Saturday hundreds of thousands of women (and some men) marched in numerous cities across the country. Their message? Unsure, but the majority of them seemed to be anti-Trump.
As a middle daughter of three girls — raised by a very supportive father and a hardworking, small business-owning, ran-for-office mother — and a #NeverTrump and #NeverHillary working woman residing in Los Angeles, you’d think my type was ripe for the picking.
You would think the messaging and planners of the march would have wanted to reach out to women everywhere no matter their political affiliation. But instead, there were no clear goals and no clear message. In fact, most of the pictures of the march (despite the organizer’s hip-hip-hurraying “zero arrests” — sorry, but isn’t that what a peaceful march is supposed to entail anyway?) featured more vulgarity, divisive and false rhetoric than any signs at a Tea Party rally.
So here are my list of reasons I would have marched:
If pro-life women were welcome. After The Atlantic posted about New Wave Feminists co-sponsoring the women’s march in DC, the organizers kicked them out and issued an apology to their left-leaning friends, declaring that the march stood for “reproductive issues.” Insinuating, of course, that if you’re pro-life, you must therefore not care about “reproductive issues.” Some pro-life women decided to attend anyway, like Aimee Murphy, a pro-life speaker and feminist. Other groups, like New Wave Feminists and Students for Life, still participated, although the latter group’s members were harassed and assaulted:
“One of our girls was spit at, someone tore my sign in multiple pieces, we had people just yell at us but the main response was people just said ‘my body my choice’ when they walked past us,” said Reagan Barklage, the Western regional director for the group.” When you parade around holding up signs saying my innocent unborn child in my womb is a hindrance, a parasite, a blob that’s just an inconvenience and invasion, I don’t feel like joining you.
If organizers defended and agreed on First Amendment rights for all religions. I didn’t see any support for Little Sisters of the Poor (is being a nun and not conforming to the current sex culture of today not feminist?). I didn’t see anyone supporting the female owner of Sweet Cakes by Melissa. I didn’t see anyone standing up for the victims of evil honor killings that have occurred in our country when radical Muslim men murder their Muslim daughters for being too “westernized.”
I would have marched had pro-2nd Amendment moms/women been welcome. My body, my choice to exercise my 2nd Amendment right to protect myself in the best way I possibly can. With a Glock 19. Turns out, though, in California, politicians don’t care about that since they’ve taken away my ability to carry that gun around to protect myself, my daughter and my fellow women.
I would have marched if there had not been misinformation and lies about pro-life people and the GOP platform. What’s “anti-woman” in the GOP platform? Please tell me. I’ve read it. Also, the blatant blanket lies about the entire pro-life movement being anti-birth control, anti-condoms, anti-everything are wrong and uneducated.
I would have marched if anti-Israel speakers and groups were not lauded and promoted. Seriously, doesn’t anyone Google anymore? Israel is the safest place for LGBTQ, Muslims, Christians, Jews and women in the Middle East.
I would have marched if there were an ability to dialogue and respectfully disagree. See vulgar signs and rhetoric above.
I would have marched if the organizers and the attendees hadn’t made it about “I’m with her” and made it about all the innocent “hers” in the world often used as political fodder (by both sides) and ignored. Victims of ISIS, victims of female genital mutilation, victims of Boko Haram, victims of socialism in Venezuela, victims of communism in Cuba, victims of evil dictators in Russia and North Korea.
The platform was too narrow and too non-inclusive for a woman like me (and many women I know and have read about) to choose to march. Mis-truths and straight up lies were pushed and encouraged and then used to ostracize those of us who OBVIOUSLY agree with human/women’s rights.
Some facts the leftist feminists fail or refuse to understand about women like me who won’t join their movement:
Just because I believe in the Biblical definition of marriage doesn’t mean I won’t defend friends of mine who are LGBTQ.
Just because I’m pro-capitalism doesn’t mean I’m anti-poor. In fact, I can make numerous factual arguments proving my pro-capitalism = doing real things to help the poor.
Just because I’m pro-2A doesn’t mean I don’t care about gun violence. Most of the gun deaths in the US are committed via suicide. Was there anything in the Women’s March platform about dealing with severe depression or mental health issues?
Just because I don’t believe in man-made global warming doesn’t mean I deny that there’s actually historic shifts in the climate, or that I’m okay with irresponsibility occurring on/around the planet.
Just because I believe that the “.77 on the dollar” myth is a lie doesn’t mean I believe women should get paid less for equal work.
Just because I was homeschooled and strongly believe in school choice doesn’t mean that I am anti-teacher or hate public schools.
Just because I’m for looking at the actual statistics about police brutality, hate crimes, and sexual assault and not outlandishly exaggerating them and using mis-truths to fearmonger doesn’t mean I’m okay with ANY OF THOSE AWFUL THINGS!
When you misrepresent the real feelings/experiences/fears of your fellow Americans who voted for Trump (or like me, voted a write-in), you’re helping feed the mistrust of you and your beliefs, and frankly, helping him get re-elected.
You wanna make a change? Run for office. Help friends run for office. The executive branch isn’t supposed to have as much power as you’re giving it. Make sure the government our Founders created goes back to its constitutional roots, and then when a bad man (or woman) is in power, you won’t have to be scared out of your mind because We the People will have the power the genius men who created this country imagined, sacrificed for, and built. Start at the local level. Your city council members, mayors, state legislators, school board appointees have much more power over your everyday life than Donald Trump.
Please don’t lie to yourself and say you represented all women Saturday. You didn’t.
Friends of mine marched — fellow Christians marched, designers/models/TV stars I am a fan of (and follow on Instagram) and momtrepreneurs I’ve purchased from marched.
I hope all of the hundreds of thousands who marched went home and lent a helping hand to a foster family. Or babysat for a single mom so she could take a nap or get to work on time cost free. Or adopted a needy family needing clothes or food. Or donated to a charity rescuing and rehabilitating women and girls from sex slavery. Or gave to a local church or religious institution which always have incredible outreach to the nearby (and sometimes far away) communities.
If we’re going to be strong, independent and educated women, let’s start by not shouting at/down fellow women who disagree with us and start including diversity of thought. Let’s also start doing our own research and not be satisfied with being spoon-fed by politicians, political agendas (looking at you Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and NOW!), media sites that are blatantly biased/dishonest, and unions paid to stir crap up.
Because you know who matters more and can make an immediate difference? We the People. On our own. Without Uncle Sam.
