#Yes #IAm #AddingMyTwoCentsAbout #TheTwitterHashtag #YesAllWomen.
Maybe some of y'all have been hiding under a rock this week. In that case, let school be in session. On Saturday, a young man (who I will NOT reward by typing his name) went on a shooting spree at a California college, killing six beautiful people before terminating his own life. By Sunday, more than 1 million tweets with the hash tag #YesAllWomen circulated, as people sought to raise awareness about violence against women.
I don't blame you if your automatic response is "meh." Let's just be honest. Mass shootings are getting that common, where we no longer reel back in shock. Instead, we say, "Another one?"
So, why is this different?
Because this troubled terrorist went on a shooting spree because he hated women. Yup. You read that right.
He actually created a manifesto that said, "Women represent everything that is unfair in this world, and in order to make this world a fair place, women must be eradicated." Then he went on to recommend herding we of the female sex into concentration camps and killing us.
Go ahead. Chalk it up to a deranged, mentally ill man who was failed by the healthcare system. Obviously, at least part of this is true, but the things he was writing ring a little too true, paralleling the misogynistic slant society often takes. As the New Yorker so elegantly put it, "(this man's) hate of women grew out of attitudes that are all around us... perhaps more subtly, it suggests that he was influenced by a predominant cultural ethos that rewards sexual aggression, power, and wealth, and that reinforces traditional alpha masculinity and submissive femininity." (Read the whole article here.)
Now, chill your Cheerios, folks. I know that some of you are reading this and cringing. You're waiting for me to start yelling big scary words like "patriarchy!," "heteronormative!," or "misogyny!" Welp, I'm not even going to go there. Because there's a bigger, badder word to tackle.
Yes, I'm talking about the F-word.
I am a feminist. And if you have half a heart, you are, too. That's just pure fact, folks, and I'm sick of people pissing around when it comes to that word.
It's doesn't mean that you do this:
 |
| Not that this is the safest bra-burning choice... |
 |
| Yes, that's hair on her legs... |
It doesn't mean you feel this way about anything with a penis:
 |
| Although, in fairness, I've known a few... |
It doesn't mean that you want every lady you know to be into other ladies:
 |
| Bad news for the hubby... I noticed the puppy straightaway... |
It doesn't mean that you're destined to end up like this:
 |
| Although, I'd argue, what's so wrong with this? IF ONLY I could be so lucky! |
And it DEFINITELY does not even come close to being anything remotely resembling this bullcrap:
 |
| Just... just... no, sir. Stop tripping. |
This is what feminism is:
Oh, sure, Bekah, you say. If only it were that simple, you say. Like such a huge concept can be summarized so neatly, you say.
Fine. If you don't believe me, maybe you'll be more open to Commonsense Corgi:
Now. We've got that out of the way. We've got you to maybe, maybe, maybe start to think that the F-word applies to you. But you're not quite there. Welp, let me give you some not-so-subtle encouragement.
Do you have a girlfriend? A mother? A sister? A daughter? A friend who happens to be a woman?
Oh! You do? Interesting...
So, do you want your daughter to go through college, find a great job, be superb at it, only to find out that she gets paid a mere 72% of what her male counterpart earns?
 |
| Damn right, she does! |
Ok. That was a low blow, evoking both kittens and your kid. I admit it. But seriously. It's a real question. Should women earn less? Should women make up more than 50 percent (that's right, MORE than 50 percent) of the world population but only fill less than 20 percent of political seats? Should girls be HIV-positive at a rate 5 times that of boys, because girls are more likely to be raped? Should women make up 80 percent of all refugees, largely because genocide uses sexual violence and rape as weapons of war? Should a woman die every 90 seconds, mostly due to the fact that gender-based discrimination prevents her from getting the proper education or care she needs? Should girls be forced to be sex slaves or child brides? Should 70 percent of the population of people living in absolute poverty be women? And finally, should girls actually be less likely to reach adulthood because they have been aborted, killed, undernourished, or neglected because of their gender?*
Should these statistics be so unsurprising that you barely even look at the next image, because you already know what it's going to say?
I'm not kidding. I want an answer. Should women be treated worse than men?
If your answer is yes, then congratulations. You're an asshole. But if your answer is no, then you subscribe to the notion that women are people, too, and they deserve to live and thrive and help create a better world just like men can. Holy crap, folks! That's feminism. No, really, let me give you the definition that literally comes from the dictionary: "the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities."
So, ask yourself: Do I care about my daughter? My mother? My sister? My partner? Am I a feminist?
Look at this, and then answer:
THAT is the whole point of the #YesAllWomen movement. It's a cry, a plea, a complete and total humbling moment of begging folks to pay attention to the fact that women are humans, too, and they don't deserve to be treated the way they are being treated now.
No, not all men treat women like crap. Plenty of feminist men work their bums off to make the world a better place women. But enough people do treat women terribly, thus creating a serious problem. Which is why these tweets (a collection of which I've included below) are striking a chord and raging across the Internet.
I wish I had a wonderfully fresh perspective that would make you change your mind and claim your inner feminist. But you and I both know I haven't said one damn new thing in this post.
Because this conversation has been happening for more than a century, and it's all been said before.
Lucretia Mott said it when she argued in the 1800s for equal pay for women. Sojourner Truth said it when she contested that all women --- of any race, creed, ethnicity, religion --- deserved to be treated equally among each other and among men. Susan Anthony said it when she demanded that women should have the vote. Elizabeth Cady Staton said it when she insisted that women should be able to own property. Margaret Sanger said it when she fought for women's right to birth control. Margaret Atwood said it when she wrote about the weight of the patriarchy. Gloria Steinem said it when she decried sexual assault against women.
It's all been said before. And it will be said again.
Now, it's only a matter of people listening and deciding to act.
Peace out.
TWEETS WORTH READING:
-- Men’s greatest fear is that women will laugh at them, while women’s greatest fear is that men will kill them. -Margaret Atwood #YesAllWomen
-- Because in about 30 states, rapists whose victims choose to keep the baby can get parental rights, like weekend visitation. WTF #YesAllWomen
-- #yesallwomen because apparently the clothes I wear is a more valid form of consent than the words I say--#YesAllWomen b/c when a woman is assaulted we ask what she did wrong rather than standing up for her
-- Because society is still more comfortable with people telling jokes about rape than it is with people revealing they have been raped #YesAllWomen
-- Because even a 140 page manifesto by a mass murderer isn't enough to convince people that misogyny kills #YesAllWomen
-- Because this is a society that still teaches its girls how not to get raped instead of teaching boys not to rape #YesAllWomen
-- #YesAllWomen Because guys don't have to text their friends telling them they got home safely
Please, please, please visit twitter.com and read more. Please.
ARTICLES YOU SHOULD READ ABOUT #YESALLWOMEN (via feministing.com):
White guy killer syndrome: Elliot Rodger’s deadly, privileged rage by Brittney Cooper at Salon
Let’s call the Isla Vista killings what they were: misogynist extremism by Laurie Penny at The New Statesman
Masculinity, Violence, and Bandaid Solutions by Miri Mogilevsky at Brute Reason
Misogyny is Poison, and You’re Drinking It by Jess Zimmerman at The Archipelago
Elliott Rodger and the High Price of Misogyny by Danielle Paradis at Dispatches from Paradis
What Elliot Rodger Said About Women Reveals Why We Need to Stamp Out Misogyny by Liz Plank at Policy Mic
What a close read of the Isla Vista shooter’s horrific manifesto, “My Twisted World,” says about his values—and ours by Jeff Yang at Quartz
Elliot Rodger and Men Who Hate Women at The Belle Jar
Rightbloggers: Santa Barbara Killer Elliot Rodger’s Sexist Rants Have Nothing To Do With Sexism (Or Guns) by Roy Edroso at Runnin’ Scared
How ‘Pick-Up Artist’ Philosophy and Its More Misogynist Backlash Shaped Mind of Alleged Killer Elliot Rodger by Amanda Marcotte at The American Prospect
Pickup artists argue that “Game” is the solution to Elliot Rodger-style rampages. Here’s why they’re wrong by David Futrelle at We Hunted the Mammoth
The Power of #YesAllWomen by Sasha Weiss at The New Yorker
Elliot’s Entitlement by Cassie Goodwin at Brainy Femme
Elliott Rodger and the Price of Toxic Masculinity by Harris O’Malley at Paging Dr. Nerdlove
*All statistics used in this article came from the World Health Organization and RAIIN.
this is my favorite. next to the cancer post. but seriously thank you.
ReplyDelete