Thursday, January 7, 2016

I’ve been called a lot of words beginning with C, but complacent hasn’t been one of them

To be honest, only cunt comes to mind. But I consider myself a contrarian so we’ll add that to cunt.
Complacent, though, that is shaming, right? Like, hey, you’re not doing enough for the status of women. Well, Debbie, (I can call her Debbie, right?) I think you’re not doing enough for women. I think it is easy to think of reproductive justice as the only women issue, and that should be our lady responsibility alone, but I feel like class issues are women’s issues and race issues, and the band plays on. And honestly, I’m tired of it. I’m tired of having one debate, one subject define who I am as a person. Welp, K has a vagina so abortion must be the issue for her. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t date anti-choice, but I like to think I’m more than my reproductive function regardless of whether I’m being defined by the right or left, men or women.

It is the time the men pull their fair share on this too. I know a lot of clinic escorts, want to guess how many men I know who do it? Yeah, none. Where are the progressive dudes? Right at the socialist reading group. What guys don’t want to maybe take a bullet for other’s civil rights? I’m being hyperbolic and dramatic. But there is something to this. I enjoyed the reading group too, but I’m wondering where the commitment to social justice ends. Hell, where does the commitment to economic justice end? Because there was a lot of condescension and shade thrown in that room focused on a man who was clearly struggling with a lot of issues.

But I’m circling back to what I believe to be the real problem. This idea that woman have to run to the front on reproductive issues but stand in the back on others. It is what the left does to people of color too, so don’t get me wrong I’m not blind. Black men can talk about police brutality, but we don’t want to hear about the long-term consequences of a completely and actively undereducated population or reparations. No, we should frame the education discussion in this country about whether or not we should pay for Trump’s kid’s college education (Hi Hilary!). If we’re going to point fingers about those are who aren’t doing enough, let’s call some out: mainstream Democrats, including the ladies, and the white dudes on our team. They are complacent. They are so complacent they think they can continue to tell us where to show up and what to do, and we’ll just do it because who else do we have? Pass. I’m not here for that. If you can’t meet me for mine, then I can’t come for yours. Some groups/people are all about solidarity, but those groups and people seem to get the shaft when it is time for people to show up for them. There is a wait your turn mentality around all of this. This “you won’t mind” concept that what they prioritize is somehow more important than everything else.

For example, when you talk to progressives about antichoicers in the states stripping rights away they laugh it off like these are some fundamentalist zealots—won’t go anywhere. They’d be right on one count; these people are ridiculous, but it is a lot less funny now that there are three clinics in Texas. What the Dems and progressive don’t seem to realize that with every election cycle where people of color and women lose more and more rights, there are fewer reasons to vote Democrat.

Well, Debbie threw down the gantlet. Young women are complacent, well maybe, but let’s see how complacent they are come the primary—maybe all the ladies can write in bell hooks—or the general when they stay at home. When the left pretends their base will just show up because they did for Obama.

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