The Sweet Feminist is using baked goods to address one of the world’s most pressing issues.
“Abortion isn’t a bad word.”
“You don’t have to justify your abortion to anyone.”
“Abortion is abolition.”
These are just a few of the messages gracefully piped onto creamy cakes by Austin-based baker, cookbook author, and pro-abortion activist Becca Rea-Tucker, aka The Sweet Feminist. With more than 200,000 Instagram followers and a community of over 5,000 subscribers to her Substack newsletter A Little Something Sweet, Rea-Tucker has become known for forming a community that merges her two most beloved passions: baking and leading pro-abortion activism efforts.
For Rea-Tucker, destigmatizing and praising abortion as a free choice hits home. “I had an abortion and it took me a long time to talk about it. Once I started talking about it though, I didn’t really want to stop.” Mix in the fact that she now lives in Texas, a state where abortions are completely banned, with no exceptions for rape or incest, she feels her voice needs to be louder now than ever before. She’s also “happily pregnant,” which serves as a cherry on top of the cake that is her stance.
We spoke to the social and women’s rights crusader about the inspiration behind forming a safe online space for destigmatizing abortion, why food and feminism is a natural pairing, and what she hopes you learn (and taste!) from her very first cookbook, Baking By Feel, a choose-your-own-adventure guidebook on how to process your emotions while making sweet treats.
Katie Couric Media: You started The Sweet Feminist Instagram account in 2018. How did this platform come to fruition and why did you see the need for more pro-abortion conversations on social media?
Becca Rea-Tucker: I was living in Washington, DC, at the time and I was running a little food blog just for myself where I was writing recipes. I had all of this anger because I was living in DC and Donald Trump had just been elected and I wondered how I could find a community. I thought to myself, “Well, I know how to write on cakes.” And so I just started writing feminist messages defined broadly on cakes and posting them on Instagram. It grew more than I ever expected and it’s evolved along the way. I found this community on Instagram where people were willing to share their abortion stories and I really wanted to be a part of that.
People are drawn to cakes, visually. It worked well on Instagram because they saw it and thought, “This looks pretty and it’s talking about how abortion bans at six weeks are bullshit.” So I think that mix of things that are pleasant while also being pointed works well to grab people’s attention. It’s approachable, more palatable, and interesting.
Walk us through the process of coming up with an idea, transferring it to one of your designs, and ultimately posting it on social media.
I start by asking myself, “What do I want to talk about?” You can really only fit eight words on a cake if you’re really trying. So I condense the message down to something that can fit on the cake but that’s why the captions are so important. I’ve recently made a move to Substack, which gives me even more space. I didn’t wanna be constrained by the Instagram caption so I’m enjoying longer form writing now.
You moved to Texas two summers ago, right at the height of Texas adopting one of the strictest abortion bans in the country. Not only are all forms of abortion banned in the state, but private citizens have been empowered to sue providers who offer the procedure. As a pregnant woman living in a state where abortion is so heavily restricted, what kind of feelings come up? What’s been the most helpful way to process them?
I would say that the South is sort of the place for organizers and people have been working on these issues and we’ll continue to work on these issues. Being in that environment has been really inspiring for me during this time. As a person who’s currently happily pregnant by choice, it’s scary. It’s scary for everybody. These abortion bans put all pregnant people at risk. The reality is that if there was a complication with my pregnancy, or if I needed to terminate the pregnancy, I would have to drive 10 hours to New Mexico to do so. Still, I’m not going to stop making my reproductive choices just because I’m living in this oppressive context. I feel very supported by other pro-abortion people in Texas and we will always help each other access abortion care. But it’s a nightmare for sure. The lack of abortion access in Texas is meant to instill fear in people. That’s very clear in Texas and it’s becoming clearer everywhere.
What resources would you recommend to individuals looking to help amplify the pro-abortion argument or who may be in a similar situation themselves?
It’s great to know how to help yourself and others access care regardless of these [abortion] laws. The best central place for figuring out how to access abortion care is by going to www.ineedana.com to see daily updates on the different laws. I also encourage everybody to learn about abortion pills and how to access them via www.abortiononourownterms.com. It has incredible information about the safety and efficacy of abortion pills, regardless of whether you’re taking them in a clinical setting or at home. It also provides legal resources because there is legal risk in managing your own abortion. Even if you’re living in a southern state, it’s always great to donate to your local abortion funds because they help people access care within their state and assist people traveling out of state.
What’s been one of your proudest moments using your platform?
I’m really proud of a project I started last year called Abortion Affirmations, where I film videos of me saying things that people might need to hear before, during, or after abortions. People have told me things like, “I had an abortion last week and I watched those videos when I was in the waiting room and they helped me so much.” Anything I can do to normalize and destigmatize abortion has the most meaning to me. When I had my abortion, I’d only heard one other person ever talk about their abortion before, even though it’s normal and common. So when people say they’ve felt less alone or more OK about their experience through this de-stigmatization work that I’m trying to do, I’m really proud. Abortion Affirmations empowers other people to be that support for their friends and family, as well. And I think it does spread exponentially. So it’s not just me saying these things, but it helps other people feel empowered to start saying them as well.
Let’s talk about your cookbook, Baking By Feel. You described it as a grown-ups-who-like-baking version of those choose-your-own-adventure books. Why did you want to incorporate emotions and feelings into your recipes?
Through therapy, I learned the difference between thinking about my emotions and feeling them, which opened up a whole new world for me and I thought to myself, “How can I get myself in a place where I’m able to feel the emotions rather than intellectualize them?” My therapist and I figured out that it worked better for me if I was doing something physical in the real world, something tactile. It just so happens that since I’m a baker, that worked for me. I see baking as a tool that you can add to your toolkit. So for the cookbook, I sat down and made a list of every emotion that I could think of, as well as solicited some from my Instagram audience. There are so many emotions. There are 65 in the book, and even then, I couldn’t possibly cover them all. But I tried to organize them into the big bucket categories and then narrowed them down from there.
Which recipe and corresponding emotion became one of your favorites?
I love cookies, so my favorite recipe is the maple cookies. I have a very specific idea of what a cookie should be. [Editor’s note: Becca’s version of a perfect cookie is soft with a gooey center and the edges rolled around in sugar to get that crunch. We don’t disagree.] I think maple is such an underrated flavor and with the maple cookie recipe, you’ve got a little bit of cayenne kick at the end. The recipe is paired with the emotion “moody.” As someone who experiences moodiness a lot, it’s sort of thought of as a negative thing. I wanted to lean into this idea of knowing that it’s fine to feel moody and you can work through that feeling by making these cookies.
Do you have any advice for first-time bakers or individuals who see baking more as a chore rather than a fun activity or stress reliever?
First, Baking By Feel is written for home bakers. I’m a self-taught home baker, so I rely a lot on tactile cues. For example, I want to know what texture I should be feeling and understand the smell I should be looking for. So I gave a lot of those kinds of cues in the cookbook to encourage bakers, no matter what their level is, to trust their intuition. The recipes are written to be simple and approachable and they include ingredients that you probably already have in your house.
What has baking and ultimately writing a cookbook taught you about yourself and about social activism?
It’s always been my dream to write a cookbook. I’ve been a home baker for a long time and I started out with these box cake mixes and learned how to bake along the way. Writing the cookbook was a fun process and it actually made me a much better baker. It also taught me that I don’t have to have just one dream. That’s sort of a big thing that I’ve gotten out of this experience. That I’ve done this thing and now I’m gonna keep dreaming and do something else.
I have this baking project that I’ve been working on for the past year or so called Play With Your Food. It entails adapting childhood recipes for the grown-up palette. While Baking By Feel talked about different emotions, I want Play With Your Food to focus on joy because it’s fun to do!
Becca Rea-Tucker is an Austin-based author, baker, and a “proud two-time winner of the Adams Morgan Apple Pie Contest.” She is the author of Baking By Feel, a cookbook designed to guide you through emotions while baking. Follow her account on Instagram at @thesweetfeminist and shop her pro-abortion merch, including magnets, ornaments, and bumper stickers
