So, in a way reading much like Tomi Lahren, I’ve been seeing many high-and-mighty people complaining on Facebook that the Women’s March is just a bunch of “whining bitches who want more out of life” or that “women already have equal rights” or that “in other countries, women are beaten every day!”
I can’t even put into words how fucking ridiculous reading your ignorant posts are. I have to bite my tongue to restrain myself from fully lashing out and screaming in your stupid little comments bar.
I’d like to take this moment as a disclaimer, because I know people will get angry after reading this, that just because you post bullshit like this doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy your company or long for the day you unfriend me. I’m just writing this because I AM FED UP, DAMMIT.
When you say things like “what rights do women not already have?” did you forget that black women are…WOMEN? Did you forget about Latina women? Asian women, Middle Eastern women?
I know you didn’t forget about the Middle Eastern women that DON’T LIVE IN AMERICA, because a million people are sharing the images of chemical burn victims. In case you are unaware, it’s disturbingly common to hear about a woman who’s had acid tossed and poured onto her. The images are horrific.
But when you share images like this, you’re always doing it in a way to silence the struggles that women’s rights attempt to change in America. This is counter-intuitive. Feminism can and DOES arise in many facets and forms across the world and differs between countries because, hey, DIFFERENT COUNTRIES HAVE DIFFERENT POLICIES AND PRACTICES THAT ARE BUILT TO OPPRESS AND HARM WOMEN.
You don’t care about the victims of acid-burns. You’re just sharing the image to get feminists and other women in your life to shut up about the oppression they face. We care about the struggles women undergo in other countries, but just because we’re voicing the things we go through doesn’t invalidate them or imply that we are more important than they are. Mixing up the two concepts is dangerous, and if you’ve done it, you need to re-evaluate your priorities. Do you genuinely feel for the women who are living in this kind of hell, or do you just exploit their pictures to make the women around you feel bad?
Back to the U.S. Because you clearly don’t care about the disparities of race when it comes to women, I’d imagine you also don’t care about women who are LGBT. Oh, right, your voices last year when HB2 was passed were loud and clear. When a law passed, you felt cushy enough to cry wolf about potential predators in the “wrong bathrooms,” demonizing all trans women and non-binary people who felt more comfortable using the women’s restroom. I wrote about it here; feel free to peruse at your own bigoted pace. Over 260 trans people were killed in 2016, but you didn’t bother exploiting them to talk about the murder rates in Brazil or other countries. Maybe it’s because you hate trans women…It’s probably because you hate trans women. It’s also probably because you find the Middle East easy to exploit, because of the mentality you seem to carry with you that “all Muslim women/women in Islamic states are oppressed by the men there,” a tired old bullshit argument that carries no merit, makes you look ignorant, and hurts the Muslim women around you.
Moving right the fuck along, we come to disabled women. Do I even need to touch upon this? Disabled people are at a higher risk of assault (I literally just made an entire Facebook post about it full of articles and statistics proving it. Where are you statistics for the shit you’re saying? Oh, right, you don’t need them, because your voice is validated by the complacency set by everyone too apathetic to become informed about these issues. Trump loves you guys.) than able-bodied people. Imagine how that goes for being a disabled woman?
Sex workers also face a higher risk of assault, but you don’t care about sex workers because they “contribute to sexualizing women.” You don’t care about sex workers because they “leave themselves open to be assaulted.” You don’t care about sex workers because they “could be going out and getting an education.” But then you love to use them to joke about how you want to “stop working so hard” and “want to make a quick buck,” then turn around and use the word whore to describe them, angry and disgusted. Get off of your pedestal and get a reality check. You’re not any better than a sex worker, and that shouldn’t be a controversial idea.
I know I’m missing groups of people. I’m ignorant to most of the oppression women face! But when that happens, people need to strive to own up to it. When people rightfully call you out, you need to take accountability for your words and actions and listen and make a change in your behavior. I need to work on this. We all need to work on this.
But just because you’re uncomfortable with the idea that life outside your cushy little house is vastly more privileged than thousands of other women, doesn’t mean your words in your Facebook post are going to stop this movement. Women are going to keep fighting. Women are going to keep working to make their voices heard, and when I say women, I mean all women. Even the ones who you’re too uncomfortable to remember exist, and to know are suffering and struggling. Our movement won’t slow down, and your words aren’t going to end it. We do not have time for you.