I wrote the Facebook/Instagram message below this morning while reading post after post of a copied and pasted response to yesterday's participants in the Marches across the world. Over six million women, men, children peacefully marched in solidarity in Washington D.C. and over 650 Sister marches worldwide during the Women's March on Washington 2017. The post that irked me was being shared by relatively young white women many who consider themselves informed with a slight conservative lean.I don't think the women sharing the post understand and are only focused on this as being a response to a political disappointment.
I wrote this
If you don't like Marches, don't go.
The whining/complaining/maligning about women, men and children that peacefully marched is sanctimonious.
It is divisive when we must come together as a gender and a country. Hold space for those who do not feel equal or protected in their country even if you do.
You may feel equal to men already, some women don't.
You may not use contraceptives, or care how much they cost, or how easily it is to access them, some women do and do.
You may never need to safely terminate a pregnancy, but some women will.
You may not care if your salary is equal to a man in your exact job, a lot of women do.
It might not bother you that women are disproportionately represented in government, it bothers a lot of women.
You may never use paid maternity leave, a lot of women would.
This isn't about Trump or Clinton. Don't fall for that distraction.
It isn't about your singular experience as a woman. It is about all of us and the women who come after us.
You may not agree but you don't need to tear other women down either.
Rise above.
Hold space.
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| The official program for the March 3, 1913, National American Woman Suffrage Association’s procession in Washington, D.C. |
They don't know.
They do not know we have been able to vote for less than 100 years.
They don't know that the birth control they have apathy for was a crime to have or dispense for most of the 20th century.
They do not know about the Women's Liberation movement that began in the 1960s to give women equal pay, control over their bodies, and equal rights in the Law.
They don't know a husband could legally rape his wife until 1972 in the United States.
They do not know until women like my mother had to have her husband's permission to have a bank account. Or that my grandmother was placed in a orphanage so my Great-Grandmother could find a job after her husband passed away.
They do not know that contraception was illegal until after World War II and even still married couples waited until 1965 to have contraception legally.
They just don't know how long the fight was.
They take for granted rights and privileges that were fought for.
They don't know.
We know.
We see.
Don't allow distractions to separate our gender. White against black, Pro Life against Pro Choice. Conservative op-eds shared widely have painted a picture of exclusion and have help whip up the bystander and on lookers into a frothy self righteous frenzy. Division makes for good TV and shares on social media. They are counting on nullifying the unification from the March with the anger from conservative pro-life women that felt unwelcome at an event sponsored by Planned Parenthood, NRDC, Emily's List, NARAL Pro-Choice America, and other human rights groups.
They seemed to miss the point of the march entirely. Photos after show Banners of "Stop Killing Babies" and "Pro-Life Feminist" at the march show they did indeed come, they were not barred and hellbent on inserting their message in a Women's Rights March of limiting reproductive .
Women, do not be distracted by discarded signage, who from what group marched when, do not all yourselves to be divided, or who grabbed pussies or who you voted for. They are counting on that.
They know together we are stronger.
They know together we are powerful.
Together we are unstoppable.
Rise above.
Hold Space.
