Here is the deal, I have been holding off on writing anything regarding the #yesallwomen posts but I cannot bite my tongue anymore. Yes All Women is important. It is so important because it really is ALL women who experience misogyny all the time. Don't believe me? Ask. Seriously ask any woman you know and care about. I can GUARANTEE she has been cat-called, harassed, asked for her digits, been told not to walk alone at night, been told not get too drunk at a party, been told to always walk with someone in areas that are not well lit, been taught how to carry her keys as a weapon, been told not to dress to provocatively so as not to be "asking for it", been taught and told how not to get raped or assaulted or mugged or robbed, been told she is pretty first and smart/skilled second, been told that being if she wants to be a mom she shouldn't work, been told her greatest purpose in life is to serve the men in her life, been told she's gotten something "just because she's a woman", been told she doesn't deserve something because she's a woman, been taught to say sorry when she's not, and it goes on and on. Ask her. Ask that woman you care for. I bet you don't even need to because we all know it's true.
In the past month I have read countless articles about this movement, about women getting acid thrown in their face for refusing a marriage proposal or arrangement, about men getting away with raping their collegiate classmates by painting her as drunk and promiscuous, about Matt Lauer asking GM's new CEO if she can handle being a mom and a CEO (something NEVER asked of a man), about 200+ girls being stolen from their school and the fight to find them being abandoned, about how "strong women" being written into films are written like 1 dimensional characters that have no purpose to the plot other than to support a man's role and that women still cannot be fully developed 3 dimensional characters-they're still the Madonna, Whore, or now Strong with absolutely no substance to them, about countless girls and women being assaulted. I am so sick of it. If you aren't then I honestly think you're part of the problem. If you aren't disgusted by all this misogyny and lack of treating females as EQUALS, then you, yes YOU, are part of the problem.
We need to do better and be better. We need to teach people not to rape not how to not be raped. We need to teach not to harass or cat-call, it's not okay. We need to teach that assault is not okay. We need to teach that no means NO, no exception to that rule. We need to teach that no answer means NO, no exception to that rule. We need to teach that lack of faculties means NO, no exception to that rule. We need to teach girls that they are smart, skilled, beautiful, and worth just as much as every other person on this planet. Smart AND beautiful. Not one or the other, BOTH. We need to teach everyone that everyone deserves respect. Men AND women. EVERYONE DESERVES RESPECT & HUMAN RIGHTS. I cannot emphasize the
EVERYONE part enough.
It's 2014 people. Wake up! This can no longer be acceptable and no longer be allowed to happen. We need to do better for our girls and we need to be better for our women. I absolutely refuse to allow this to happen anymore. I am standing up and fighting. I am so sick of it. I am disgusted. Women are people. We have full ranges of emotions. We are capable of every damn thing a man is. PERIOD. I am a mother. I am strong physically and emotionally. I am funny and silly and stupid. I am intelligent and beautiful. I am not perfect. I am capable of working and raising my child. I am kind and cruel. I am skilled. I am a person. I have it all. No one is allowed to tell me otherwise. And if I have a daughter, watch the fuck out because absolutely no one will tell her otherwise or suffer my wrath.
I want to take a minute to give the definitions of a few words that have been floating around lately.
Misogyny: dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women.
Feminism: the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men.
Notice in the definition there is one particular word that people keep forgetting-ingrained. There have been so many to say "misogyny isn't there or doesn't apply to everyone" and I have to say you're wrong. It does and it is. It is so ingrained in our culture and society and history that to say it doesn't apply to you is a lie. Accept that we've all been taught to devalue women, every single one of us (including and especially the women) and fight it. Fight against what has been ingrained in all of us. And to those throwing feminism around like it's a bad or dirty word-bite me. Seriously, bite me. It is an amazing beautiful thing and everyone, every single person on this planet,
should be advocating for the rights of women and girls. I know I am. I know that when that word is hurled at me like an insult I pick it up and proudly wear it. I am a feminist. I really don't want to know anyone that isn't. Women's rights are important and are being treated as less than so. I refuse to be told I am less than.
I cannot wait until the day everyone fights for women's rights, where everyone wears the banner of feminism proudly, where we teach not to rape or assault or harass rather than preventing them. I cannot wait for when women are finally paid the same as men, treated like they can be parents and CEOs or workers just like men, that women's educations are just as important as men, where they're not just women but just people. I cannot fucking wait. I will fight everyday until that happens too. So here we go, my dukes are up let's slug it out misogyny. I'm coming for ya. I know so many of you are out there with your fists up too so let's show misogyny who is boss. #YesAllWomen #BringBackOurGirls #Feminism
EDITED: We've now heard the SCOTUS decision on the Hobby Lobby case. I'm disgusted. Corporations are NOT people. Women cannot continue to be discriminated against. If you think that we aren't, you're so wrong. This decision is not about religious freedoms. This is really about keeping women from having control of their own bodies and their reproductive rights. Here's the deal, whether you are for or against birth control, the morning after pill, or even the choice about abortion this issue takes away your individual right to decide what's best for you and tell as Corporation it can make those decisions for you. It puts the power into the hands of Corporations and the wealthy 1% who own them. PERIOD. This is why I believe in Unions. This is why I KNOW Misogyny exists. This is another example in a long fucking line that says women get no say over themselves, their bodies, their lives, their education, their anything. Rich men do. "Religious", conservative, rich, white men do. GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY BODY. I'm angry. I'm worked the fuck up. You wait and see how many corporations now claim to be "religious" to start denying women's rights, you just wait. This decision sets a horrific precedent for corporations to get away with loads of bullshit under the guise of being religious. SC Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says it right in her dissent:
- "The exemption sought by Hobby Lobby and Conestoga would…deny
legions of women who do not hold their employers' beliefs access to
contraceptive coverage"
- "Religious organizations exist to foster the interests of persons
subscribing to the same religious faith. Not so of for-profit
corporations. Workers who sustain the operations of those corporations
commonly are not drawn from one religious community."
- "Any decision to use contraceptives made by a woman covered under
Hobby Lobby's or Conestoga's plan will not be propelled by the
Government, it will be the woman's autonomous choice, informed by the
physician she consults."
- "It bears note in this regard that the cost of an IUD is nearly
equivalent to a month's full-time pay for workers earning the minimum
wage."
- "Would the exemption…extend to employers with religiously grounded
objections to blood transfusions (Jehovah's Witnesses); antidepressants
(Scientologists); medications derived from pigs, including anesthesia,
intravenous fluids, and pills coated with gelatin (certain Muslims,
Jews, and Hindus); and vaccinations[?]…Not much help there for the lower
courts bound by today's decision."
- "Approving some religious claims while deeming others unworthy of
accommodation could be 'perceived as favoring one religion over
another,' the very 'risk the [Constitution's] Establishment Clause was
designed to preclude."
- "The court, I fear, has ventured into a minefield."
A minefield that is going to explode soon, you just wait and see. As Professor Farnsworth on Futurama states: "I don't want to live on this planet anymore." I really don't. WOMEN ARE PEOPLE. WOMEN DESERVE RIGHTS. STOP DISCRIMINATING AGAINST WOMEN. I urge everyone to stop electing the idiots who help put more idiots into power. Religion has no business in government. SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. You have every right to believe anything that fulfills your heart &/or brain &/or soul, DO NOT PUT IT INTO GOVERNMENT THOUGH. How can our Founding Fathers have understood this so well and in 2014 people have their heads so far up their asses they cannot understand this. Again, it isn't even really about religious freedom, it is an excuse, a big huge fucking giant excuse, to keep women down and in the home and out of the workforce. Think about it. If a woman can't control her reproduction, she will more than likely get pregnant, she will have to take leave (trust me you will even in the best pregnancy, labor, birth experiences), she is then out of work. Then it can and likely will happen again because remember she can't control it anymore, it's not her decision it's her corporation's, so there is more time out of work. What if she gets pregnant 3, 4, 6, 8, 13 times? Even if every single time she eventually goes back to work, think about how much time she out of work. Think she'll keep her job, honestly do you? Even with anti-discrimination laws she will lose her job, I can almost guarantee it. This is a huge step back for women's rights. It is. I'm sick of it. I am angry. I will speak with my vote. I urge you to as well. This is ridiculous. I know I am very liberal. I am pro-women's rights, I am anti-death penalty, I am pro-union, I am pro-equal rights for all genders and sexes and sexual preferences and races and ages and everyone, I am very very liberal. I get that. I am pro rights though. I pro the rights of everyone. I am pro the rights for WOMEN. This is ridiculous. I just can't with people anymore. Ugh.
