If you happened to notice a lot of pink hats at the women’s marches in New York City and Washington, D.C., on Saturday, you’re not alone.
The knitted, pink, cat-eared “pussyhats” were inspired by Donald Trump’s claim, in the 2005 video that was made public weeks before the election, that he grabbed women by the genitals.
The Pussyhat Project began in November, shortly after Trump won the election and the Women’s March on Washington was announced, as a way to show support and solidarity among women.
The goal: To create a sea of pink at the Women’s March on Washington and provide those who could not make it to D.C. with a way to take a stand.
Organizers posted the knitting instructions on their website. Those who wanted to rock a hat but lacked the skills to make one were encouraged to seek out knitters who planned to participate. Some knitters held signs at the marches to let people know they had extra hats.
Upper West Side resident Denise Madison, 68, got her hat at Knitty City on the Upper West Side. Women were knitting the hats at the knitting supply store, she said, and giving them away.
Madison said she knit one herself, but gave it to her neighbor’s daughter.
“It was the symbolism,” she said. “I wasn’t going to make a sign; I thought it was important to have some symbol. … We’re seeing something that’s unprecedented in my lifetime.”
For Madison, it was important for to attend the march, because, she asked, “what else can you do?”
Janet Aziz, 56, said her college friend knitted her hat.
“There’s a lot of fear throughout my friends, my family, my children,” she said. “This march stands for many things.”
Aziz, from Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, said she hoped “the number of people, the number of hats” shows how many people “support the effort.”
Jennifer Kramer, 71, traveled all the way from Amherst, Massachusetts, to march on Saturday. Her sister’s friend knitted her hat.
“I had to be present. I could not stay home,” Kramer, who works as a university administrator, said. The hat speaks to Trump’s gutter language, she said.
Kramer is “embarrassed” that she even had to wear such a hat.
“It means a tremendous amount,” she said about being in New York City for the march. “I feel like I’m part of history.”
Washington Heights resident Rafael Figueroa, 35, is a professor at Colombia University and said his students knitted his hat.
“I feel I need to make a statement,” he said. “It’s part of supporting the concerns that many of us have about the administration.”
