&Me: Spotlighting Chrissy Chambers and BriaAndChrissy

June 27, 2017

Inspired by our “Feminists&Me” tee, the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) continues its “Spotlight on Feminists” series by highlighting and honoring individuals who work to make a difference every day. NNEDV previously honored the women featured in this design: Sojourner Truth & Susan B. Anthony & bell hooks & Gloria Steinem & Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Read the rest of the &Me series here.

NNEDV: First, tell us about yourself – who are you and what do you do?

Chrissy Chambers: My name is Chrissy Chambers and I am a YouTuber, activist and performer. My girlfriend and I started a YouTube channel in 2012 where we make comedy, music, and activism videos. We try to make entertaining videos that make you laugh and educate you at the same time. To date, we are the most popular lesbian content creators online. We try to use this platform for change every day.

NNEDV: What are you currently working on related to nonviolence and/or gender equality?

CC: Currently I am working on advocating for revenge porn laws in the United States either at the federal level or state by state as well as advocating for laws in other countries as well such as Australia. I helped to get a law passed in Minnesota and in the UK but would love to see both of those laws strengthened.

NNEDV: What inspired you to do this work? What inspires you to continue it?

CC: I was inspired to do this work after becoming a victim of revenge pornography myself. In 2009, my ex filmed himself having sex with me while I was unconscious (my first time drunk) and never told me about it. We were in the midst of a breakup and he was upset but I never expected him to do this. Years later, once my girlfriend and I had our YouTube channel, where we advocate equality and anti-bullying, our fans alerted us to the videos being spread to our audience and I discovered that I’d been assaulted all those years before. He made 7 videos, and to this day we still have not been able to remove them fully from the internet and I don’t think we ever will. We’ve been involved the first civil lawsuit against revenge porn in the UK for the past 3.5 years and even once that is done, I will never give up fighting for justice for victims of this horrific crime. It ruins lives and almost ruined mine, I won’t be silent about this until it is not a problem anymore.

NNEDV: Let’s say you woke up this morning and gender-based violence had been completely eradicated. What are you going to do now?

CC: Wow, I find it hard to imagine a world like this but how I wish it could exist. If gender-based violence was completely eradicated, I would continue working on equality for women, be that equal pay, women having equal job opportunities as men, and getting more women elected in political leadership and lawmaking positions. I’ll also keep working on equal rights for the LGBTQ community as we have a lot of progress that needs to be made there.

NNEDV: If you could sit down over your beverage of choice with any person – living or dead – who would it be and why?

CC: If I could sit down and have a cup of tea with anyone, I think it would be Hillary Clinton. As the woman who came closest to becoming president and faced unrelentingly attacks on her character, family, and even her gender to get there, I would like to ask her about what motivates her to continue fighting for change even after a devastating loss. After having the pleasure of meeting her last year on the campaign trail and getting her support for my case and her promise to work on passing a US revenge porn law, I’d like to talk to her about continuing the fight for a national revenge porn law and how to go about it in this new political climate.