Caitlyn Cannon: Teen’s Yearbook Quote Goes Viral — Now She Bids For Spot On ‘Ellen’ Show
Caitlyn Cannon has done the impossible. The 18-year-old who graduated last week from Oak Hills High School in Southern California has come up with a yearbook quote that not only avoids the usual clichés, but hit on so many issues in so few words that when a friend tweeted out a photo of Caitlyn’s yearbook photo, the image immediately went widely viral.
Why? See it for yourself.
this is all I honestly care about right now pic.twitter.com/5J0YauhezN
— lil snowball (@casualnosebleed) May 26, 2015
For those whose browsers do not show the above tweet, here’s the text of Caitlyn’s yearbook quote.
“I need feminism because I intend on marrying rich and I can’t do that if my wife and I are making.75 cent for every dollar a man makes.”
Cannon, who describes herself in her Twitter profile as “really gay,” says she found the quote on the blogging site Tumblr, then modified it slightly to suit her purposes.
“While it would have been fun to submit something funny or silly, I think it was even more rewarding to submit the truth, and call some attention to it,” the teen wrote to the Cosmopolitan Magazine website — just one of many outlets that picked up on Cannon’s yearbook quote.
“Scrolling through the replies, I’ve seen a mixture of agreements and disagreements, although for the most part it was people saying ‘Yes!’ and getting excited about it, which was rad,” she comtinued.
Here is some of the online applause that greeted Caitlyn’s yearbook quote.
@casualnosebleed @marcoheichou This is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen in my life. This girl rocks so hardcore. — Rhetoric Femme (@rhetoricfemme) May 26, 2015
Bless that girl. #Feminism “@casualnosebleed: this is all I honestly care about right now pic.twitter.com/XOiTjXN4ii”
— Terra Clarke Olsen (@terrasum) May 27, 2015
@casualnosebleed @Kuliet4ever Beautiful! Years pass, styles change-but that’s a senior pic & msg to always be proud of @C_to_the_Cizzle! — Stacey Donelan (@Stacey4UHoos) May 28, 2015
@casualnosebleed @beckymatchett This young woman is my hero…
— Marrilee Wilson (@Myaleeza) May 28, 2015
The original tweet, from a friend of Caitlyn’s who goes by the Twitter handle “lil snowball,” had been retweeted nearly 7,500 times and favorited more than 10,000 as of Thursday afternoon — even though “lil snowball” herself has just 970 Twitter followers.
The quote manages to cover wage inequality, same sex marriage, and feminism — three complex and widely debated topics — in a mere 29 words. The few people who bothered to post negative responses on Twitter appeared to be mostly young men who denied that the very real wage gap between men and women in the workplace actually exists.
@casualnosebleed @Mrarkon if only that “75 cents for every dollar a man makes” stuff were true — blackmaniac (@blackmaniac) May 26, 2015
Sadly, gender inequality in workplace wages does exist and remains even today all-too-real, as the following map shows — illustrating that while the gap varies from state-to-state, in none of the 50 American states do women on average earn as much as men.
As for Caitlyn Cannon, she made one last post on Twitter about this topic, making a half-kidding bid to be a guest on the Ellen show.
So… I’m gay, now a poor college student, a feminist, and apparently a viral sensation… Can I be on the @TheEllenShow? #JOKING
— caitlyn (@C_to_the_Cizzle) May 28, 2015
[Image: Caitlyn Cannon / Twitter]
