Once upon a time we attributed what sounded ridiculous in the news to the Onion. Not anymore. The poor Onion. How can they manage to compare to the real news? Like this one: The UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) has selected a chair for the body that deals with women’s rights. Who might that be, you ask? Why, of course! The obvious choice when you want to talk about women’s rights: Saudi Arabia.
Read More“Well-behaved women seldom make history.”
So, today I have a haiku about women’s day. There are really no more words to write about the strange way we approach the subject of women…five syllables, seven syllables, five syllables. Short, to the point. I just couldn’t write more about it, not tonight. Perhaps…tomorrow.
Read MoreThe body was disturbing. Bruises covered the corpse, and broken bones bent grotesquely in ways human limbs aren’t supposed to bend. She was lying in her own blood, rapidly cooling on the carpet where she fell. No one had seen what happened, but a number of people heard. One neighbor took action, and called the cops. There was already a call in; the dispatcher was talking to the victim as her door was kicked in by a man who no longer had a key.
Read MoreI have a name.
It is not Honey.
It is not Sweetie Pie.
It is not Sunshine.
I have a name.
Use it.
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 MoreThe pussy-grabber is back.
We didn’t see it coming.
He roared back into office
Like a lion defending his territory.
Paula 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 MoreIf women were Dorian Gray,
Men would not look on us in scorn
For getting old.
They would not see our age,
Our faces as fresh as the day
We had the picture painted.
A 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 More I had a bad habit;
I wanted to kick the habit,
But it was so ingrained
It stuck with me
No matter what I did.