Why I March....

On October 24, 2016, I voted early. I voted early with tears in my eyes because I was voting for a candidate that I felt was so immensely qualified - that also happened to be a woman.

 

A candidate I believed in so much, I spent months and months campaigning & volunteering for. I spent hours after work phone banking, doing signs - you name it.

When I shared that photo on a "Women for Hillary" supporters page -- for the sole purpose of chiming in on the "I voted for her today!" chatter --- the number of  men that came out of the wood works to inform me what a dumb, emotional female I am. How I needed my eyes opened, how women shouldn't be allowed to vote (because after all, women aren't very informed, they couldn't actually have done any research if they voted for Hillary!), how they should "show me" what a woman's REAL place in the world is. How I couldn't possibly be very intelligent or I wouldn't have voted for her. It went on for DAYS,  I couldn't log into Facebook without tons of messages waiting for me to harass me.

I'm sure I was supposed to be intimidated by these "men" hiding behind a computer attempting to tell a woman where they thought her place was.

All it did was make me angry. And it's been two months and I'm angry again.

I'm angry that I keep being told I should "get over it, Trump won!"

I'm angry that I continue to be told by men (usually privileged white men that don't have any worries about their rights!) that I have equal everything, that I should just shut up about all this. 

I'm angry that in 2016, Brock Turner was sentenced to 6 months (served 3) in jail for raping an unconscious 22 year old female. The victim was shamed for drinking & causing it to happen. And then that very same year, we elect a guy who brags about sexually assaulting women without their consent -but want women to shut up and accept it, there's nothing to worry about.

I'm angry that a man elected for the highest office in the country can publicly mock a disabled person & people want me to just stop talking about it and insist that's not what happened, that he was in the right.

I'm angry & I'm tired & I'm not letting people silence me.

I have nothing good to say about Trump. I of course don't wish for his failure. But I also won't sit back and "get over it" and let his horrific behavior be normalized, and ensure no one criticizes him.

As most of you know, my sweet Paige turned 18 last year. She's smart, feisty, with a ginormous heart - I'm so proud of the amazing young lady she's blossomed into. I don't know how I got so lucky to be her aunt, but I sure am thankful I am. Her future has been in my mind since February 28, 1998.

I am terrified that she is entering adulthood in Trump's America.  A time where a man can make a comment like:

"I'm automatically attracted to beautiful [women]—I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything ... Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything."

And still be voted President & his comments be laughed off as "locker room talk". That we should "get past it", that most men say things like this. (Since Trump's election, we've already had a man arrested for grabbing a woman's genitals.) We elected a President that commented he would expect his own daughter to quit her job if she was being harassed. He still stands by his tweet that sexual assault should be expected in the military if we're allowing women to serve.

THAT is who people try to tell me is going to better the country. For who, exactly? Cause it certainly isn't for women.

I won't "get over it". I will do anything under the sun to ensure that Paige can do anything she wants to do. That she goes through her life feeling respected. And valued. That she deserves - - and should demand -- equal rights. That she knows her body is hers and she deserves the right to choose what happens to it -- and that no man should touch her without her consent, period. That she should stand up for anything she believes in. I want her to break every glass ceiling that is in the way of wherever she wants to be.

It is for that reason that I joined sooo many others and marched this weekend.
2017 Nashville Women's March:

 

 

 

(I really thought my heart was going to explode when we started seeing so many Leia signs. I totally thought we might be the only Star Wars nerds with Leia signs at ours!)