In the modern day, obviously the best thing to do when you have strong feelings about anything ever is to articulate them in the form of tweets. While the President of the United States of America and I have this particular pastime in common, it was his insult during the presidential debates, directed towards Hillary Clinton that she was a “nasty woman” that kickstarted a new revolution. Two Scottish women are at the forefront of that – Heather McDaid and Laura Jones of the independent publishers 404 Ink who decided to reclaim this turn of phrase and put it on the front of a book of essays, penned by various different women who wrote about their experiences being a woman in the 21st century.

Here are some tweets from the night for your reading pleasure:

Post #NastyWomen thoughts: It felt so damn good to be in a room of people who were there in support of indie publishers and female writers.

For @404Ink to be able to create a feeling of community between strangers over our shared experiences of womanhood is so vital and inspiring.

Mel Reeve wrote about sexual assault but was able to talk about it in a way that was incredibly powerful and moving. There was a heavy weighted silence in the room as she spoke.

While I have not experienced what @melreeve has, hearing her speak put a weight on my chest that made me both want to cry and take action.

I found a lot of strength in her strength and in her candid, brutal honesty which will hopefully create a more open dialogue around it.

Claire Heuchan read from her essay about being a black woman and making space for yourself in the growing online world.

.@ClaireShrugged was able to open my eyes to a viewpoint that I’ve never considered before, shamefully, but I was grateful to hear her story

Jen McGregor penned ‘Lament: Living with the Consequences of Contraception,’ a brutally honest, sometimes humourous, thought provoking piece on the grave health implications that the jag has now had on her life.

I was in awe of how @JenBitesPeople laid herself and her experiences bare to raise awareness of the issues of the jag form of contraception.

Laura Lam, the American fantasy author spoke about her roots by way of her mother and grandmother, in which she told some incredibly personal stories about how the health systems failed them. I can imagine it must’ve been difficult to decide to speak about these stories – but we are all the better for being apart of her lived experience.

.@LR_Lam‘s advice to not let the skeletons in your closets be skeletons hit a particular heart string but I was grateful for the reminder.

Thank you to @heathermmcd and @laurafjones. May we know more #NastyWomen, may we raise them, may we listen to their stories; spoken loudly.

Also, you can buy the book here.