Promotional press photo via Women’s March
How can we escape the cycle?
Now, when something like the Women’s March takes place, and we functionally practice our first amendment right- a right which is constantly touted by conservatives as the highest and most sacred American value to be upheld at all costs- we are vilified. If we remain silent, we are complicit in our oppression, and we are thought to be relishing in our victim-hood. If we speak up, we are “special snowflakes” able to be offended at the drop of a hat, or delusional liberals, falling for whatever trendy brand of equality our fake news outlets have to feed us that week. And, at the risk of playing the ever-present victim card, it’s increasingly impossible for women to engage in politics without being roadblocked, one way or the other, by sexist beliefs that use our femaleness and implied or assumed feminism against us. In other words, we’re politically stuck because we’re women, but we’re becoming political women because we’ve, systematically, been stuck. So how can we escape the cycle?
This week there was an article from my hometown news source about the school board of a high school debating whether a gender studies class is necessary or “appropriate”. It brought home that local government is not just our first line of defense against allowing terrible things to happen on higher levels- it’s actually our access point wherein we can set positivity on an upward trajectory.
When Trump was elected, we rallied against him, hard. We felt angry until we felt hopeless, and it was then that we began to organize and realize that anger wasn’t enough. We needed to effect change as immediately as possible, and for many of us, that meant targeting our local officials, elected to act on our behalf and to work to carry out the will of the people in a manner that might be in their best interest.
2017 Women’s March, Washington, DC (Image via Kalistrya)
And because that hard work turned out to have failed to pay off (see: Jeff Sessions and Betsy DeVos confirmations), it felt like another devastating loss for our communities and for our country. Every defeat was another reminder that those at the top- the straight, white folks who voted in our current administration in the first place- were the only ones who were allowed to matter. But since then, something happened: we didn’t stop. We got madder. We got smarter. We got ready.
The aforementioned story about a small-town, wherein school board members, teachers, parents, and students gathered to discuss the proposal for a gender studies class, is a functional microcosm of what’s been happening on a national level. In this meeting, high school teacher Amy Kozel, whose proposed course would focus not just on the history of women’s achievements, but on the sociology and cultural implications and struggles of both genders, had to fiercely defend not only the content of a course like this, but her validity and value as an educator.
And because she’s a female educator seeking to discuss issues that are related to gender, the course was immediately dismissed by several (straight, white, male) members of the school board for not being “appropriate.” In fact, after John Dowling, one of the board members in opposition, expressed the sentiment that a class such as this wouldn’t be of any value for the students’ futures in the job force, Kozel took offense. His response? “Do you know how much sleep I’ll lose over your offense?”
If you’re a woman, this situation is so familiar, you’re likely cringing. And if you’re a liberal woman who’s been vocal at any point in the past 6-18 months, you’ve probably had interactions like this weekly, if not daily, and you are tired. You’re tired of men in positions of power, even on the smallest possible level, talking to you and over you with a confidence curated to assure you that you are worth less. You’re tired, because the fight to be regarded as a human being with inherent and equal value will not be accepted as anything but a hysterical political rebellion, especially by those who have had the pleasure of never needing to fight for that right. You’re tired that, in trying to advocate for what is best for our children, our students, our minority population, you’re surely setting yourself up to be dismissed or made into a joke even though that very refusal to be acknowledged is the reason you decided to speak up in the first place.
Promotional press photo via The Women’s March
But, just like our historical feminist heroes, just like our mothers of the movement, just like Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren and Michelle Obama, just like our teachers, we will keep trying. We have to. It’s the only way anything has ever gotten done. Taking a school board member’s ignorant instruction to sit down and shut up as definitive confirmation that our cause isn’t worthy is not an option. Accepting defeat as an inevitability because we are constantly reassured that what we’re fighting for is simple liberal propaganda or a trend or an impossible agenda is exactly what our opposers want.
It is why they behave the way they behave. It is why, historically, men have been unafraid to say and do whatever they please with no expectation of repercussion or confrontation. It is why boys are given the space to look for reasons why a rape was valid and justified instead of just not raping. It is why Mitch McConnell told us “She was warned” not as a declaration, but as a threat, as a reminder, as a mating call to other men like him, who can’t imagine a world in which their words aren’t effortlessly heeded. It is why we must remember, in the face of our current administration, our local government, our public officials, even our friends and family, that these people who will not acknowledge your voice, your struggle, and your goal are not working toward anything.
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They are not strong enough. Instead, in lieu of drive or passion or a belief system that extends beyond their own gain, they tell you “no.” In shutting you down without reason, in telling you they will lose no sleep over your concerns, they are not standing for anything; they are just standing against you. And we can, and we have, and we will stand taller, and louder, and fiercer, and smarter, and together. It is why, nevertheless, we persist.