Nevertheless, fiction or not, if this powerful statement of women's reality doesn't punch you in the gut, please do some serious reflection to figure out why.
Trigger Warning.
I'm about to hurt some feelings.
No, I'm not kidding.
Here goes:
I was 7 years old the first time a grown man touched me sexually without my consent. I'll spare you the gory details of how long that lasted and how many other times in my life I was touched, groped, or compromised in the name of sex.
I'll go further to say there are a few other things in my sexual history that were violent, traumatic, and absolutely devastating to my psyche but I am not willing to talk about those things here.
Just know that like almost 100% of the women I know, I am well acquainted with sexual trauma.
Why am I saying all of this, you ask?
I'll tell you: With everything going on politically and socially around abortion rights, the rage that was birthed in me at the age of 7 is snowballing into something murderous.
At the age of 7 I learned one concrete truth that almost 100% of women in this world are fed at some point in their lives: Your body belongs to whoever wants it and there's not a Goddamned thing you can do about it.
I've seen that meme going around that says something like "Ask any woman you know how old she was the first time someone sexualized her without her consent" and I cannot. fucking. stomach the truth in that question.
I'm 42 years old. I've got a huge network of friends from all backgrounds, all economic classes, all colors, all ages, living all over this world and ALL of those friends who have lived any time on this Earth as a woman have been sexually compromised.
All of them.
ALL of them.
What has this got to do with abortion, you ask?
The fact that I am being told now by the State of Georgia that my body does not belong to me.
Because people who ARE NOT ME voted on what I can do with MY BODY.
The fact that there are a throng of old white men in Alabama who want to throw a woman in jail for life for having an abortion even if she is raped.
And Texas looks soon to follow.
And then who (where) else?
I don't want to hear "what about the children" one more time.
I don't want to hear about your religious beliefs.
This has ZILCH to do with saving fetuses.
How do I know this?
When a woman is raped, the first thing that happens is that her character is questioned. Maybe she is outright called a liar. Maybe they ask what she was wearing.
Sometimes there is unequivocal PROOF that a woman was raped.
Sometimes it's caught on video.
Sometimes it's pretty white college boys raping unconscious women behind dumpsters.
Sometimes it's grown men bragging in an audio recording about "grabbing women by the pussy" and then getting elected President of this country.
Sometimes it's TWO sitting Supreme Court justices who have a documented history of attempted rape and sexual harassment.
Sometimes it's Planned Parenthood clinics being bombed by religious people claiming to do "God's Work".
See, if this abortion controversy was about "saving fetuses" the government would be pumping money into prenatal programs, fixing the water supply in Detroit [Flint] that is poisoning thousands of children, getting those immigrant children out of cages, educating police forces on not killing young men of Color, and about a million other ways you could "save a baby" that don't involve treating my vagina like Government Property.
In case it's not clear: Making abortion illegal is about criminalizing Womanhood.
If you're a woman and you support the government treating you like a broodmare for the system, then you're a fucking brainwashed, simple dumbass and you need to get off the Planet.
If you are a Father raising a child who will live in this world as a female, you better ask yourself what you want for them. You better look deep into your heart, past your religion, past the dogma and ask yourself if you want your child growing up in a world where sexual compromise starts at 7 or 6 or 2 or 32 and literally never ends until you die and is even sanctioned by the Government.
I am only ONE of the 100% of women I know who has lived through sexual trauma.
I am ONE woman in an endless sea of women who will tell you that abortion must be safe and legal.
I am ONE woman telling my story in hopes that someone out in the ether will think of what it feels like to be alive in a time when we are seriously talking about PASSING LAWS TO PUT WOMEN IN JAIL for seeking abortions.
I want you to ask yourself why men are not being prosecuted for contributing to unwanted pregnancies.
I want you to ask yourself why a rapist will spend less time in jail in the state of Alabama than a woman who has an abortion will under the new law.
I want you to ask yourself why it scares the shit out of people for women to have a goddamned choice over what happens with their body.
Being a woman is not a crime.
Repeat after me: BEING A WOMAN IS NOT A CRIME.
BEING. A. WOMAN. IS. NOT. A. CRIME. - Angie Ward Dykes.
*****
Why does this matter to me? Because I fathered one child. A daughter who now is grown and is a successful breadwinner for her family. She has a husband and two children (a girl and a boy in that order, age wise). I hold my daughter, son-in-law, granddaughter and grandson all in high regard and have deep respect for them. Also, for my ex-wife (without whom, I wouldn't have had the joy and responsibility for any of them).
Personal sovereignty for ALL already breathing humans is something I will continue to passionately advocate, hopefully for many years to come.
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