The wayward movement began when Kathryn Newton’s character on Supernatural, Claire Novak, said this in episode 10.20 “Angel Heart” which started it all, “So what? This is some sort of halfway house for wayward girls?”. This sentence sparked a movement that changed and inspired many, many, people. In 2016, Kim Rhodes and Briana Buckmaster launched the first Wayward AF campaign with the company that is now called “Stands”. The proceeds from the campaign went to the charity Random Acts’ Dreams 2 Acts Nicaragua Project. This is the description of what the project is about right from the website: “In Nicaragua, being born in a rural community often precludes access to high school education and all the opportunities in life that come with it, especially for women. Many rural families practice subsistence farming and do not generate enough income to meet their basic needs even excluding education. The Free High School of San Juan del Sur gives these and other individuals who are excluded from regular schools a
chance at secondary education and a better life. In 2012, Random Acts fundraised to help them purchase a bus. In 2015, we set our sights much higher: a Center for Human Development which now serves as a beautiful campus for the Free High School. Our team of dedicated supporters raised money and took trips to Nicaragua every year from 2015 to 2018 to watch this dream turn into reality!”
The term wayward can be interpreted in many different ways. It can mean you’re bold, strong, kind, smart, looking, or lost. A quote from the Wayward AF campaign gives a very good insight into how important it is and what it can give to people,
“‘Wayward Daughters’ started as an idea for a “Supernatural” spin-off, focusing on the perspective of female characters. It grew into something much larger. It showed us that when we linked hands and formed a community we were no longer lost no matter where we were. It celebrated individual voices with a chorus we could all sing together, The term “wayward” took on a meaning of support and defiance. We proclaimed loudly that we were exactly where we were meant to be, we would survive with the help of each other, we COULD in fact, change the world”.
Then, in 2017 Kim and Briana launched another Wayward campaign with the company “Stands” again. This time the design on the shirt was “Way Strong. Way Fierce. Wayward (af)”. This campaign supported the charity New Leash On Life USA. This description of the charity is right from the website “New Leash on Life USA is a new generation non-profit prison dog-training program that saves the lives of shelter dogs at-risk of euthanasia and gives incarcerated inmates a chance for redemption. New Leash teaches inmates to train and socialize the dogs assigned to live with them 24/7, enabling these rejected animals to become highly desirable for adoption and creating real-world employment opportunities for our inmate participants upon parole. By rescuing each other, both human and canine graduates of the New Leash program can look ahead to a bright and successful future.” It was very successful and had a lot of support behind it right from the start of the campaign.
In a NerdsandBeyond article about Kim and Briana’s new campaign they had a little interview with the two of them, and I wanted to highlight on some of the things they said. First Nerds&Beyond asked “What are you most excited for with this campaign?” Kim said “I’m so excited to expand. More. Yes. Brave. Huge.” Briana said, “I think this is a really exciting time. Some of us have been told to be quiet for a really long time are finally getting the permission and encouragement to be loud and proud”. Nerds&Beyond asked “We just passed the 1 year anniversary of “Wayward AF”. Did you expect this kind of reaction from a campaign and for it to turn into an inspiring way of life?” Kim said “I really thought the chance to inspire and involve myself in genuine change had passed me by. I have never been so happy to be so WRONG.” Briana said, “When we first started the Wayward AF campaign , literally the first thing that came to mind was “we get to swear on a t-shirt?!!” That was probably what I was most excited about” Lastly, Nerds&Beyond asked, “Finally, what does Wayward AF mean to you?” Kim said “It is WE and never me. And it changes the world” Briana said, “To me, Wayward AF means choosing to embrace that which you’ve been told to believe is a flaw”. These quotes to me are very meaningful and important to the Wayward movement, and these are just parts of the interview. If you would like to read the rest of the article click here
However, before it was called Wayward AF, it was the Wayward Daughters Academy. In 2015, Kim and Briana released the very first campaign that had the design of Wayward Daughters Academy by Riley Santangelo, who has done all of the other wayward campaign designs as well. Another part of the shirt design was the words “Perfer Filla Errans.Tibi Cum Confectum Erit Pax” which is Latin and translates roughly to “When completed it will bear wandering daughter peace”. I thought this statement was very true to what the wayward campaigns are about. The proceeds from the campaign went to the charity Random Acts which is a charity founded by Misha Collins whose mission is “to conquer the world one random act of kindness at a time. We are here to inspire acts of kindness around the world both big and small. We provide a vast network of caring people with the encouragement and support they need to change lives for the better” which is directly from the Random Acts website here
Kim and Briana relaunched the Wayward Daughters Academy campaign in 2016 supporting Random Acts’ Dreams 2 Acts Nicaragua Project. Between the first campaign and the relaunch the campaign sold 3,606 items. This is what Kim said about the campaign from the campaign page, “Wayward Daughters is a collaboration and we elected to support Random Acts. I have personal reasons for this as well. I have been wayward much of my life. Often it was by choice, opting to be belligerently pursue the road less traveled because it led someplace I shouldn’t go. Other times it was by failure and I’d wind up sitting alone among the metaphorical thorn bushes, weeping and hoping for guidance. Or at least an end to the self-inflicted pain. I was judged, I was scolded, I was silenced, I was mocked, I was ignored…but there was only one thing that ever brought me home. An act of kindness. It cost me nothing to be kind. It gives me everything. And practicing kindness now includes how I treat myself. I still identify as wayward. But we all do, don’t we? A little? So supporting Random Acts seems a pretty logical thing for Wayward Daughters”.
This is what Briana said about the Wayward Daughters campaign, “Wayward Daughters supporting Random Acts seems like a pretty obvious pairing to me. The movement behind Wayward Daughters is inspired by the idea that we are all capable of finding our greatest selves. Every set-back, every time we fall, it gives us new opportunity to rise up. But doing it alone can be tricky. That’s why we need to band together to support each other. To be there to lend a hand when one of us is feeling too weak. My dream for Wayward Daughters is that it becomes a symbol to silently say “Go. Be you. I’ve got your back”. Random Acts is the perfect embodiment of such words. They are there to not only help you but to also teach and encourage you to help others. They are an incredible charity and I am truly grateful and humbled to have an opportunity to help them”.
What Kim and Briana said about the Wayward Daughters campaign and Random Acts is so thoughtful and inspiring. And I am happy to say that Briana’s dream for what Wayward Daughters becomes is a reality for me. It reminds me and inspires me to be a real, true, authentic me. That I don’t need to hide or change who I am, and that I have people who are there for me when I need it. The Wayward Movement has become such a big inspiration in my life and will continue to be a big inspiration in my life. I have always been an advocate for women and women empowerment. Usually choosing the topics about women for school projects. The Wayward Movement just wanted to make me advocate for women and women empowerment and equality and representation even more. It shows people that women are strong, and that women can do things. It shows young girls that they can do anything and be anyone they want to be.
To me, wayward has no definite meaning, it can mean anything you want it to mean. NerdsandBeyond wrote an article after wayward sisters didn’t get picked up for a full series. They gave fans a chance to say what wayward and wayward sisters meant to them, and why the show should have been picked up. This is the link to the article: http://www.nerdsandbeyond.com/2018/05/13/fans-share-stories-about-what-wayward-means-to-them/, and I wanted to highlight on some things a few of them said. Lauren, on twitter @angeltxmlinson, says “wayward means friendship, love, pride in who you are and being strong, no matter what that strength is”. Kaitlin, on twitter @TEAMFREEWILL, says “Wayward is more than a tv-show; it’s a movement. It’s about showing girls that they are capable of fighting their way through anything”. Lauren, on twitter @Lauren2926, says “Supernatural and it’s strong-lines have been so important to me personally, in terms a people I can relate to and finding ways to improve my mental health. As a young woman, I deeply admire the strong female characters”. Sarah, on twitter @WyldeFandom, says “I want wayward saved because it is more than a word, it is more than a tv show. It is a powerful movement. In a world where stronger female representation and role models are needed, this movement appeared and was given life by the many people involved in Supernatural”. Those are just bits of what the first couple of people in the article said about what wayward means to them. There are tons more in the article and I would recommend reading it and checking out NerdsandBeyond in the process.
Because of the wayward movement and the fans speaking and being very loud about what they want for the females on Supernatural; we got a back-door pilot for a potential spin-off based entirely around females called Wayward Sisters that would air in season thirteen of Supernatural. The spin-off would be about Kim Rhodes’ character, Jody Mills, being kind of like an adoptive mother to the wayward girls and give them a place to call home and someone to call family. With the help of Briana Buckmaster’s character, Donna Hanscum, Jody and Donna helped the girls and raised them, and taught them to be hunters.
The first wayward girl that Jody took in was Katherine Ramdeen’s character, Alex Jones, in episode 9.19 “Alex Annie Alexis Ann”. Not long afterwards in episode 10.20 “Angel Heart”, Sam and Dean sent Kathryn Newton’s character, Claire Novak, to Jody and just like she did with Alex. Jody took Claire in and gave her a home, a family. Claire was Jody’s second wayward girl that she took in. Then, in episode 13.10 “Wayward Sisters”, Jody took in both Patience Turner, played by Clark Backo, and Kaia Nieves even if it was for a very short time, played by Yadira Guevara Prip. Patience and Kaia were the third and fourth wayward girls that Jody Mills took in, and with help from Donna, they both gave the girls the things they needed, they helped them and taught them. Hopefully in the future, Jody and Donna will get to do this for more wayward girls. And we are not giving up on Wayward Sisters either.
Wayward Sisters began as a wish from the fans, and then it became a reality. The fans screamed their opinions and cheers for it and we were excited to finally see strong, badass females getting a chance. We tweeted our hearts content on twitter and did the same on all of the other social media platforms, Instagram, Tumblr, Snapchat, etc. We loved the back-door pilot in season 13 and were sure it was going to get picked up for a full series. But then the CW said no because they “did not feel creatively that the show is where [they] wanted it to be”. I did not agree with the CW’s reasoning to not pick up wayward sisters and so did many others as well. But we didn’t let that stop us.
We wore our wayward AF shirts, and we turned to different places like Netflix to pick it up instead and we made our voices heard. We found ways to make Wayward Sisters a tv show. There was a petition made to save Wayward Sisters that has over 83,000 signatures on it and is still gaining more to this day. NerdsandBeyond wrote another article, similar to the one that had fans talk about what wayward means to them. This time they had the staff at NerdsandBeyond talk about Wayward Sisters and here is what some of them had to say about it.
Emily said, “When Charlie died on Supernatural, I cried for a solid half hour. Like – just grieving. But I have yet to shed a tear, because as Briana said ‘We’ve still got work to do’. In the wee minutes of Saturday morning, it was announced that Brooklyn Nine-Nine had been picked up by NBC. Just 24 hours after being cancelled by Fox. If that does not tell you the power of the fans, I don’t know what does. This show is basically a living Tulpa – for three years we have been yelling about being Wayward and our favorite Wayward ladies – and we got new characters. We got a pilot. And I sure as fuck won’t believe we aren’t getting a season for a good long while”.
Olivia said “Wayward meant showcasing who save the day instead of being damsels in distress. For me, it meant finally seeing a woman who was the badass. I grew up watching so many shows and TV shows where the man was the fighter, the hero. I loved those characters, but I’m sick of it always being a man. Why can’t it be a woman? It can be, only network TV hasn’t realized that yet, sadly. Wayward also was important to me because it was often talked about having LGBT characters on the show. I know first hand what it’s like to struggle with your sexuality. To wonder what’s going on with you. To need help accepting it. I found that acceptance and peace with another show and another character. Thanks to that character, I have accepted my bisexuality. I hope Wayward Sisters would have more of these characters to help others who are also going through this. Not to mention, the LGBT community is vastly underrepresented, so any additional representation would have been much needed and appreciated.”
Alana said, “Wayward is more than just a show. It’s always been more. See, it started out as a movement. A group of people who spread the message, “Even if you’re off the beaten path, that’s okay. In fact it’s more than okay, it’s beautiful”, then it snowballed. It became an idea for a show, then through years of fan support, it turned into a pilot. We did that. Nothing will ever take that accomplishment away from us.”. Alana also made a documentary all about wayward, that includes interviews with Kim Rhodes, Rachel Miner, and a few others. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjqcW42S50I&t=
Deb said, “Do you want to know what Wayward Sisters means to me? It means being a part of something that was bigger than itself. It means seeing strong women, who were positive role models, kicking ass and saving people. They were doing it on their own, fully capable of taking care of themselves, and for once we were the heroes not the victims. Today, women are grossly underrepresented on television and in Hollywood. I was so proud of the CW network in making a quality episode with top notch female talent. I thought that the CW was going to break new ground for women everywhere.”
Kayla said, “It was more than a tv show, it was more than t-shirt campaigns. It always had been and it always will be. WE are more than a tv show. More than shirts. WE are wayward. The movement that wayward started will carry on long after the televisions have been turned off. And that’s what I will cling to The friends that I have made and the community that this movement fostered. And maybe in a way, that’s what is most heartbreaking about this. This movement was started with an idea, that spread like wildfire through social media, into our homes and onto our screens. We’d gotten a taste of it, loved it, and then to have it taken at the final precipice is…seemingly cruel. But, the Wayward Sisters fandom was founded in and by long time Supernatural fans who had finally found something that we felt we could be a part of and see ourselves in. Supernatural with always be the story of Sam and Dean, but Wayward gave us the opportunity to see ourselves on screen after so many seasons of what felt like being cast aside. For a show with a largely female fan base, the show has been less than kind to women over the years. Wayward gave us something we’d been hoping for so long. Representation, and a place at the table. Female characters who were wayward in every sense of the word. And though they were wayward, they’d found a place. Like we had through the wayward community.”.
Becky said, “Four years ago, in response to watching Charlie Bradbury (the women created as a reflection of the fandom) get brutally slaughtered for the sake of “story”, we decided we’d had enough. Enough of being used as a plot device. Enough of being called a “casual female viewer”. And so like a thunderous storm, wayward was born. We demanded a spin-off, a place to see the women of Supernatural stories played out the way they deserved. Not just two or three episodes a season, but in equal billing to its predecessor at twenty-three hours a year. But Wayward at its core is so much more than a television show. Right now, we face an incredibly tumultuous time in our country. A time when we’re seeing some of the social progress we’ve made get pushed back. Women and minorities have to fight for some pretty basic rights, some of which they’ve only recently earned. One of the biggest pieces to this puzzle is representation in the media. Television, movies, books – stories in any form – they give people a chance to see themselves reflected and accepted. Media has the power to normalize to the masses the stories of the marginalized. When people feel seen, feel heard, feel understood – they can move mountains. They don’t commit atrocities – they try to make things better”.
Tricia said, “As a women who grew up surrounded by other women who deferred to men for decision making and money making, I always felt like the odd one out. I was ridiculed, name-called, and shamed for having my own opinion and for refusing to shut my mouth when men thought I should. And let me tell you, watching Kim and Bri onstage – two beautifully, unapologetically opinionated woman was life changing for me. I saw parts of myself in them. So much so that I walked into that panel not knowing who the women were outside of characters in a handful of episodes of my favourite tv-show, and walked out of it with tears streaming down my face because I was so inspired by them”
Elizabeth said, “The wayward movement has played such a big role in shaping me and teaching me some very important lessons. It teaches us to know our own value, to embrace every part of ourselves, to not let anyone else determine our worth in this world, to recognize that we can be strong and vulnerable and beautiful and goofy and everything in between. We can fall, but our strength is in our willingness to get back up and try again”.
The wayward movement has helped people accomplish many things, the movement helps, changes, and inspires so many people. First with the Wayward Daughters Academy movement and campaign, then with the Wayward AF campaign, afterwards with the Way Fierce. Way Strong. Wayward (af) campaign, and now with Wayward Sisters. But this isn’t the end of the Wayward movement. It will continue to grow and inspire people. Because of us, Kim, Briana, and anyone else, boy or girl, who wants to be wayward. Tell me in the comments below about how you became apart of the wayward movement, I would love to hear your stories.
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjqcW42S50I&t= (Alana King's Wayward Documentary)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reYE35Ft5gg&list=PL6fg26bAQ2Uxg8lugErChOfhJljvhTZLj&index=8 (Alana King's informational video about Wayward)
https://www.change.org/p/the-cw-save-wayward-sisters (Petition to Save Wayward Sisters)
https://twitter.com/WaywardDaughtrs (Wayward Daughters Twitter)
https://twitter.com/rileyisokay (Riley Santangelo, Designer of the wayward shirts, twitter)
https://nicaragua.randomacts.org/ (Random Acts' Dream's 2 Act Nicaragua Project)
https://www.randomacts.org/