our futures and our funds.

Here’s how you can start reclaiming today:

💰 Get your finances in order: diversify your assets, maintain thorough records, understand your rights, and ensure accounts and property are titled in your name.

✍️ Finish your wills, trusts and important papers: Wealth only transfers if you have the paperwork. Ensure legacy and generational exchange. Own your narrative. If you want your best friend to have that piece of art and bracelet after you are gone, write it down. Power of attorney, medical directives - do not let others make choices for you that would not be yours.

🤝 Join an investment or financial literacy group: Stocks and 401k are not my strong suit, but understanding my money is so I have forced myself to ask the questions, admit when I don’t know something and lean on friends and groups that do. Just like good health, bad financial hygiene is hard to come back from.

💿 Own your IP: Register your copyrights and trademarks. Don’t let your brilliance float unclaimed. Document your work as you create it. Keep detailed records of contracts, drafts, and publication dates. Use clear licensing agreements when you share your creations. Know where your content lives online—and who profits from it. Your ideas are assets. Treat them that way.

📚 Tell your & others’ stories: Publish your history and that of others in your family, friends, and field —on blogs, books, podcasts, and social media. Be your own archivist. Don’t let them erase us. Buy hard copy books for your personal library.

🧠 Know your worth: From salary negotiations to licensing deals, walk in knowing your value. Charge what your work is worth, not what someone hopes you’ll settle for. Protect your time with clear contracts. Set boundaries that honor your expertise. Claim the credit you’ve earned, and don’t apologize for taking up space.

🤝Join an organization: One that empowers you to protect your rights, amplify your voice, and stay informed, because collective action is how we reclaim everything. And you tell a friend, and you tell a friend, and so on.

❎ Get out the vote: Your vote is your voice. Please register to vote and encourage others to do so. Women starved and died so we could have this right.

🛠 Build infrastructure: Your website. Your mailing list. Your course. Your voice. Your photos—hosted by you. Create a digital vault to archive your work. Own your domains and platforms so you can’t be erased or deplatformed overnight. Invest in tools that protect your audience relationships. Automate your backups. Build systems that make your work discoverable, shareable, and secure. When you control the infrastructure, you control the narrative.

All of this is how we honor the women who came before us.

Speaking of, those who came before us, throughout my life, I’ve had the privilege of living on the lands of many Native Nations. These include the Odawa (Ottawa), Ojibwe (Chippewa), and Potawatomi of the Great Lakes region—nations of the Three Fires Confederacy—as well as the Miami, Shawnee, and Kickapoo peoples of Indiana. In the Pacific Northwest, I lived on the ancestral lands of the Duwamish, Suquamish, Coast Salish, and Muckleshoot peoples. My time in Northern California connected me to the territories of the Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo, while my current home in Marina del Rey is on the land of the Tongva (Gabrielino-Tongva), the original stewards of the Los Angeles Basin.

All of the matriarchs, wise women, ancestors, our Great-grandmothers, Grandmothers, Aunties, Sisters and Mothers fought to get us here.

They kept the home, stoked the fires, mixed the elixirs, built businesses in their kitchens, stitched quilts that paid the rent, marched for our right to vote, went on hunger strikes, got arrested, protested, took second jobs, paid for our college, taught us how to write our names and balance a checkbook, took care of a home after working a night shift, and how to stand up when the world said sit down.

Our daughters and all humans coming after us are watching what we do and how we are deciding to show up.

And in between, we are the bridge.

This is our moment to reclaim what’s ours. To take back our names, our ideas, our autonomy, our work, our stories, and our wealth—and to pass them on intact.

Am I constantly tired? yep. However every day is always a good day for hope, fight and a reclamation.

Press record. Let it roar. Turn it to eleven. Shred the old narratives. Share what’s yours.

This time, own the masters, fuck that word.

Own our unique, original stories that belong to us.

Women will save the world. There are more of us. Especially when we and our allies band together.

What kind of future do we want for ourselves right now and fifty years from now?

It is up to us.

Press Play. And pass it on.

Joy is resistance. Rest is strategy. Play is protest.

Empathy makes us human; action makes us warriors.

Grateful you’ve let my words find a place in your day.

Follow me on all the places: https://linktr.ee/heddamaven