We are in a raging war, a war that infects, that rots, that degrades the very core of every family in this country. It is a war that some ignore. It is a war some people feel every day in multiple painful moments.
The war on women, and, in an extension, the war on feminism, is something that this paper is rather acquainted with.
I will be the first person to defend any opinion that differs from mine. People need to have their voices heard, no matter what their voice has to say. That, though, has no bearing on my stance. I am a feminist—self-proclaimed, of course. I wasn’t baptized, nor was I brought into a cult, like some people here think.
On Wednesday, Donald Trump made it clear that this war is still active. I am pro-choice. I believe that I don’t know other people’s situations. I don’t know the women’s state of mind that has to make such a painful decision.
Trump, on the other hand, has other thoughts, calling for not only a ban on abortions, but also claiming there should be some sort of punishment for the women who have abortions.
Wow.
We as a society can try to rationalize this statement. “Oh he is just being ridiculous to be ridiculous.” “He wants votes.” No matter how we try to make this statement anywhere near digestible, we are reminded of a painful, and simple truth – it was said.
We live in a world of false promise. If I someday have a daughter, will it be my job to tell her that she can be anything she chooses to be, while also reminding her to not look too friendly to strangers, not to be too outgoing or to not travel alone? Will I perhaps give her the keys to my car when she turns 16, but in a troubling moment of realization also give her a can of pepper spray, “Just in case?”
Women are the prime target. Last Tuesday, a 15-year-old girl was pepper sprayed, and then allegedly “groped” outside of a Trump rally in Janesville, Wisconsin.
This child needs nothing more than the painful reminder she received; the world that she was born into, it ain’t fair.
Perhaps if she would have just accepted the status-quo and kept to the kitchen, she would be safely home, enjoying the “American Dream”.
“When a person tells you that you hurt them, you don’t get to decide that you didn’t,” Louie C.K., a step-on-your-toes comedian, once said.
When a woman says that a certain thing you say hurts them, you just can’t ignore that. You can’t just say, “Well obviously that isn’t what I meant.” In some ways you might be very right, but your statement was made, and it was offensive.
For us to actually change anything, we must work every day on this. I am not perfect, nor are you. We are each other’s checks and balances. I know that people might have differing opinions, but chose rather than being ignorant and sexist, to be enlightened and polite.
As we send off our generation into the real world, Millennials still have a lot of work to do. The fight is far from over for women. As men who are allies, as men who are not, for a lack of a better term, dicks, we must support and correct our behavior when necessary. This is a two way street: correct men who place men into the “man box” (if you don’t know, ask a feminist about this term). Correct anyone who sexually exploits women, men who see women as mere means, as objects to be controlled. This is an outdated way of looking at the world, and it only hurts our progress when people choose to be ignorant and intolerant to a world that they continually fail to grasp.