Several weeks ago, women across the country protested the inauguration of President Trump in a nationwide "women's march." These marches were attended by many female celebrities who spoke to the crowds about empowerment. Most memorably, Ashley Judd recited a poem written by 19-year-old Nina Donovan of Franklin, Tennessee entitled "I am a Nasty Woman." The speech has been hailed as "inspiring", "powerful", and "stirring." True, the poem does have power. But what kind of power and to what end? Words have meaning, and this particular word does not have a good meaning.
Webster's Dictionary provides six definitions of the word nasty as follows:
1 a: disgustingly filthy b: physically repugnant
2: indecent, obscene
3: mean, tawdry
4 a: extremely hazardous or harmful b: causing severe pain or suffering c: sharply unpleasant
5 a: difficult to understand or deal with b: psychologically unsettling
6: lacking in courtesy or sportsmanship
This is our rallying cry, our inspiration? This tells us that if we have been disrespected, we ought to be disrespectful. If our opponents are bad, we must be worse. We are tired of being objectified so let's make ourselves into objects. Is that really all that feminism has amounted to? The right to be obscene? We can do better than screaming obscenities in the faces of those with whom we disagree. We can to better than breaking windows and destroying property. We can do better than dressing up in costumes of our own genitals. In fact, isn't the entire point of feminism that every woman deserves to be seen as more than an emotional mess with boobs and ovaries?
No, we don't need nasty women. We need magnanimous and noble women who will bravely stand for the highest ideals. We must hold up the women who show us the best that we can be. The mothers who work day and night for their children. The scientists who work to make a better future. The coaches, counselors, and writers who help us to learn about ourselves and grow. We need women who stand in stark contrast to the injustice of the world, women who can silence bigotry with their superior bearing.
We need women of fortitude who will persevere in the fight. The women in the military and police; the mothers, wives and those in service who hold on to hope and faith. We need the women who live with disease, cancer, and mental illness. We need women who have borne hardship and tragedy. These women look bravely into the darkness ahead and know with conviction that the sun will surely rise.
We need impassioned women who will never stop working for what is right. We need women in our communities, our schools, and our government who will speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. We need women who are thinkers and inventors, women who see obstacles only as problems to be solved.
To every woman reading this -- we need you. We need your talents, your flaws, your unlimited potential. We need your laughter, your tears, your wildest dreams. There is something only you have that the world simply cannot go on without. Something that is just so perfectly you that no one else could ever even come close to replicating it. Maybe you know what that is already and maybe you are still figuring it out but you have it. So know this. The world doesn't need nasty women because we are capable of so much more. And it's up to us to go out there and prove it.
