Dear Rachel Baxter,

You don't know me. I'm from a small town in Michigan but we do share the same name. As I was scrolling through my Facebook, your article A Millennial Response to 'Woman against the Woman's March' showed up on The Odyssey's page. My interest was peaked and so I read it. And let me tell you, I was disappointed and couldn't stop thinking about it. It evoked some strong emotions out of me and I will have to compliment you on that one factor. Other than that, I have no other compliments.

I am, however, upset that you decide to start off with attacking Stephanie and Brandi. There is a quote that goes, "When you resort to attacking the messenger, you have already lost the debate." You don't start off with a counterargument to their claims, you immediately jump in and call them a "disgrace to the functionality of democracy and first amendment rights." Which brings me to my next question, weren't they expressing their first amendment rights? Part of the first amendment does say freedom of speech through press.

To continue, if the women there didn't all have the same thoughts, would there have been a march? Yes, there were a few groups there who did not share the same views (such as Students for Life of America) but I believe Ms. Dolce was eluding to the fact that a majority of the women at this march had the same viewpoints. I do agree she could've used some different wording.

I, of course, went and read Stepanie's article and I don't see her name-calling. She does call out women for not being there when there were other women's rights issues going on. She does not once call any women a "disgrace".

I want to talk about your stance on Ms. Atkinson. A lot of people in this world have heard "You don't always get what you want." It is a true statement. I've heard this just in a different form, a line from Grumpy Old Men: "You can crap in one hand and wish in the other and see which one fills up faster." You don't always get what you want and it isn't a form of advice. It is not telling someone to give up. If anything, it makes a person want to fight more. And as you said, you are not a mother so you don't really know. We are taught not to speak confidently about things we don't know much about.

Then there is the line you quoted in your article that people at the march were "screaming profanities and bashing men." While I got my coverage of the march via social media and articles, I did stumble across one video showing two of the marchers confronting the group of pro-lifers at the march. They took a few of the signs and tore them in half, stating that they didn't belong there. While yes, this march was mostly peaceful, it did contain some extremists.

I do believe that we need to speak up for women overseas. We live in a country that gives us the right and privilege to speak up so why not use it to its full potential?

I only have one thought on your overall article. It feels very sarcastic. I was taught to accept the opposing argument with respect even if I think it may sound "stupid." Sarcasm is not the best way to get a point across.

Overall, I appreciate you sharing your viewpoint. If you were wondering, I was against the Women's March. There are several reasons I am against it. One, it did not stand for the "human rights" of every woman. (Go see my article about it if you would like to learn more about that.) Two, I did not agree with the "p*ssy hat" thing. It's actually kind of crude and some of the signs were too. I hope to be a mother in the future and I don't want my daughter to see those. It gives the impression that if you want to get your point across that vulgar language and items will help. It, in fact, does not. Third, we women are fighting so hard to be equal with men that we are losing our uniqueness. We are different for a reason. If we keep fighting to be "exactly same" then this will be a boring world.

I hope you have a pleasant day and keep speaking up for what you believe in. It is an act that is slowly disappearing.

Sincerely,

Rachel