why are women angry? because we STILL have to protest this s*** [View all]

[niyad]

Why Are Women Angry? Because 'They Still Have to Protest This Shit'
Answering the clichèd question, 'Why are Feminists so angry?'
by Jessica Valenti
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I had posted a picture of this sign and a few others (and maybe they had a few more curses on them)—and I got an e-mail from a young man who asked me a question that I get asked a lot: Why are you so angry? I imagine a lot of us in the room have been asked some
iteration of this question. It’s a common one when you’re a feminist. Calm down, why are you so worked up? You seem so pissed off. And it’s a stereotype, really, of feminists—that we’re all angry.

So I was thinking of how I could respond this young man…and this is what I came up with, and I wanted to share it with you. It's not that I'm angry, I'm exhausted. The war on
reproductive health and autonomy feels absolutely never-ending. In 2011, there was a record number of anti-choice laws enacted across the states and in 2012, we saw more than forty new state laws restricting women’s access to abortion.

The restrictions ranged from TRAP laws and ultrasound mandates to waiting periods and mandatory counseling—all of which end up hurting the most marginalized women in the US by making legal medical care more costly and harder to get. So while I’m thrilled that we’re celebrating Roe’s fortieth anniversary—if women can’t access abortion, then it’s not really legal for all of us.

If the Hyde Amendment still exists, then Roe doesn’t mean anything for the woman who can’t afford care. And if one woman in Texas can’t get the care she needs, then Roe isn’t fulfilling its promise. I'm exhausted thinking about the fact that I'm still fighting a battle that my
mother marched for. That so many years later, we’re working so hard to hold onto the rights we already have, that creating a proactive—rather than defensive—agenda seems like a pie-in-the-sky dream.

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http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/01/31-5