I wanted to post something upbeat, to balance out the last post...
...but then the shooting and #yesallwomen happened the day after I got into a Facebook battle (I know, the worst kind) over some basic Feminism 101 stuff. (A friend quoted something thoughtful about women and respect and how we can't actually force anyone to respect us and it slips into a "blame the victim" area really quickly, and the first/only reply was a "What about the mens?!" comment which made me super duper grumpy... and I get righteously verbose when I'm grumpy... and then I got piled on by all the mens, and I felt like a radical failure because I don't think anyone came away feeling more thoughtful or open to critique... though it did inspire me to Facebook message Gloria Steinem and see if I could get an official Gloria Seal of Approval, since one of the white men tried to shame me by saying that Gloria Steinem wouldn't approve of me making a big deal out of this tiny little issue... that they couldn't let go... )
And and and. So tired. So hot. So tiredhot.
I wrote two letters to Cecily McMillan today, the Occupy protestor who was sentenced to prison for hitting someone who grabbed her breast. I suspect that if he hadn't been a cop, she *still* would have been judged guilty by the public.
So anyway. I'm terrible at convincing people who don't want to be convinced (see Facebook fight, above,) so I'm not going to try and explain or anything.
I just wanted to kidbrag a little, because mine are awesome.
ProtestKid made the latest in his #jokes4Cecily series, but LilMan went in a whole new direction with his artistic renderings today. If you can't read 6 yr old, it says, "Dear Cecily's roommate, I'm very angry at the police officer who hurt Cecily's body. And what happened to you?"
A lot of people have said, Cecily got off easy, what about all the other victims of police brutality and our unthinking faith in authority no matter how violent it gets?
And to them, I say, check out my awesome kid who is upset about Cecily AND ALSO is now thinking about the woman she's sharing a cell with, and from there... the world.
So shut up and write a letter to one of the other women (or men, or human beings) that are struggling inside Rikers, or after Rikers. Send it care of Cecily McMillan. I think she's pretty good at sharing.
...And here's my favorite ProtestKid joke, but I totally ruined it by taking a bad picture. It should say, "Why did the policeman wash his clothes before he ran off with the protestors? So he could make a CLEAN getaway."
May all our getaways be clean.
(And hey, if anyone happens to know how I can get an Official Gloria Steinem Badge/Seal of Approval that would be so effng awesome I might actually swear.)
...but then the shooting and #yesallwomen happened the day after I got into a Facebook battle (I know, the worst kind) over some basic Feminism 101 stuff. (A friend quoted something thoughtful about women and respect and how we can't actually force anyone to respect us and it slips into a "blame the victim" area really quickly, and the first/only reply was a "What about the mens?!" comment which made me super duper grumpy... and I get righteously verbose when I'm grumpy... and then I got piled on by all the mens, and I felt like a radical failure because I don't think anyone came away feeling more thoughtful or open to critique... though it did inspire me to Facebook message Gloria Steinem and see if I could get an official Gloria Seal of Approval, since one of the white men tried to shame me by saying that Gloria Steinem wouldn't approve of me making a big deal out of this tiny little issue... that they couldn't let go... )
And and and. So tired. So hot. So tiredhot.
I wrote two letters to Cecily McMillan today, the Occupy protestor who was sentenced to prison for hitting someone who grabbed her breast. I suspect that if he hadn't been a cop, she *still* would have been judged guilty by the public.
So anyway. I'm terrible at convincing people who don't want to be convinced (see Facebook fight, above,) so I'm not going to try and explain or anything.
I just wanted to kidbrag a little, because mine are awesome.
ProtestKid made the latest in his #jokes4Cecily series, but LilMan went in a whole new direction with his artistic renderings today. If you can't read 6 yr old, it says, "Dear Cecily's roommate, I'm very angry at the police officer who hurt Cecily's body. And what happened to you?"
A lot of people have said, Cecily got off easy, what about all the other victims of police brutality and our unthinking faith in authority no matter how violent it gets?
And to them, I say, check out my awesome kid who is upset about Cecily AND ALSO is now thinking about the woman she's sharing a cell with, and from there... the world.
So shut up and write a letter to one of the other women (or men, or human beings) that are struggling inside Rikers, or after Rikers. Send it care of Cecily McMillan. I think she's pretty good at sharing.
...And here's my favorite ProtestKid joke, but I totally ruined it by taking a bad picture. It should say, "Why did the policeman wash his clothes before he ran off with the protestors? So he could make a CLEAN getaway."
May all our getaways be clean.
(And hey, if anyone happens to know how I can get an Official Gloria Steinem Badge/Seal of Approval that would be so effng awesome I might actually swear.)
