I cant go to the #YesAllWomen rally in Seattle because traffic is a freaking nightmare. Just not up to that struggle after a long day with an early start. The conversations I have had and seen online today have been deeply discouraging. More men supporting the perspective that we somehow make all this harassment up. I wanted to go to the rally because when I was 22 I was thrown to the ground, kicked in the face and assaulted by two men because I did not respond to something they said as I was walking to work. Three years later I was at a party in Vancouver, and did not want to drink because I didnt know anyone there. A man - an artist whose work I still see float by - took exception to my refusing the drink he insisted on making me drink, threw me in a corner and pummelled me, smashing my glasses into my face. I walked 3 miles home at 1:30 in the morning. Neither of these incidents involved any sort of discounting of masculinity or refusal of any physicalities. I just did not do what these men expected or wanted me to do. And, I was assaulted for that. These - unfortunately - are not even the worst of what I have experienced in my 52 years as a woman who - at times - can seem stuck up. I havent ever been able to talk about one experience ever to anyone and I cant imagine I ever will. The comments I have read, today, have been horrific. I know there are wonderful, kind, gentle, loving men - but, not many of them are making themselves known in the conversations I am in. It should be overwhelming - good men should come running, right now. And if you are a good man - and you are staying out of the #YesAllWomen rising movement - Id really want to know why. Because we really need you guys, right now. I have never met a grown woman who has not been - on some level - at some time in her life - marginalized, discounted, humiliated, or assaulted by a man. It doesnt make all men bad - it makes all women sisters in a very awful thing. It should make all men grieve - and nothing less.
Posted on: Fri, 30 May 2014 23:26:46 +0000
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