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"Having a vagina is a matter of biology, not a political argument." Agree or disagree?

Consider the following account of Katie Hopkins, a British reporter at Saturday's Women's March on Washington:

Her sign said; 'I am more than my vagina'. I asked her why she was at the Women's March on Washington. She said it was because she wanted to show what democracy really meant.

Another white lady held a placard reminding me that 'white silence = white consent but Black Lives Matter #BLM'. She said she was marching because women own their own bodies.

And a lady, pushing a stroller with two children on board, facing down the secret service, with a sign that made it clear Trump is 'Not My President'.

Even the speakers sounded confused. As I ate a three piece chicken meal with a side of slaw to recover from hearing the Koran read out in Washington Cathedral, I listened to one manic woman yell at the crowd;

'We are women. And you are we. And we are you', gesturing to make her point clear. It wasn't. But the crowd loved it all the same.

Madonna popped up, her eyes inching ever closer to her ears to let us know Good did not win this election. (I didn't even know Good was a candidate.)

In the interests of full disclosure she told the crowd she had considered blowing up the White House'. The tolerant left also get PMS it seems.

Another speaker, short on content but gushing with estrogen shouted: 'We are here'. (She was not wrong, we were). We will not be silenced. We will not play dead'.

To be fair to Trump, I have not heard the silencing of females or women playing dead in his 100 day plan. Perhaps a more suitable venue for this speech would be outside the Saudi embassy, where the silencing of women is all the rage.

A woman whipped into a frenzy by her own brilliance started listing girls' names, 'Emily, Conchita, Malala, Edith, Tonia, Shania (we had all got the point but she carried on regardless) Maria Guadalupe, Kayleigh....we are here to be respected. We are here to be nasty.

I think Madonna had already received this memo.

And fueled by these pearls of wisdom, the women set off for the streets, pussy ears perked, banners aloft, chanting as they went.

'Tell me what democracy looks like?' 'This is what democracy looks like'.

I wanted to point out, respectfully, that democracy is the Electoral College system that saw Trump turn the map from blue to red. But there were a few million of them. And they had pictures of vaginas. So I decided this was not the time.

I thought I heard the women chanting 'Menstrual brew' which had me wondering exactly what this lot were on. But listening more closely it turned out to be 'Pence Sucks Too.'

I was grateful for the clarity. I thought it was just Trump they hated. But it turns out it is all men. Apart from the ones who are transitioning to women.

'What do we want? Equality'. 'When do we want it?' 'NOW'.

I wondered what in their world was not equal, but I guess if you have a massive chip on one shoulder the world is probably a bit askew.

I took a peak at the map to see if any of them actually knew what they were doing, what they were protesting about or where they were going.

I was surprised to see a lactation station, a reunification station marked by fist and a fleet of warming buses before they had reached mile one.

An almighty army of women, gushing, fisting, and lactating their way down the road. Right on, sister.

For all my jibes, there was something truly impressive about the sheer scale of the crowds, the enormous number of women and men, filling the streets of Washington in a noisy bubbling ribbon of pink and placards.

But it is an army lacking a common purpose. Lacking a common cause. Every one of them wielding a placard for a different grudge they bear. Many unable to give a coherent reason for being there. Most at odds with the placards they carried. Many cross a woman didn't win.

But simply being a woman is not enough.

This was a march defined by gender, not purpose - much like Clinton's campaign. And a march where the meaningless drivel of the speakers was matched by the lack of a clear aim of those marching.

No one would argue their hearts were not in it. I found myself smiling at their happiness in each other's company, their relief to be together, reminding each other they are not alone.

But a shared sense of victimhood is not sufficient to make change happen. And at its most fundamental the unifying cause for these collected individuals is that they are not men.

They will not be silenced. That is clear. But they don't know what it is they are shouting about. Anger is not enough.

Feminism has to be better than this. Better than posters telling me your vagina is tough. Or 'this pussy grabs back'. So what? Mine can stash a 24 oz can of Coors Light. Sideways.

Hillary tried to win by doing everything they've just done today - by being a woman, a woman who wants to be the candidate for everyone who feels like a victim, who feels maligned by society. She was the candidate for every cause, but master of none.

The voices today? Just an echo of her mixed messages. And that wasn't, isn't enough.

The left believes it is better than the rest. But it has prejudices of its own.

The same prejudices that saw guests at the Armed Services Inauguration Ball spat at. Or Madonna saying she'd like to blow up the White House. Or the very fact you fell out over what to name the Women's March in case it was divisive. Or for being too white. They even snubbed Hillary Clinton as an honoree for the Women's March on Washington, because she was gracious and attended Trump's inauguration. Imagine how much that day hurt her, and yet they rejected her despite her courage. Shame on them.

These prejudices, these prevarications, this failure to stand for something, not represent everything, are exactly why people turn to Trump. And exactly why they lost and will continue to lose.

They are strong, I watched them today.

But they have to be better than this.

You win if you offer a clear vision supported by this strength to get things done. Not just because you are a woman. 

Posted - January 22, 2017

Responses


  • Those words weren't in the Bible.   It's not even a paraphrase really,   it was the inspiration.   Yet the words and the quote isn't  a Biblical quote so it doesn't deserve the credit for saying it.

    The Proverb and the Quote are very very different even if they are similar in meaning and one inspired by the other.
      January 23, 2017 9:35 AM MST
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  • Nope ..... you are reading me wrong. I don't claim to be educated on American  politics whatsoever ......I do not like when someone attacks woman as a group ..... And I despise when freedom of press is compromised. Can you deny either has happened with your new president ?
      January 22, 2017 7:40 PM MST
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  • 13261
    He's done nothing as president to attack women, but there seems to be a great deal of paranoia that he will. That's what the march was about. On the other hand, plenty of women voted for him. We'll have to wait and see what happens.
      January 22, 2017 7:59 PM MST
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  • You are in denial if you feel he has not offended woman in his approach...... Woman as a whole do NOT want his message to be okay ..... I'm not a feminist and I've worked with men all my life ..... I have no children ..... But I do have a niece that I want to grow up in a world where " if I'm rich I can grab her by the pussy" is not okay..... And calling an intellegent woman  a " nasty woman" IS NOT OKAY........ I'm gorgeous . But I don't want because I'm atractive make my worth ..... No ones gonna grab Me by the pussy ...., unless I say so. I'm not mad .... Just honest.     
      January 22, 2017 8:13 PM MST
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  • 17469
    And naive it seems. I imagine some women never have the opportunity to hear locker room talk.  They can get used to it because if the feminist have their way men and women will soon be sharing locker rooms.   If words can affect you like this you have some really tough times ahead of you.  You have listened to the bullshit thrown out by the unprofessional and unethical free press that you think marching on Washington would protect.  Very misguided.
      January 24, 2017 9:43 PM MST
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  • 17261
    Oh Jaimie is hitting on your nerve, Thrifty?

    So many replies to one person inside one thread, and long ones. Wow. Keep cheering for your man, keep making him look like the victim, it won't change how he is, or how he acts. A first class narcissis. We will see how long he can keep his hands for himself as president. The treats against the first amendment is true. Your defence speech isn't helping that fact.
      January 24, 2017 11:04 PM MST
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  • Why do you say you're not a feminist? I know it is off topic, im just curious. Looking at your posts here, that is surprising to me.
    I would identify myself as supportive of women equality. But if asked I would probably say yes, I am a feminist. 
      January 29, 2017 1:44 AM MST
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  • 17469
    Neither has happened with America's new president.  Please tell us where this is coming from?
      January 24, 2017 9:36 PM MST
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  • 5614
    I applaud you even if i may disagree with you. Not on everything.
      January 22, 2017 7:50 PM MST
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  • Thank you :) I apriciate agree to disagree  
      January 22, 2017 7:54 PM MST
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  • Well said. That's precisely the problem. Instead of listening and trying to understand each other grievances, regardless of how much we don't understand them, we do this. We ridicule and dismiss. This is especially egregious when coming from members of groups that are ridiculed and dismissed themselves, like religious groups. It is not surprising to see little insecure men taking the baton against the women's movement, but it is massively amazing to me when other women do the same.
    And lastly,  any man that uses the word V, in such a crass, and vulgar way without regard to the sensitivities of so many women that could come across this, is not saying anything about women, he's saying a lot more about himself.
      January 22, 2017 10:35 PM MST
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  • YES !  THIS^  .....thank you :)
      January 22, 2017 10:37 PM MST
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  • 2515
    1. If the only way you look at a woman is that she is nothing more than a vagina? It is yes for you.
    2. If you notice from all the different comments, is that women are marching for a variety of reasons--reasons that concerns them---inner and outer parts. 
    3. According to the speakers I listened to, there were political reasons. Angela Davis made a good point about this. 
      January 22, 2017 7:15 PM MST
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  • 13261
    It wasn't my opinion, Marguerite, but rather a piece written by a reporter covering the event. However, the march made it clear that a lot of folks, especially women, are still pissed off about Hillary losing the election, and they need to get over it and move on as she apparently has.
      January 22, 2017 7:29 PM MST
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  • 2515
    @Stu, apparently you have lost the point of the women marches. If it was only about Hillary, do you think women in 73 different countries and 370 marches in the US marches for one reason? It was about women's rights. Hillary said it best, "Women's rights are human rights. Among the many are these:
    1. Women want control of their own reproductive system. They don't want the government involved in telling them  
    what to do. They need health care. They need contraception. They need choices to handle pregnancy in a legal way. They aren't breaking any laws. 
    2. Women want to get fair pay for work. Hispanic women get 53 on the dollar, black women get 73 cents on the dollar. White women get a dollar for the same job. Yet a white women makes 77 cents for every man's dollar. 
    3. Women want Planned Parenthood to give them female health care, which is available for poor women. 
    Republicans want to defund this program, because it uses federal dollars.
    4. There are different organizations that involve women and their concerns. Example: Black lives matter. They want laws to protect their sons from unfit police personnel. They want the justice system and prison system fixed. 
    5. Immigrants: The Dreamers- want to have the opportunity to become citizens, as they had no choice being brought into the country illegally by their parents. They have grown up here, have been educated, and many have assimilated into the American culture.
    6. There are gender identification problems. This is the LGBTQ community. There is job discrimination, harassment, bullying, and rest room problems. They also want choice of who to marry. 
    7. Then Republicans raised rates on FHA mortgages of homes. 
    That affects the family, especially single mothers.
    8. Cuts in Medicaid for the poor. There will also be changes in Medicare, which will affect older women. So even 70-year-old women were marching.
    9. Childcare is a concern, especially for single mothers. Education for their children is a concern with the privatization of public schools, cut of student loans, and other issues. Schooling for children with disabilities, as well. Cuts in programs that deal with other cultures. 
    10. There is so much more! Voting rights need to be addressed for some states that discriminate or disenfranchise their minorities.
    11. Racisim----Islamophobia, xenophobia. Migrants from the war-torn countries that face terrorism. 
    Anyway, women in different countries face different problems and they march in solidarity to get the world to listen to them and not be silent. 
      January 22, 2017 8:35 PM MST
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  • 13261
    But unless and until there's actual legislation, none of that is under threat. All there's been is outrageous campaign rhetoric, which Trump used to his advantage to draw attention to himself.

    If anybody actually wants and tries to change those things, they'll encounter a great deal of resistance within the system - think about how many women across the country are judges and legislators, for example - and it won't be so easy.

    What these events demonstrate is a great deal of mass hysteria with little basis in fact or action.
      January 22, 2017 10:22 PM MST
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  • 5614
    Couldn't you have shown the pic of her from back in, say 1970? She was hot! Enough to recruit anybody to whatever cause. This post was edited by O-uknow at January 29, 2017 7:35 AM MST
      January 22, 2017 7:53 PM MST
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  • 23068
    This writer seems to have all the answers and speaks for everyone and has all the reasons for why voters voted for whom they did and why candidates did what they did and why marchers protest (heaven forbid people may have more than one issue that is important to them) and why people are left and why people are right and . . .

    I live in a very pro-Trump, get-over-it-he won area and I tire of others telling me how others think. (By the way, I have no trouble knowing he won.)

    So many people in both major political parties and their followers seem to think they know so well what makes the "other side" tick.
    I tire of people in both parties/persuasions when they do that.

    It's definitely a well-written piece, though.
    :)


      January 22, 2017 7:40 PM MST
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  • 2515
    Well, I should have checked your source: Katie Hopkins. She is English, controversial, and an entertainment columnist. Her writing is atrocious, to say the least. I would write a criticism on it, but I want to make a point. Here is part of what is written about her. She's no Howard Stern, that's for sure. 
      January 22, 2017 7:42 PM MST
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  • It is mind boggling to me to see a woman spew this kind of rhetoric, completely oblivious of the fact that were it not for the Womens Movement she would not be able to enjoy the freedoms that allow her to write this stuff. This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at January 23, 2017 12:49 PM MST
      January 22, 2017 11:06 PM MST
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  • 46117
    Is that what she said last night?   I've heard of a shut down, but that one was very creative.

    Get a new girlfriend.
      January 22, 2017 8:07 PM MST
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  • 22891
    thats true
      January 22, 2017 8:26 PM MST
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  • 2500
    Apparently not according to Bruce, I mean Caitlyn Jenner and Bradley, I mean Chelsie Manning.
      January 22, 2017 8:40 PM MST
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  • 17261
    Having an issue?
      January 23, 2017 1:05 AM MST
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  • 283
    I know people, both men and women who were at marches throughout the US. The only thing, as an  American woman that I heard through any of the rhetoric that I stand behind is that it is a mistake to defund planned parenthood. That is a huge mistake.

    As for the equal rights and equal pay, the laws are there. They need to be enforced, and women need to ask for that raise. Every job I have had I worked hard and did more than was asked or was expected to do. I got the raise and I got the promotion. I even got it over men. Have I had men say or do inappropriate things? Of course. Most only did it once. They other one or two did so when I was young and naïve. If the women that were protesting want better for their daughters, then teach them to be better. Teach them to stand up on personal level. Let them know they can be anything they wanted t be as ling as they work hard for it. Oh and teach your sons the same thing.
      January 22, 2017 8:43 PM MST
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