I have a name.
It is not Honey.
It is not Sweetie Pie.
It is not Sunshine.
I have a name.
Use it.
“Well-behaved women seldom make history.”
Let’s talk about anger. It seems to be a topic I’m on quite a bit lately, but I can’t stop thinking about it. Something about the national situation…anger is everywhere. I want you to run these phrases through your mind. Angry white man. Angry black man. Angry woman. Note how they make you feel, your instinctive response. Most of us don’t mean to respond the way we do, it’s just…not instinct, not exactly. We’ve been conditioned.
Read More Women protested;
They asked for the vote.
They were quiet
And held their signs.
They passed out pamphlets
Asking how long must we wait?
Rage
Is what I felt the first time
A male hand touched me
Where it shouldn’t have been.
I was six.
I was reading recently about an incident in Spain, where the president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation was accused and found guilty of sexual assault. His crime? Kissing a female player on the lips without her permission. I don’t really have much to say about this case; it’s nearly two years old, and I wasn’t following it at the time. I would like to talk instead about the article I was reading, because it is a good example of a problem that is epidemic. The problem, of course, is the age old misogyny, but there is more to it than that. It is people who think they are progressive and enlightened, but their sympathy is all for the poor maligned male who received punitive actions for behavior they consider ordinary.
Read MorePaula stared at her hands; they didn’t look like hers. When did she develop old hands? She tried to force herself to listen to the judge; it was important. She checked to make sure her attorney was still there; he was. She tried to relax. It was difficult. She’d never been in a courtroom before. This one felt sterile and foreign; there was no warmth or character. It smelled new, probably part of the building the city had been doing.
Read MoreI hoped I would never have to say this again – President Trump. But here we are, a brand-new Women’s History Month, and the president is declaring a war on all things promoting women’s equality – as well as equality for other groups that do not include white males, or, as one of his cabinet said, ‘competent white males’. If only…
Read More All my life I heard
How smart you were.
You knew so much,
Or so it seemed.
You could spout facts
Like a whale spouts water.
Zoe applauded the loudest as Blaze walked across the stage and received his diploma. He worked for this day; she worked for this day. She was happy to support him, and glad that now he would start a new job and would be able to support her while she went to school. They made the deal the day they got engaged. “Fair is fair”, he said. She agreed. Now there he was, looking so smart in his mortarboard and gown, the honors sash draped across his chest like a beacon. She wanted to elbow the person next to her and tell them about his new job, an offer coming before he even finished.
Read MoreThe man was staring at her legs; even in the crowd, Donna could feel his eyes burning. She turned and glared at him; he grinned and gave her a thumbs up. “I definitely approve”, he mouthed. She turned her back, aware of him following, not sure it was safe for her to leave the crowded street and turn to her own street, a quiet, tree-lined residential street. Her neighbors were likely still at work. She wasn’t sure if they’d be much help anyway.
Read MoreOne characteristic we frequently hear when discussing women is “domestic”. What is domestic? It simply refers to family or home. Women have long had the responsibility for domestic work, or work done in the home. They have taken care of the home, the cooking, the cleaning, and the child rearing. This is nothing new; we all know that. For me, I am firmly locked in domesticity denialism.
Read MoreIn high school, I hated PE. Of course, nearly everyone hates PE, but some of us hate it more than others. Part of the reason I hated PE was being female in a mixed sex class. Trying to play tennis against the boys, or golf with the boys, or anything else was hard enough for the athletic girls. For the quiet, dreamy, bookish girls, it was a nightmare.
Read MoreA couple of years ago, a playwright I know had a play performed in a local theatre. This play presented an idea that a lot of people agreed with, including a great many women. One of the characters went into great detail about how to end violence against women…give every boy a kitten. What, you ask? Well, if the boy learns to care for his kitten, he will be ready to interact with a woman. He will learn to treat her like he treats the kitten, and everyone will be happy.
Read MoreI’ve seen a lot of changes during my life, some good, some not so good. Many changes I experienced were the result of work done by the women’s movement. Thanks to the courage of the women who came before, we were able to make the changes we wanted to see...and few of us ever thought we would lose them again.
Read MoreI don’t have much to say tonight. I am running down, and must have my batteries changed, or something. But I will write, and what I write tonight is a tribute to women who have made a difference throughout history. Women celebrated, and women unsung. Women who have worked to make the world better for someone, even if only for their own families, and done it without a lot of thanks. Women who have suffered abuse for their efforts, women who died for what they believed in, women who lived for what they believed in
Read MoreMany women start out strong in the business world, but fall behind. There are myriad reasons for this, though media often boils it down to “women just aren’t assertive enough”. Many anti-feminist polemics posit that women are demonstrating their innate inferiority where it comes to logic and business. Others just say it’s because women are naturally more nurturing, kinder, and gentler. Nobody really gives a damn what the actual reasons are; everyone knows their own preferred narrative, and will stick to it no matter how correct it is (or isn’t).
Read More Blender. Toaster. Range.
Dishes. Knives. Forks.
Bowls. Mixer. Oven. Spoon.
Pie plate. Cookie sheet.
Bread Machine. Microwave.
There is a conceit on the left that science is an imperialist, colonialist, western, white, male enterprise, and as such, we should stop doing it, or at least stop considering it important. I cannot possibly pick all that apart in a single essay, though many non-white, non-Western scientists have done their part to detail what an egregious insult this is. So I will deal with the male part.
Read MoreAs a woman moves,
I move.
As a woman thinks,
I think.
As a woman loves,
I love.
As a woman dreams,
I dream.
Why do I do this?
Write every day for a month,
A particular month,
The month of March.
Why?