When my
baby was born, I have to admit, I was over the moon that it was a girl. Of course I would have been happy if it was a
boy too, but I really wanted a girl. The
reason is because women are complex. Our
complexities make us magical, unique and powerful. I wanted the opportunity to bring to the
world an amazing contribution (stay tuned…she’s only 1).
Here’s what
makes me tired on top of tired. I’m not
one to just sit by and say nothing, when I see something wrong. I’m tired of being told not to get my
feelings hurt or not to be offended.
This is something said to me pretty much only by men. Dude, my “feelings aren’t hurt” and I’m not “offended”,
I’m fucking outraged!! That’s right! It’s
something so simple to you. You think
you should tell me how to think and feel, but you would never do that to
another man. If I say something, I’m
just another “liberal feminist”, which is term you fling at me like its monkey shit. As soon as I attempt to point out the failure
in your argument, especially with regards to women, I get the “Oh no, here we
go…”. This condescension, that means as
soon as I attempt to express my opinion (which I take great pains to make
educated) you have already tuned me out.
Or perhaps you’ll listen like a parent to a child and roll your
eyes.
You tell me
I’m easily offended and to not take it all so seriously. I’m not easily offended, I’m just not
offended by the things you think I should be offended by. I’m not offended by strippers or prostitutes,
or really the choice any woman makes with regards to her life. I’m am, however, offended by exploitation,
sex trafficking, and child pornography.
I’m offended by government officials attempting to tell me what I can
and cannot do with my body and making statements about rape such as:
“Granted, the percentage of pregnancies due to rape is small
because it’s an act of violence, because the body is traumatized. I don’t know
what percentage of pregnancies are due to the violence of rape. Because of the
trauma the body goes through, I don’t know what percentage of pregnancy results
from the act.”
Or:
“We do need to plan ahead, don’t we, in life? I have spare
tire on my car. I also have life insurance. I have a lot of things that I plan
ahead for.”
That’s right, I need to start planning ahead just in case
someone decides to rape me! I’m going to
need to teach my daughter the same. You
know because it’s just a part of life!! Like getting a flat tire!
I do and I am going to take it seriously,
because if I don’t, if I don’t say something how will anyone understand? How will we make things change? Should I be silent because you don’t want to
take it seriously? I have a feeling that
is the real issue here. Perhaps it makes
you uncomfortable to have to consider how complex these issues really are. Maybe you like your issues over simplified
and without compassion because it’s easier that way.
I heard
over and over again the argument that I shouldn’t support or like Hillary
Clinton as a woman because she chose to stay with her cheating husband. Well, thank you so much for man-splaining to
me what women should stand up for. Here’s
the thing. Not judging other women for
their choices in their personal lives is rule No. 1 in the feminist hand
book. It’s none of my business what she
does in her relationship with her husband.
How do I know they didn’t work it out, maybe they love each other so
much and support each other that it really didn’t matter, but the real point
is, who the fuck cares?!?! It’s none of my damn business. My favorite part of the argument was the
staying with her cheating husband because she wanted to further her
career. Okay, first of all that assumption
is so misogynistic I begin to feel violent tendencies. Second of all, if it’s true. Do you really think women are treated equal in
politics or… anywhere? You really think
a woman who left her husband after he cheated would have been able to keep her
career? Something she spent her entire
adult life working towards? Fought tooth
and nail for, because, as a woman, she had to work twice as hard to get half as
far? Hell no!! Seriously? Here’s your double standard. We shouldn’t vote for a woman who stayed with
her husband after he cheated but numerous men have been voted for and held
office after cheating on their wives, even when one was sick with a terminal
illness. These are often mentioned in
the news, very briefly but not really used as fodder against voting for them. Hell, I didn’t really hear women being told
they shouldn’t vote for Donald Trump because he had cheated on previous
wives. Why not, I mean, that should be
more offensive to me as a woman, shouldn’t it?
As far as I’m concerned Trumps cheating was the least of his offenses
towards women.
Sure, I’m
not really a fan of cheating, but when it comes down to it, it’s not really all
that important. Both women and men are
basically hardwired to spread their genetic material, it’s the biological imperative. Yes, I think cheating is wrong because it
lends itself to hurting someone else and lying but I’m hardly going to find it “offensive”.
You want me
to be offended by a woman who chooses to stay with her husband after
indiscretions, but not offended by a man who would rate me on my looks and body
on a scale of 1-10. You want me to be
offended by a woman who remains in her relationship but not be offended or
bothered by a man who brags about sexual assault and then acts like it was just
“locker room talk”. I should take a
woman staying in her marriage seriously, but ignore a man who has been accused
a rape. Of course, that’s far less
offensive, I mean, why would anyone take that
seriously? She’s probably lying anyway,
right?
I’m so
lucky to have you to tell me what a woman should be “offended” by!!
I really
love being told that my support for a woman president was because she was a
woman! Really? So, of course her gender was clearly the most
important thing to me, I wonder where she bought her pants suit and who does
her hair!! Of course, I’m a woman, I don’t
research the issues and look into the candidates and research in depth the
bullshit claims. Did I assume you voted
for Trump because you’re a racist, bigoted, xenophobe? No, because that gross generalization would
be insulting! I am curious as to how you can ignore and not take “seriously” those
sentiments he regularly expressed during his campaign and even before, but
perhaps you thought other issues were more important.
Oh, and I’m sorry if I “offended” anyone, you must be over
sensitive easily offended…