THE WAR ON WOMEN

Even though the state of MO voted and passed Amendment 3, which repealed the ban on abortion, the MO House of Representatives proposed a constitutional amendment that would repeal the reproductive rights of Amendment 3. I read a quote from one of the protesters of the new constitutional amendment in a news article last week that said “This is a dangerous time to be a woman.” My first thought was to ask “Has it ever been safe to be a woman?!” But yes, it is still very dangerous to be a woman and lately that list has been growing. 

It is dangerous to be a woman

It is dangerous to be a woman of color

It is dangerous to be a woman in science

It is dangerous to be a woman living in poverty, low income and even working class (that’s me)

It is dangerous to be an international woman studying or working in the US (in science and other fields) even if they have the correct documentation to be here. 

It is dangerous to be a woman in the LGTBQ+ community

It is dangerous to be LGTBQ+

It is dangerous to have tattoos

It is dangerous to not be a member of Evangelical Christianity

It is dangerous to be Palestinian

I could easily keep going, but in particular, I’d like to circle back to the whole Evangelical Christianity thing. The president and his administration spent last week celebrating “the living Son of God who conquered death, freed us from sin, and unlocked the gates of Heaven for all humanity.” These are the actual words released by the White House for Easter celebrations. Ramadan got “warmest greetings.” by contrast. That’s fine. I don’t really care what religion anyone decides to follow. We were founded on the idea of freedom of religion. So, if the president wants to pretend christian, let him. I mean, they did a lot to get him there. He’s got to at least up his drama skills and pray along.

The problem here is not the celebration, but the incorporation of a religion into government. This administration has also implemented a faith office led by two conservative christians with the sole purpose of challenging separation of church and state. I can think of a number of reasons why merging church and state is a big problem. First of all, whose religion? In what state? I’ve read The Handmaid’s Tale. I have also read the bible. Gillead is what happens when evangelical christians are in charge and that makes this country even more dangerous to be a woman. What is it about evangelicals that makes them want to force everyone to practice their beliefs?!? They are the most myopic religious fanatics. Do I even need to ask, what if this faith office was run by Muslims or Catholics or any other religion? Would the American people be okay with that?

For a political party who campaigned on the rhetoric of preserving our freedoms, they sure are doing a lot to take away most of our freedom. 

I’ve never been one for conspiracies. If someone gives me a bit of “news”, I immediately dig into the validity of that news. When my chiropractor was trying to get me to try Light Therapy, I asked if this was voodoo. She told me it was not voodoo, but I still went and scoured all of the medical journals for research on light therapy. I found enough peer-reviewed research papers that convinced me that light therapy was maybe not voodoo. I am a fact finder. It’s what I do. So even when the opposing team to this administration says something that sounds whack-a-doodle, I look that shit up. The problem is that the things I think must be whack-a-doodle like declaring martial law and deporting US citizens or demanding women have three forms of identification for voting is not so whack-a-doodle. These are things that are happening. So while we haven’t started burning women on stakes (though we are imprisoning them for miscarriages, so…) it is a pretty dangerous time in American history to be a woman. They want to start offering incentives to women to have babies. Of course, by incentive, they mean a one time payout of $5000. That might cover a month of childcare. They start with incentives, but it is only a matter of time before they implement demands on women to have babies. A convicted rapist is running the country and he is being guided by evangelical men who would like to reduce women to property status, revoking the rights that allow us to be independent. 

So, yeah…it is a dangerous time to be a woman in this country, but it is also terrifying. 

THANKFUL FRIDAY

I’ve been staying at Heather’s since Tuesday because I was dog sitting for her while she travelled to Virginia to finalize housing and paperwork for her new job. Tuesday evening, we had dinner with another former coworker before Heather walked me through the details of feeding times for both beagles and medication times for one beagle. She left the house sometime around 4:30 AM the next morning and I spent Wednesday evening alone with two beagles in a mostly packed up house. One would think that with all that quiet, I might have used the time to work on some personal projects. Instead I languished on the couch, idly scratching beagle heads while watching season three of Search Party.

I woke Thursday morning to snow and the news that Russia had invaded the Ukraine. Then I pondered what this means for us as a country, as well as what the impacts are going to be globally. These events are the ingredients of a world war, but having the ingredients doesn’t necessarily mean we end up baking that cake. Looking at the images coming out of the Ukraine makes it all seem so surreal. These are metropolitan cities much like New York City or Chicago being bombed, with people like you and I being displaced from their homes. We are not talking about small villages here or a less affluent nation. Many a Nobel Prize winning scientist have come from the Ukraine. I think the concept of what this might remotely be like for these people is completely lost in this country. The destruction of our towns and cities come from natural disasters. Attacks come from within, like Texas where my partner and myself could be investigated for child abuse because we support his trans child. Attacks come from our neighbors, not invading countries.

The last battle fought on American soil was in the Aleutian Islands during World War II. Before that, it was the Civil War. Today’s Americans do not know the consequences of war unless they had a family member/friend die in Iraq or Afghanistan. We live in a bubble. Yes, sometimes horrific stuff happens inside that bubble, but war happens outside of it. This makes us very fortunate and I am grateful for this privilege. For this, my mantra this week is a simple one:

May we not forget to have gratitude for our privilege by doing what we can to support those who have been displaced by war.

I found this article about meaningful ways to help the Ukraine to be very useful: 8 Meaningful Ways You Can Help Ukraine. There are a number of links provided in that article for making donations.