“I want any young men who buy a gun to be treated like young women who seek an abortion. Think about it: a mandatory 48-hour waiting period, written permission from a parent or a judge, a note from a doctor proving that he understands what he is about to do, time spent watching a video on individual and mass murders, traveling hundreds of miles at his own expense to the nearest gun shop, and walking through protestors holding photos of loved ones killed by guns, protests who call him a murderer.” - Quote made popular by Gloria Steinem
Let that quote sink in and have a moment of silence for the horror women all around the world face when getting an abortion, which isn’t even murder! I remember looking through _________’s phone and seeing an album of anti-feminist memes. One of them mentioning how crazy liberals are for supporting abortion, but being against guns when both are murder. For those who think you’re killing a baby or that the fetus experiences pain, “the overwhelming majority of abortions are performed in the first trimester of pregnancy,” according to Planned Parenthood. It’s also only by the end of the first trimester that the fetus begins developing the neural tube. Just imagine young women doing all that work for an abortion and someone who wants to buy a gun that has the ability to kill thousands doesn’t. Abortions, unfortunately, are sometimes crucial to survival. Many women have to terminate their pregnancies because it could be fatal, they may not be able to complete school, maybe it’s financial reasons, or it’s a result of rape - they still have to walk through a tunnel of protesters calling them murderers. If you want to buy a gun that could potentially lead to another history-making mass murder, then you can just walk into your local pharmacy a few blocks away and you’ve bought a gun. A weapon. A piece of machinery that can kill hundreds. A tool used to affect the lives of thousands. I still find it difficult to wrap my head around the simplicity of that. To people who believe it’s the person, not the gun, it’s both. If a person is so mentally unstable that they want to open fire upon hundreds of people, they shouldn’t be allowed to own something that could carry that out. Stephen Paddock didn’t just kill 50 people all alone, it was the bump stock added to his semi-automatic rifle. The gun, the bump stock, and Paddock are all to blame for impacting thousands of lives. Thousands of sisters, brothers, cousins, aunts, uncles, moms, dads, partners, loved ones, and more. It wasn’t just Paddock or the person who is in control of the gun. It’s the law that allows guns to be sold and it’s the law that allows innocent lives to be destroyed in an instant. Although this quote is powerful and shines a light on two important issues, there are some flaws. It may be different for others, but I interpret it as a quote about gun control. I agree with everything stated, but I wish it continued more on the change we need to see in abortion laws, not just gun control. Additionally, it’s very gendered. The author seems to think of men with guns and women with unwanted pregnancies. Most mass shootings are carried out by white men, but there are still plenty of women who believe in the right to bear arms and are anti-choice/ pro-life. If after reading this, you’ve been left feeling like you want to change the laws, then look no further! Here some things you can do to help: - Start a conversation! Ask your friends or family what they think of the quote, abortion, gun control, or anything! - Donate to Planned Parenthood - Call our government! ~ My amazing friend, Sonia, started a website titled Teens Resist, where you can find scripts and numbers to help call your Senators and Representatives and make your voice heard. It updates weekly, but everything is archived, so it’ll still be easy to find the scripts regarding abortion and gun control. ~ You can look up the numbers and addresses for anyone in government, so you can always make up your own script!
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To make up for the lack of blogging these past few months, I thought I would make up for it by diving into Trump's tweets and evaluating it all.
Trans Ban Earlier, in July, Trump announced that the U.S. Government will no longer allow transgender individuals to serve in the military in a series of 3 tweets. Trump's first tweet began with "After consultation with my Generals and military experts..." but, as we all soon found out, our defense secretary was only given a day's notice and many of Washington officials were shocked to hear the news. Now, even though trans individuals are supposedly "not allowed or accepted," I doubt that would stop many from still serving. Even before they were granted permission to serve the country like everybody else, many still served. Many may not want to serve anymore due to Trump's tweets, but they can still check the Male or Female box and continue to protect theirs and our country. Now moving on to the most controversial out of the tweets... the one that started the phrase "Trans People Are Not a Burden"... Tweet #3! Trump states that "Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail." According to the RAND Corp., not all military individuals will seek transition related treatment. Only 0.01% to 0.05% of trans people "will seek transition-related care that could disrupt their ability to deploy." With that being said, it would hardly "burden" the U.S. government with "tremendous medical costs." In fact, it only decreases the budget by 0.04% to 0.13% and if that doesn't convince you, in other countries, allowing transgenders to serve the military have very little to no impact on their budget. Lastly, Trump mentioned the "disruption that transgender in the military would entail," but I don't get it. People need to appreciate and realize that trans individuals are putting their lives at risk to protect the United States and, to those in the military, try to stay open minded and appreciate that trans people are people, too. Speechless Trump tweeted out a video of his speech while highlighting some important parts. In his second tweet, he said: "We must remember this truth: No matter our color, creed, religion, or political party, we are ALL AMERICANS FIRST." With most other people, I would've quickly retweeted showing my support, but it was unsurprisingly hard to believe him. If you don't understand where I'm coming from, let's take a walk down memory lane and go back to the future. Trump began his campaign calling out "illegal" immigrants vigorously while focusing on their race and religion. He also created a travel that so closely centered around the Muslim religion and mainly Muslim countries that it soon became known as the "Muslim Ban." Additionally, Trump seems to never run out of tweets about how the Democrats constantly corrupt the U.S. Government, destroying America, or the economy. But I guess it has become the norm to attack other Americans since our President's win. "Charlottesville - so sad!" Before I go on, I would like to send my condolences to Heather Heyer's family and friends. No one ever deserves to lose their life, especially someone so young and strong. Continuing with the theme of Trump's single tweet discussing equality, let's talk about how he handled Charlottesville. 1. Aug 12 Speech following the events in Charlottesville Trump begins his speech with "We condemn on the strongest possible terms this outrageous display of hatred and bigotry and violence." Now, Mr. President, it's a tad bit hard to take you seriously when you have committed many acts of hatred and bigotry yourself, which I have listed previously. He continues to say that these outrageous displays of violence were carried out by "many sides... many sides." The only side that truly displayed an outrageous display of violence was the side that killed someone. In no way is killing someone justifiable. Donald Trump needs to learn how to keep white fascists and neo nazis under control. 2. Trump's truly heartbreaking tweets Trump tweeted the following yesterday: "Condolences to the family of the young woman, and best regards to all those injured, in Charlottesville, Virginia. So sad!" In some ways, I have to give a few props to Trump. Understandably, most people were upset that Trump condemned the behavior of both sides of the protest, but he did simply acknowledge that someone died. But, if it were Obama, he would've done a speech dedicated to her and would've attended a funeral. 2 tweets and a retweet are just not enough. 3. Poor Robert E. Lee Let's break down Trump's tweets from today regarding the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville, which started all of this. Robert E. Lee was a Commander for the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. The Civil War of 1861 to 1865 was the result of a long on going disagreement over slavery and states' rights with the Confederacy fighting to keep slavery. The removal of the statue relieved many who were sick and tired of having a statue of someone who fought to keep slavery up in their town. Our President, however, disagrees. Donald Trump tweeted: "Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments." I mean if Robert E. Lee is your type, google his photo and make it your wall paper, but we don't need his statue looming over the people of Charlottesville as they get groceries or pick up their kids from school. Although I have quite a few, my main question is this - If Trump is so concerned about "beautiful statues and monuments," then why isn't he giving more attention to national parks that are home to many important monuments? *msu.edu was used in partner with this post* My friend, we'll call her "Rose" for privacy reasons, and I have been on a month long argument about stereotypes. She believes the following: a) Stereotypes all come from a little bit of truth b) The world can't go on without stereotypes. People from an early age begin to label people and put them into small, constricting boxes. This eventually leads to stereotyping and training your brain to see people, then place them in your made up sections. According to msu.edu, "people [feel the] need to categorize the world ... into preferably neat little groups." They do this because
So maybe stereotypes do come from some colonel of truth depending on whose eyes you're looking through, but that doesn't mean people should walk around putting people in boxes and labeling them. People should have the right to challenge stereotypes and live how the want without being judged. Last week, I was asked to submit a recording about my views on labels. So I thought I'd share some of them here:
Labels can either make you feel powerful or constricted. To me, labeling myself as a "feminist" makes me feel like I am part of a strong band of people who believe the men and women of all races should be treated the same, paid the same, have the same rights, feel safe walking down the street, etc. However, when others label me, I feel as if I've portrayed myself in such a way that I was the one who locked myself in a box of words and names. If you label me, I feel as if you think you know me SO WELL that you suddenly have the right to assume things about me. If you decided to shove me into a place where you only see me as smart, don't be surprised if I didn't do the homework from last night or did badly on our last test. Most importantly, don't get annoyed and roll your eyes when I do support your stereotype or I don't surprise. I never put myself in that box... you did. So, yeah, labels and stereotypes are pretty sucky and I definitely think that the world doesn't need them to survive or continue. Just because you want to make life easier on you, doesn't mean you have to make life harder for everyone else. We're already surrounded by so many that have broken boundaries and they've mostly been successful so far. Living in a world with no stereotypes is just a matter of having an open mind. *Disclaimer: I have been very lucky in that I have never been sexually assaulted or taken advantage of. The story that you'll read in this post, happened to my friend. I, however, was there and decided that it needed to be shared.* First of all, Consent. It's something you should take seriously. As you can probably guess, according to the Merriam-Webser dictionary, consent is giving assent or approval. But adding on to that, consent should be given by someone who is sober/ aware of their surroundings. Like any other kool kidz, my friend and I were taking the subway home from school. We were surrounded by friends and scrolling through Instagram. At one stop, a group of older teenage boys came on and we immediately sensed trouble. It only took a few minutes for one of them to come over and start harassing one of my friends. The train was loud and he was repetitive, so I can't give an exact dialogue/ run-down of what happened. Anyway, one of the teenagers came up to my friend to inform that his friend was interested in her. He then asked her if she felt the same way. She said "No" and it continued on as excuses were made. He asked "Why," "Is it because he's a stranger," to "I don't see a boyfriend around." We soon noticed that he had no intent on stopping, so my friend asked him to stop and he didn't. Gradually, she became less polite. Instead, she grew louder and firmer, until he put his hands up and said, "Alright." Obviously, many things about this disgusted me. But here are the few that stood out to me: 1. ADULTS!!! WHERE ARE YOU??? There were about a handful of adults on the train and they were all watching this happen to a young girl!! and!! didn't do anything!! They had the power to do something and help, but they didn't. 2. AGE??? My friend does look slightly older for her age, but I was sitting right next to her and I look a little young for my age. Anyway, she was under 16 and I have a feeling that the boys were over 16. Any assault disgusts me, but it grosses me out, even more, when the age difference is so large. 3. EXCUSES, EXCUSES, EXCUSES The fact that "I'm not interested" wasn't enough to get the message across deeply upset. Women and men constantly have to lie and make excuses, even after saying no. She had to say she had a boyfriend, she was too young, her parents would never let her date, she didn't know him, and it almost got to the point where she was going to pull the "Lesbian Card." HELP STOP SEXUAL ASSAULT
BE SAFE! Some vocab for y'all before you continue reading...
Sex and Gender and 2 very different things. Sex is what you're born with aka vagina vs penis (unless you're intersex). Gender is what you identify with. If you're cis-gendered, then your gender and sex "match." You have the privilege of either having a vagina and identifying as a female or having a penis and identifying as a male. Transgender (other terms include, but not limited to transsexual, genderqueer), according to Glaad (a great organization that helps those who are part of the LGBTQ+ community), is a term used to describe people whose gender identity differs from the sex the doctor marked on their birth certificate. Last year, I didn't understand those who preferred the pronouns "they/their" and/or people who were gender non-conforming/ non-binary. Since I didn't understand, I judged. Now I get it and realized that, as someone who is cis-gendered, it's not my place to decide not to respect in someone's pronouns. Today it angers me when people "don't believe" that someone is actually trans, "doing it for attention," or just being a "fake b*tch." If you're cis, you have no right to not call someone by their preferred pronouns. Many youth grow up not knowing what transgender is and feeling uncomfortable for most of their life. Others don't feel it's safe to come out yet and some can't even afford hormone therapy or gender reassignment surgery for them to fully transition or are even too young! I once heard someone say, "I'm sorry, but if you have a penis - you're a guy and if you have a vagina - you're a girl." But once again, many are too young to get reassignment surgery and hormone therapy costs around $1,500 per year according to Teen Vogue. Cisgendered friends!!! Please don't determine, by yourself, that those who prefer to be called by different pronouns are invalid just because you "don't believe it" or it "doesn't make sense." It's Suck it up and educate yourself! "You're not allowed"
"You can't cry" "That's too girly" "Hun, that's for boys only" - Even before you're born, things are already "assigned" to you based on your sex. Whether it includes a "gender reveal" or a baby shower, blue is given to boys and pink for girls. Monster trucks and "tough things" are slapped on onesies for boys and girls walk around with hearts and rainbows. For me, it even came to the point where my brother stood on our dinner table and announced he liked the color pink because he felt it wasn't normal. When I was younger, I would have tantrums when my entire outfit wasn't entirely pink or my mom died my pasta pink with beets. I'm not saying we should do a complete switch, but we shouldn't force colors onto babies. If you don't understand what harm could be caused by just two colors, take a close look at how you and/or many others were raised. For men, they've been told since they were young that they can't cry because GOD FORBID someone sees you experience emotions. Men are told that if they cry, they are weak and some horrible, homophobic situations - f**got or gay. If a girl cries, she is sensitive and compassionate. If a girl doesn't cry, then she's a stone cold b*tch and emotionless. The fact that this all started in the 1940's (since world war II) and we still haven't gotten rid of it!?? It's ridiculous. === Colors are just the start to shoving people into boxes and the one time they step out of that constricted piece of bullsh*t, we slap labels on them. Can we just get rid of our idea of how we think each sex should act? Let's get rid of boxes and stereotypes and start not caring about what everyone else does! Don't waste time judging, but spend time making yourself the best person you can be and helping others do the same. On January 21, many were part of an event that will go down in history. The Women's March. Here some facts that make me happy.
1. It wasn't just Washington or the United States. You could probably find a sister march in every state and there were marches held all over the world. 2. More than 4.6 million people attended a women's march (and that's no counting other countries). While only an estimated 250,000 to 600,000 people attended Trump's inauguration. 3. Even though I had to write an actual persuasive essay, I was able to be part of history. 4. Last but not least, all marches were peaceful and the only person (that I know of) that got arrested was a Trump supporter. My only hope for the future is that people continue to make their voices heard. I hope that people don't see the march as their only chance at activism, which brings up the question: What now? If you're looking for inspiration, I recommend these two websites/ subscriptions: 10 ACTIONS IN 100 DAYS: This was created by the same awesome ladies that created the Women's March. By subscribing, you will get a new task every 10 days. The first action is to send a postcard to your senators talking about what you're concerned about and why. If this wasn't easy enough, the website even gives you a template that you can print out. Also, you don't have to write to just your senators! I suggest researching Republican or "swing" senators and try to change their mind! Subscribe to make sure you don't miss out on a new task! My Civic Workout: Y'all this is amazing!! According to their website, their mission "is to help those feeling overwhelmed, daunted, and disheartened to engage in meaningful civic activism. We know that activism can be hard, but it gets easier with practice, and we're here to help you get started." This website has opened my eyes to things I didn't even know could help, let alone existed. Their emails are always frequent and inspiring to look out. My favorite thing about it all is that there are different "levels." Most of the time, there's a 5 min, 15 min, and 30 min civil workout. This means that whatever your energy is, there is at least one small thing that you can do to change the world. Be Involved: If none of these websites seem inviting, talk! By now, you shouldn't be surprised how easy it is to start a conversation about current events. I find it inspiring to see so much passion from those around me. Additionally, talking creates bonds and friends... it's important to strengthen those relationships in such a time of confusion and hate. Now, if you really want to take matters into your own hand, start something. If you have the ability, start a club in your school or create a safe place. Personally, I'm doing tons of fundraisers this year using GirlUp! GirlUp raises money to give education to girls all over the world, which is a cause I'm very passionate about. This year, I'm putting together a team of runners to do a 5K, while fundraising at the same time! Although it isn't for awhile, I'm also planning on doing a Christmas/ Birthday (since they're so close together for me) fundraiser. Basically, instead of asking for presents, I would ask for donations. If GirlUp isn't your thing, there are tons of other organizations that are looking for donations - it all comes done to a little research on your part. Don't let anything so you, my lovely activists!! In social studies, we're learning about immigration, urbanization, and industrialization. But the important part here is immigration! Anyway, our teacher wasn't here today, so we had a free period! YAY! Back to the point, my class has a ton of bad ass girls who believe so much in equality it's inspiring. I don't wanna "reveal their identity" so we're going to go with:
Person A: She/her, VERY anti - trump, and definitely knows what she's talking about Person B: She/her, I like to think she's pro- Hill/ anti-trump but I don't really know anymore!! But she is against racism, so at least she's a little sane ;) *As I'm writing our conversation, I'm realizing that she's actually pretty neutral and is trying to make Person A see both sides of the story. ME! - Pro- Hillary, of course. Just have a look at my blog and I think you'll quickly understand my views. Now our wonderful, debate-filled conversation: Little Side Note (my blog is filled with them): I don't remember the EXACT conversation, so I'll just hit the big topics. popular vote vs. electoral college PA: "The electoral college is stupid. The electoral college really f*cked it up this time. Like, come on!" PC: "You do realize that every time the Liberal party has one, Conservatives have probably thought the same thing." PA: "Do you realize why we have the electoral college in the first place? The electoral college was created to make voting quicker in colonial times. The electoral college allowed states to voice their opinion, but elect a president much faster." Fact Check: We got this information from our social studies teacher, but after researching the creation of the electoral college, it doesn't say anything about making voting quicker. ME: "Well it worked in our favor for the first two terms... I mean we had Barack Obama." PA: But the electoral college still doesn't make sense in the day and age. Our voices should be directly heard, instead of going through someone else." (I agree with this a lot actually) are you a bad person if you voted for trump I'll never know if you're annoyed with reading this story through dialogue, but this is getting a little hard to type so I'm just going to give you the main gist of things ;) Person A believed that you were genuinely a bad person if you voted for/supported Trump. She believed that Trump is taking away basic human rights, which again, made him a bad person. *My thoughts: I wouldn't say that if you support Trump, that you're a bad person!! I think that there is a good bunch of uneducated people that voted for Trump and who don't actually know both sides of the story. I feel that people are entitled to their own opinions and they shouldn't be called bad people for it.* Person B also believed that people shouldn't be considered bad for their political beliefs. To her, murderers are bad people, not someone who think different politically. Person B also questioned Person A whether or not she would even call someone a bad person to their face if they supported Trump. Person A said she would definitely call someone out, even her own family. *I was a little skeptical about this, but oh well!* She continued to talk about how Trump is taking away human rights. She believes, and I agree, that people deserve to love who they want to love and that people should live life without fear of being kicked out of their home or being oppressed. By Trump electing Pence, who believes in shock therapy, he is threatening the right to love. Additionally, on multiple accounts, he has talked about "sending back the Mexicans" and kicking Muslims out of the country. I'm sorry, but this heated debate never came to a resolution because the period had already ended. Writing this all out how allowed me to take a step back and think about my own thoughts. I think both sides were well informed and passionate about the topics. My thoughts on all of this are a bit scattered, but here they are anyway: 1. Although Trump may never had said anything negative towards the LGBTQ+ community directly, by electing Pence as his vice president is enough to make anyone go running the other direction. 2. My social studies teacher may have said one thing and the internet another, but either way, I think we should get rid of the electoral college and go with popular vote. There have been so many cases where the most qualified nominee was "scammed" by the electoral college, while some other unqualified dude became president! 3. Even though it's clear where I stand on the Trump presidency, I hope you all know that your ideas and opinions are welcome. So please comment anything down below and I would love to hear from you. - E :) |
FEMINISMthe advocacy of women's rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes |