Dear women of the US,
We have every right to be angry – every shred of anger, disgust, betrayal… all of it, is valid and justified.
Yes, SCOTUS has done their thing. Women’s bodily autonomy has never been widely practiced nor guaranteed – our government forced sterilization for a long time with Indian women and girls. Trans and gay women have long suffered in our country. Systemic poverty has denied women of color healthcare and childcare for generations. There are many examples – and I will say that I am less surprised that our government made it “official” that women lose bodily autonomy rather than guarantee it.
As we embark on our fight – please continue to learn how the loss of bodily autonomy and the government has oppressed women long before (and now after) Roe v. Wade and help fight that fight too. It doesn’t stop at healthcare – it reaches across images in the media, fashion, product design, marketing and countless other places. When it comes to our bodies our government and society has told us how we are supposed to see it, think about it, present it, dress it, feed it, move it, clean it, take care of it, pleasure it, love it, see it, talk about it, and feed it. Its been long that time women decide to own our bodies and make choices for (and only for) ourselves. Make this your fight and ours too.
As you express yourselves on social media and in conversations I invite you to keep going…
- Challenge status quo (hint: “just because” is a terrible answer) and push back.
- Ask about policies and laws that determine things about bodies (i.e. dresscodes, schedules, pain medication…) and work to change them.
- Go slow and be deliberate with your actions – pick one or two things at a time and work them all the way through.
- Remember that we’re challenging a design that was created for this – redesigning and changing it won’t be easy. As we win, we will fail many times along the way but the momentum will be there. That’s really going to piss ‘em off.
I have confidence that the Patriarchy’s time is up and that we, the women and our allies of 2022 and beyond will come together, figure out how to beat it and bring it down.