women: like people, only not

The very real fact is that we stand on the cusp of a devastating loss of the rights of half of our population. I'm not just talking about abortion or reproductive freedom -- although those are both fundamental aspects of our freedom -- but our very right to exist as equal human beings in this country is under attack. It's actually been under attack for decades (in truth, that attack never ceased), but with the rise of Christian fundamentalism and the open flaunting of their misogynistic collective id, they are turning up the heat on the frog in hot water that is women's rights in this country.

I've got a few more links to add in that vein, that I hope you'll also read.

• We've been saying it for years: the anti-choice crowd isn't just anti-abortion, it's anti-contraception.
• And anti-woman, really.
• Everything you need to know to be a classy woman, as defined by a privileged white misogynist with entitlement issues.

The "Pro-Life" Movement -- now with more oppression for that fresh authoritarian smell!

FUCK.

I am sitting here so angry that I'm shaking and crying. Literally crying.

HHS Moves to Define Contraception as Abortion

"Pro-Life" Pharmacies

John McCain Thinks Rape Jokes Are Funny

Carnival Against Sexual Violence 51 [note: the carnival itself -- a kind of marathon of blogging on a single topic by like-minded, participating blogs -- is actually a must-read, and very pro-feminism, pro-choice, pro-everything good; it's the topics themselves that are headdesk-y]


And since now seems as good a time as any, some links I've been saving up for a huge post on feminism that I'm now too fucking furious to write:

• Rape just ain't what it used to be
• The Number is Eight
• "Nice Guys
• A Master Class in Sexual Entitlement (aka Anti-Feminist Bingo!)
• Anti-Feminist Bingo: The Sequel!
• Anti=Feminist Bingo! Card 3
• ETA: More on purity balls, which are exactly as heinous as they sound
  

Because I possess a vagina, a uterus, and breasts, I am expected to provide physical proof of a man's prowess and virility by bearing his children. I am not allowed to enjoy my body nor the act of sex. I am not allowed to engage in any sexual activity that is not expressly for the purpose of reproduction or for the enjoyment of a man. My virginity belongs to my father, until it is passed over to my husband. My job is to satiate any sexual hunger a man may express, whether I derive any pleasure from it or not, whether I want to or not, whether I feel like it or not. There is no such thing as rape, only unwillingness to cooperate. I am expected to bend over on command to service men and to do nothing but pump out baby after baby until my body no longer functions and I either drop dead from exhaustion or childbearing. There is no circumstance under which a termination of a pregnancy is permitted and if my life is threatened, I can be expected to be treated like any brood-mare. I am not allowed to work any job other than raising children, pleasuring my husband, and running a household efficiently and perfectly while always looking like a supermodel and with nary a cross or angry word. My only fulfillment as a woman is as a wife and mother. It's my duty to do anything and everything a man wants me to do, answer meekly only in the affirmative, never complain, always smile, never think for myself, never have dreams or hopes, always subvert my will for that of men and those of my children, teach my sons that it is their God-given right to treat their mother and their sisters, their wives and their daughters, and all other women, as their own personal slave, teach my daughters that their entire future will consist of nothing but pleasuring men in whatever way they demand and to do so without question.

This is my future.

NO.

If you do not want this future for yourself, your children, the women in your life, or anyone else, it's time to do something. Speak up. Protest. Donate to Planned Parenthood. Donate to Equality Now. Volunteer to escort patients at a clinic that provides abortions. Write Congress. Have that conversation with your neighbor. Call your coworker out on that sexist joke. Expect more. Teach your children. Be proud.

Refuse to allow this. Don't stay quiet. Stand up. Fight.