I am sitting here in a hotel room wondering what the hell is going on in our world.  I am tired and I am beginning to have very little tolerance for ignorance and control.  Over the past week I have had many of my friends participate in one of the largest demonstrations of civil and caring people determined to take a stand not only for women’s rights but for human rights.  While out of the country, I thought of these brave souls and applauded them for taking a stand.  I applaud them for facing tyrants and small minded neanderthrals hell-bent on dismantling rights that our ancestors fought so hard to obtain. I applaud them for turning off the television and braving the crowds to make their voices heard.  It hurts my soul to hear belittling jokes in reference to those who marched. Jokes coming out of the mouths of those we have voted into public office.  Jokes coming out of the mouths of grown men and women making a mockery of this very important political moment.  It saddens me when grown men refer to the marchers as “fat, ugly women as if that is the only reason they took the time to march.  It is demeaning and drags respect for women and women’s rights to a new low.

Make no mistake, intelligent women are well aware that we still have a ways to go as patriarchy will always be threatened by the power of women.  A woman who stands in her power giving voice to her beliefs unfortunately is seen as something that needs to be controlled.  History has proven this to be true.  Many strong and vocal women were once burned at the stake for being too outspoken and just too much to handle.  The burning continues today.  Not by flame but by concious or unconcious subjugation.  Women are belittled, patted on the head and told to go home and be good.  We are judged in the minds of many for our sexuality or so called wonton desires.  Instead of celebrating the beauty of our bodies, we are subliminally told how shameful or dirty they are.  Many of us have been brainwashed to go against one another.  We lash out at our sisters for marching ,aiding those hellbent on stripping them of their rights to protest.  We can be our own worst enemies.  Instead of propping each other up, we want to tear each other down.  In order to survive and claim our power we  need to take a stand and claim our beauty and our power.  We need to stand unified to tear apart the patriarchal belief and judgement that we are less than.  We have the right to claim our sexual and intellectual nature without fear of reprisal or shame.  The time is here and we will not be denied.