Ashley Judd Reminds Women It's OK To Be "Nasty"

The earth was shaking in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, Jan. 21, and no, it wasn't because President Trump was speaking — but it was a little bit in regards to him. Ashley Judd praised nasty women at the Women's March on Washington, and as she did so, the amount of pride, passion, and grace that came through was almost overwhelming. It became clear while she spoke that being a nasty woman was not only a good thing, but it was the right thing to do as we march forward into the future. There is merit in nastiness and Judd came to preach its good word.

"My name is Ashley Judd and I am a feminist!" she proclaimed as she took the stage right as speaker Michael Moore was finishing up. Judd began her speech by reciting a poem from 19-year-old Nina Donovan, a Tennessee resident who clearly has her head in the right place. The poem, which first took aim at the potential toxicity of the incoming president and the world he may create, proposed that being a nasty woman did not mean you had to choose the negative, but rather sink your teeth into change and prepare to fight the system.

Judd began,

"I am a nasty woman

I'm not as nasty as a man who look like he bathes in Cheeto dust

A man whose words are a diss track to America

Electoral College-sanctioned hate speech contaminating this national anthem"

Judd, amping up her Southern accent to punch up the lines of Donovan's poem, roared into the microphone. She was not simply saying Donovan's lines, she was living them. She was speaking truth to power. And the more Judd recited, the more it became clear that there was a real need for change.

It wasn't until Judd got to the last part of Donovan's poem that the words became a mantra, a call to all who would listen, a means of imploring the sisterhood to rise up. She said,

"I am a nasty woman

A loud, vulgar, proud woman

I'm not nasty like the combo of Trump and Pence

Being served up to me in my voting booth

I'm nasty like the battles my grandmother fought to get me into that voting booth

I'm nasty"

You can watch the speech for yourself below.

Judd — who was also a speaker at the Bustle x Huffington Post Watch Us Run event on Friday, Jan. 20 — has been leading the political charge into the 45th presidential term with great aplomb. She is one of the few voices right now that is speaking loudly and using her visibility to draw women and men closer to her. Truly, if there's any woman who can remind us of the need to be nasty, it is Judd.