'Grab 'em by the patriarchy' and other signs for change at 2018 Saskatoon Women's March

Tucked within the crowd of about 400 people rallying at Saskatoon's River Landing Saturday morning, Nadia Ristau's sign couldn't help but stand out. 

"The future is nasty," read her placard, the words "future" and "nasty" splayed in pink sparkles.

Read on the surface, it appeared an ominous message.

But as Ristau explained, she was quoting an epithet used by U.S. President Donald Trump, who famously called his opponent, Hillary Clinton, a "nasty woman" during the 2016 presidential race.

More recently, he used the word "nasty" to describe the behaviour of San Juan's female mayor after last fall's Hurricane Maria.

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Ristau said she's simply reappropriating the word.

"It's trying to take back that comment and empowering us," she said.

'They hate us when we're strong'

The second annual Saskatoon Women's March — held in concert with similar marches all around the world — came a year to the day after Trump's inauguration, which prompted women to don pink "pussyhats" during last year's women's march.

But more recent movements like #MeToo and #Time'sUp are what moved local teenager Miriam Salvador to take part this year.

"It has affected so many people that I wanted to represent myself as a woman who wants all of this to stop," she said of abuse and harassment.

"Sometimes I do go to school and I see people that are being hurt and that actually affects me because I'm around them."

Salvador's sign read: "They shame us when we're weak. They hate us when we're strong."

"I'm really pumped for this. And I'm glad that we're doing this in Saskatoon since we're smaller compared to the ones in America," said Salvador.

"I'm glad we're showing the rest of the world that we're also doing this."

Stroller handle in one hand, sign in the other

The march began at River Landing and headed east along the Meewasin Trail.

Signs varied in tone from the droll — "My arms are tired from holding this sign since the '70s!" — to the bold.

"I am more than tits and ass," read one held by a woman as she steered a baby-carrying stroller using her other hand.

Angela Kempf, an American Democrat living in Saskatoon, anchored her Trump-skewering sign ("Grab 'em by the patriarchy" — a reference to Trump's comments about groping women) to a ruler she planned to later donate to a local school.

"There's so much to build on," she said of #MeToo and #Time'sUp. "The momentum is still moving.

"So many things are happening. There's no reason to back down now. And I'm so thrilled to see that so many other people here right in Saskatoon feel the same way."

People began gathering at River Landing at around 10 a.m. CST.

Speeches touching on the low percentage of female Canadian parliamentarians, and basic rights such as publicly dispensed tampons, took place over the din of construction work at a new condo, hotel, and office complex taking shape at the site.