Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lily O’Farrell. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Lily, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

Something I’ve held on to all through my cartooning journey (and even before that when I was talking about similar subjects through stand up comedy and sketch writing) is trusting that if you’ve experienced something, someone else has probably experienced it too. If you have a funny feeling that something isn’t quite right, someone else will too. Once you trust that, it allows you to have the confidence to put something out there; for me this was cartoons pointing out examples of everyday sexism. More and more people started to share my cartoons because they identified with what I was saying, it made me feel less alone and I hope it made them feel heard too. It only takes one person to share something, for a wave of others to join them in support and agreement, and I think that’s how social change can happen. So the risk I’ve taken, and will always continue to take, is to trust that I’m not alone and that people will speak up with me – as long as I have the guts to take that first step.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name’s Lily, I’m a feminist cartoonist from London who publishes funny, educational cartoons online about the trials and tribulations of being a millennial woman surviving everyday sexism. Throughout school and into my first few years working, I was told by older men that I had an attitude problem. I now know that I didn’t, I was just arguing back against sexism. I studied Sociology at university but always had an interest in comedy. I spent a few years jumping around working behind the scenes in live comedy, sketch writing and waitressing. I was living in Melbourne at the time and had a ‘I’ve reached my limit’ moment. I was being sexually harassed by a horrible, creepy, sexist boss, and I’d had a long line of dating men who didn’t really see me as a human being. I drew one of my sketch ideas, based on an ex’s sexist comment towards me, and uploaded it online. People really responded to it, and the cartoons just started pouring out of me. It was such a perfect outlet for years of sexist interactions that I’d kept pent up, not knowing where to put them. I’d always liked drawing, but didn’t think I was any good at it. I soon learned that didn’t matter, it was the message that led the cartoons. Through practice and trial and error, I found a way to use comedy as a tool to make these difficult subjects more digestible. I describe it as ‘rolling a poo in glitter’. It’s taking something horrible but packaging it in a way that makes it more attractive, thus reaching more people. It’s now been 5 years since I set up my instagram account. I’m now self-employed and do all my drawing digitally. I’ve published a book of cartoons, appeared in newspapers, magazines and radio, published cartoons with Rape Crisis England and Wales and the Center for Countering Digital Hate, and I published an educational pamphlet about misogynistic extremism, aka incels, that’s now being used as a resource by the UK government’s counter extremism program.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

I really believe I wouldn’t be able to do this if I didn’t come from a middle class background. Having the security of parents who live comfortably in London has allowed me to work to live, not work to save. I earn my own money, but I think knowing that you can always fall back on them in an emergency gives me a freedom that lots of people don’t have. I was living in Melbourne when I was able to start drawing, and this was because the living wage was so high. I worked part time as a waitress which was more than enough to cover my rent, so everyone I knew had free time to pursue creative side hustles. I think if the UK had a universal basic income, more people could have creative careers. This might be wishful thinking on my part, so in the meantime I think a Labour government will do more to support creative careers and generally relieve some of the strain of living in a cost of living crisis. Until then, sharing your resources is a great help. I’m a mentor for Arts Emergency, which is a fantastic organisation that’s helping to break down the class barrier of creative careers. If you’re someone in the creative industry, one of the best things you can do is share your resources. Put aspiring creatives in touch with friends and colleagues, involve them in projects to give them credits, and hammer home that we need them! So much of having a creative career is just confidence, which I think privately educated people have an abundance of. The truth is that everyone is just winging it, so share some of the industry secrets and the tricks to faking it until you make it. Creativity is all about diversity, it doesn’t work if everyone in the industry is the same.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I want to make women feel less alone, and to give them the confidence to answer back. Aside from that, I want to empower people with the knowledge they need to fight sexism. People are smart and interested and full of empathy, there just aren’t many free, accessible resources that explain sexism in a fun and non-patronising way. So the more of those the better! Some TV producer once told me that feminism is for people that went to university. He couldn’t be wrong, it’s for absolutely anyone and you don’t need any qualifications or requirements to fight against discrimination.

Contact Info:

• Website: vulgadrawings.com
• Instagram: @vulgadrawings
• Twitter: @vulgadrawings