The Week When a Woman Wanted to Ban the Word Feminist and Other Misogynistic Musings

If my ability to vote and have equal pay and control my body emasculates a man, well the issue is with him, not feminists. I don't see any of these anti-feminists willing to throw away the accomplishments of feminists, and herein lies the irony.
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Oh, it has not been a good week for women, or month or year, quite frankly. There is a real threat to women and their rights in this nation. It has gotten outwardly ridiculous. We are truly going backwards. No shock it is mostly due to a newly elected Republican Congress- elected women included -- that are anti-choice. Meaning that the majority in the new Congress are now against a woman choosing what she does with her body. Of course this is no change from the previous republicans in Congress, but there will be a majority now in BOTH chambers. That should make you nervous if you are a woman because the republicans in Congress have already waged a pretty good war on women, and now with the majority the sky is the limit.

The future looks bleak for us with these folks in office. Analysis shows that older white men were the ones who came out to vote this past election cycle, not women and 64 percent of them vote republican. So, here are the consequences of women staying home, a republican congress. Not voting has consequences.

But enough about Washington.

If you take a look around, you will see that this misogynistic activity goes beyond Washington. It is on our televisions and in our media. Just this week Time magazine's Katy Steinmetz thought it would be a good idea to ban the word feminism. No, really she did. Time's editor later apologized, but the message did its damage. It boggles my mind why there is a huge movement against feminism, and if you are a woman doing this you should be really ashamed.

What is it that these people object to? Feminism is defined as the equal rights for women.

This casual dismissal of the hard, uphill battle women have had to fight is appalling to me --especially coming from other women. Yes, I know the Suffrage Movement happened a century ago, and folks don't remember these tremendous feminist battles from people like Alice Paul to Jane Adams, but that's no excuse. And no conversation on feminism can be told without the work of Gloria Steinem. No woman should ever forget the long struggle that FEMINISTS fought for YOUR rights that you enjoy today.

It is appalling that there are women who reject the rights feminists fought for. If my ability to vote and have equal pay and control my body emasculates a man, well the issue is with him, not feminists. I don't see any of these anti-feminists willing to throw away the accomplishments of feminists, and herein lies the irony.

But in other news, this week, Don Lemon asked a rape victim why she didn't bite the penis of the man who raped her. Yes, this was a question from the press. Included in misogyny is blaming women for being raped, and there it is on a national news network how the victim could have stopped her own rape. Needless to say, this is dehumanizing for the victim.

So ladies, next time you are being raped, make sure to bite his penis. No worries about the rapist. Absolutely horrifying.

It's all pretty sad, what I've laid out. Bleak, to say the least. The only solution is for women to make sure they vote and get politically active if they want to continue to have the rights that they enjoy. Rights that a feminist gave you.

Honor these ladies who fought for you to vote by voting and protecting their legacy and your rights. And don't ever dismiss them as not important.

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