Unladylike protest of the Patriarchy

With apologies to my dad, who is a great guy, I am seething green with anger towards the PATRIARCHY.  Privileged profiteering white men have steamrolled and destroyed my faith this week (and in recent months) in the US Presidency, my faith in my state representatives, my belief in the purity of the supreme court, my faith in the press, my faith in the FBI and my faith in the balance of powers for a true and equal citizen based democracy.

This is not my government. I cannot trust the system. Women still do not have equal rights in the constitution (my mother and aunts marched for the ERA), no rights for equal work pay-scales or for autonomy of their own bodies! The insults stack up, such as the extra tax on basic needs like tampons, and the constant hits advertising media spreads telling women that they are not being beautiful enough, soft enough, skinny enough, white enough, or ladylike enough.

Well I bought Unladylike by Cristen Conger and Caroline Ervin. It is a "field guide to smashing the patriarchy and claiming your space". They have it at our local independent bookstore, Books and Books. As well as on Amazon. These authors are bright podcasters of humor, hope and activism

and I need that today. The newest Supreme court judge was just sworn into his LIFETIME job with the least amount of supporting votes ever. I am so sad. I believed his perjuring himself and his belligerent, rude, blatant partisan attitude during the senate questioning made him clearly unfit for the position. I am- like a statistic of 1 in 4 college women- a rape survivor. I believed Dr. Ford who bravely testified that Judge Kavanaugh held her down, covered her mouth (and laughed) and attempted to rape her. This confirmation of a justice, in spite of the outcry, to the highest court is a dog whistle to all the men who benefit from objectifying women and assaulting girls. It confirms and unveils the power men wield and their profiteering over women in this non-democracy capatalist country.

Being born white, American, and upper middle class, I am a beneficiary of many privileges that my sisters do not have and suffer from many inherent biases as well. But all women, all of us, have been struggling for fair representation for hundreds of years. And like Justice Ruth B. Ginsberg said in a court case before she was confirmed (by a wide margin of 96 to 3) for the Supreme Court 25 years ago, ‘I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks." Now... we are given a court that leans toward holding us down and clamping our mouths shut.

In the mail yesterday (from my donation to Moveon)- arrived copies of the DVD RGB!!! I am just getting fired up and unladylike. Know anybody that needs a copy?

Can we have faith in the voting booths? Those rights and systems have also been under assault!