Dear Women

Dear Women:

Without any satire, irony, or facetiousness, I can say I love you truly with every cell in my body. I loathe being serious, but I am simply terrified for us. Reality is something I try to avoid at all cost, but sometimes it just sneaks up on me.

Tonight, I can hardly breathe with the simple awareness of how deeply women are hated. Yes, in the USA. How little cared for we are. How little devotion we receive. How little simple justice. Common respect. Plain & simple empathy.

We have no voice.

We also all too often have very little concern for each other -- because we do reflect our culture. So many women brag about not being "feminist." It makes me ill. It hurts my eyes to look at a woman when she says this. If you brag about this, know that I think you are very, very ignorant.

There are about 30,000 pregnancies resulting from rape/year. That means that about 30,000 men rape women/year and impregnate them. Those are just the rapes resulting in pregnancy. How absolutely evil is that.

And, yet, what are (Republican) men talking about on TV? The sanctity of the life of ... not the victim... not the impregnated woman... but, the fetus. A fetus which many of them believe, including our own Paul Ryan, ought to have full constitutional rights AT CONCEPTION. Yes, a fetus that is microscopic in size, has not implanted in the uterus, and looks like frog eggs...

Why aren't they talking about the sanctity of the lives of rape victims?

If 30,000 male Republican politicians were held down, had their clothing stripped off, and had a foreign object (say a broom handle) rammed up their anuses for about 10 minutes or more, I don't think they would be talking about God's intentions, or how the body shuts that whole thing down, or the sanctity of life. Oh, and if some of then got raped by more than one person and some of them were beaten and some of them got tortured and some of them had other foreign objects... and some of them were burned... Then... oh, what if these 30,000 Republican leaders got a baby as a bonus gift! And, what if these 30,000 men were not allowed to get rid of the baby.

Then, in 31 states our (male) political leaders (girlfriends, remember that the vast majority of political leaders, business leaders, civic leaders... well, all leaders are men) have passed laws giving rapists access to the children that rape victims have given birth to. So, if the rapists have rights, then the victim might not be able to give the baby up for adoption.

So, now, the 30,000 Republican men who had broom handles rammed up their anuses (and some were beaten and some were burned and some had battery acid and some...) , and then were given a baby because that was God's will, now they cannot give the baby away because they will be co-parenting with the town alcoholic who lost her other children because of child-abuse.

[That is a good comparison. Since men don't get pregnant, it is a damned good comparison.]

YES! You read that correctly! First, you are raped. THEN, our Republican friends want to give the fertilized egg constitutional rights. THEN, our Republican leaders want to take away OUR right to have an abortion. THEN, in 31 stinking states, they give the rapists rights to the child that the rape victim gave birth to. SO, the rapist not only has access to OUR child, but he still has access to US! Yes, the rape victim shares custody with a violent felon.

Women who report rape and go to court are often vilified themselves. The incidence of rape is incredibly high. And, what does that tell us? THAT MANY MEN ARE RAPISTS. Not only do men rape women violently but they have sex with women who are unable to give informed consent because they are too young. They are unable to give consent because they are emotionally disturbed or intellectually handicapped.
They are unable to give consent because of alcohol or drug consumption. They are unable to give informed consent because they are in an unequal power relationship.

There have been studies in which as many as 40% of male college students admit to having forced a sexual encounter on someone else.

I think this is often not very disturbing to people. After all, I saw a remake of an old play recently in which a many "spanked" a grown woman.

So, just to make it real, picture it happening to a man. It did happen to a boy my daughter went to college with. He was given a "date rape" drug at a party. He was given too much and was unconscious for about 24 hours. He woke up in a hospital and does not know/remember what happened to him.

So, picture your son being held down by another bigger boy. Being kissed against his will. Being fondled against his will. Being raped. Being beaten. Being found by the police -- so, he didn't have a choice about reporting it. Being taken to the hospital. Neighbors finding out. Now, it's another story isn't it.

If the tolerance for violence does not indicate absolute loathing for women, then I do not know what does.

If the demand by men for control over decision making about women's choices does not indicate hatred for women, then I don't know what does.

If the demand by men to control women's access to birth control -- by controlling the funding -- does not indicate complete and total hatred and loathing, then I do not know what does.

We live in a world where men (in the Republican Party) do not want women to get cancer screenings for free  at Planned Parenthood because 3% of their services are abortions. Where abortion providers are murdered.

There are people who want to protect clusters of cells but do not care if grown women with children and families die of cancer.

Women, I fail to understand why a single one of you votes Republican.

I fail to understand why a single one of you lives with a man who votes Republican or supports any leader who wants to overturn Roe v Wade, opposes choice, opposes Planned Parenthood (where many women receive the only cancer screenings they could ever afford!), or opposed insurance paying for reproductive HEALTH CARE!

I cannot understand why you a sitting in pews and sending your hard-earned money to churches that have NEVER IN THEIR HISTORY HAD A WOMAN LEADER and who do not believe that you have a right to control your own body.

We are a sick society. Most of the time I am used to that. Some times I am overwhelmed by it.

All of my love and devotion,
Vivian