I’m Not a Democrat and I Support the Women’s March

“I’m not nasty, like the combo of Trump and Pence being served up to me in my voting booth. I’m nasty like the battles my grandmothers fought to get me into that voting booth.”

Ashley Judd, an American address recognizable from her role in Insurgent, is a feminist making headlines this weekend for her speech at the Women’s March in Washington D.C on Jan. 21, 2017.

I would be blatantly lying if I denied crying while watching Judd help create history while reciting a powerful poem. Judd, who projected fiery energy into her words, continuously used the term “nasty women” – a term President Trump used to describe Hillary Clinton, a term Clinton supporters now embrace.

“I am nasty like my bloodstains on my bed sheets. We don’t actually choose if and when to have our periods. Believe me if we could some of us would. We do not like throwing away our favorite pairs of underpants. Tell me, why are pads and tampons still taxed when Viagra and Rogaine are not? Is your erection really more than protecting the sacred messy part of my womanhood? Is the bloodstain on my jeans more embarrassing than the thinning of your hair?

Uncomfortable reading that? Were you fidgeting listening to Judd speak about the inequalities women in the U.S face? Good. She made her point then. If you’re feeling something…Judd did her job.

Jan. 21, 2017 will be a date that our children and our grandchildren will read about in textbooks. You are alive to have felt the roar and the literal earth shake from women around the globe who put religion and race aside, who held hands with their sisters, and stood with one another because we are resilient together.

The Women’s March wasn’t just a political rally that took place in D.C a day after our 45^th president was inaugurated in. The Women’s March was a series of rallies that took place on every continent on this planet. According to Heavy, “more than two million women and men from around the world were expected to take part in the Women’s March” and there were “more than 600 individual sister marches.”

So, let me get on with this article. I’m not a Democrat and I support the Women’s March. Perhaps, I should rephrase. I’m not a Democrat or a Republican. I have viewpoints from both parties, but I stand with neither. Being politically correct is annoying, let the LGBTQ individuals have their rightful rights, women should have control over their own bodies, let us keep our guns, legalize marijuana, support small businesses, stop being offended by everything and lighten up, we need to save this planet, and hell yes I support our military. Where does this put me? It doesn’t really matter – what matters is I support the march and let me tell you why.

One of the biggest complaints from critics is that women in America really aren’t that suppressed. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve said those exact words myself too. Women in America are bada** and we’ve earned our rights and respect. We’ve made it extremely far. Hell! We are CEOs while birthing children and still get dinner on the table. Female leads in Hollywood films are highly popular, our women’s soccer team is better than the men’s, and we can literally get any man’s job. Being a woman in America does not stop us from reaching our dreams and women must stop using our sex as an excuse.

However, if I can acknowledge critics of the feminist movement, why can’t they acknowledge the facts? Sure, women can be CEO’s but women still aren’t making the same amount as a male CEO. We are birthing children, but yet there is no guarantee to paid maternity leave. Female leads in Hollywood are popular, but female actresses aren’t being paid the same as their male counterparts. Our women’s soccer team wins more than the men’s national team, yet the women still earn less.

Another argument is that the Women’s March was only organized because their party lost and they can’t handle the defeat. I would be lying if I said that thought didn’t cross my mind too. Trump and Clinton were two very unloving candidates the people had to choose from. Trump isn’t just another white man who was elected and beat a female candidate. That isn’t hardly the point. Do you look at the things he has said, done, and is against and for? I think it took Trump winning for people in this country to put their foot down. People say, “Where was the march for equal pay, where was the march for the girl who got raped by the dumpster and the rapist served three months, where was the march for women soldiers fighting to serve?”

I hear you! I understand you. But people, the march is here. The march made it. Surely overdue, but do you see and understand this turnout? Every attendee is thinking the same. This is unbelievable and beautiful. Your march for rapists? It is here. Your march for equal pay? It is here. Your march for every inequality you’re fighting against? It is here and it is alive. This is not the end, it lives on. The march was an awakening for so many women and men.

As Madonna said at the march, “It took us this darkness to wake the f*** up.”

Yeah, yeah, I agree Madonna shouldn’t have said that thing about blowing up the white house. Not very class. Moving on…

The most popular disagreement I have seen? Abortion.

Republicans, I am sure, are sick of hearing “my body, my choice!” because it goes through one ear and out the other. Perhaps, Republicans should understand a little deeper. Those welfare moms that you hate to support? There will be a lot more of them because you forced young women who cannot financially support a child (let alone themselves) to give birth. Learn to use a condom you will preach. Some women will truthfully be raped and the women who found a safe haven in Planned Parenthood to get contraception, will have it snatched away from them. A place that is not just for abortions, but for STD screenings and birth control. You’ll also preach women who abort are killing a baby. This argument is so ludicrous to me that I am not going to waste another piece of space in this article fighting it.

It has also been circulating that the Women’s March is saying, “if you don’t stand with us, you’re not a real women” and that the march should be called Hillary’s March or the Democrat Women’s March since it is unwelcoming to those with disagreeing opinions, such as those who are pro-life. Again, I thought about this argument too. I felt, as a white woman not in the Democrat party, I wasn’t that welcomed.

I must remind hose who are against the march, especially women… The women who marched are fighting for inequalities you face too, whether you choose to acknowledge it or not.

“I know it is hard to look at your own entitlement and privilege. You may be afraid of the truth. I am unafraid to be honest,” said Judd. “It may sound petty bringing up a few extra cents. It adds up to the pile of change I have yet to see in my country. I can’t see. My eyes are too busy praying to my feet hoping you don’t mistake eye contact for wanting physical contact. Half my life I have been zipping up my smile hoping you don’t think I want to unzip your jeans. I am unafraid to be nasty because I am nasty like Susan, Elizabeth, Eleanor, Amelia, Rosa, Gloria, Condoleezza, Sonia, Malala, Michelle, Hillary! And our pussies ain’t for grabbing.”

This is my third year living in Milwaukee, one of the most segregated cities in the country, and I have experienced multiple situations where I have been scared for my life because I am a woman. I’m a small 5’3 young woman and if I walk alone, despite it being day or night, I’m going to be harassed. I have a less than two block walk home from my boyfriend’s house and one night I was harassed four different times by four different group of men. It is hard to put into words how shaky your hands get while you clutch a tiny bottle of pepper spray, praying this 5 inch bottle will give you a quick enough head start to safety if needed. I can’t clarify the fear women experience when you’re sitting alone on the bus and the man a few seats away from you makes it known he is watching you and you have to keep your eyes down, hoping not to encourage him by exchanging looks or upset him by telling him to f*** off. The fact that I would rather pay for an Uber to get me to my destination than wait alone at the bus stop should say enough.

And this? This is what the Women’s March fought for. This is why women are taking a stance. Our fathers, our brothers, our cousins, our best friends, the men who choose to acknowledge the oppression women still face in America, are what keeps many of us hopeful. It is a gorgeous start to change and equality.

So, yes critics… Women in America are more privileged than many women in the world. Women in Saudi Arabia cannot drive, wear certain clothes or makeup, compete freely in sports, and face so much emotional, physical, and sexual abuse and other inequalities that it breaks my heart. The problems women face in other countries are not comparable to the issues women in America face for obvious reasons. Critics hate the march because some support Hillary (not me) and supposedly some of Hillary’s biggest donations come from Saudi Arabia and yet she stands with women and it is all just too hypocritical and controversial to get into…

My point is, these same critics are the ones who have continuously been saying we need to focus on our country, to stop caring about other countries, and put our time and money into our own problems. Well, here it is, America. Now all of a sudden critics want to focus on other countries again and keep bringing up how other women have it worse – and they do! This has been acknowledged for years. But this protest, this march, began because of Trump was the climax of women’s oppression and here we are, focusing on our country the day after our new president was inaugurated in.

Bottom line, this march is over and everyone headed home. So what were they marching for? Women rights, LGBTQ rights, people of color, Planned Parenthood, education, climate change, and so much more. People may not be in D.C marching, but the fight lives on and something breaths heavily that this war has just begun. Let us stand and unite together despite our political differences.

“Our pussies are for our pleasure. They are for birthing new generations of filthy, vulgar, nasty, proud, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh, you name it, for new generations of nasty women. So if you a nasty woman, or you love one who is, let me hear you say, hell yeah.”

And with that… hell yeah.