January 20, 2017.
January 21, 2017.
What a week we have had.
What a historical,
monumental, and breathtaking (in all the ways one's breath can be
taken away) week, that we have had.
A week where I thought of my
future daughters, knowing that I will teach them about these times.
Knowing that I will say This is where we were when I was young and
may you never experience anything like it.
A week where every woman I
know said “Will you be joining the marches? if so, call me, I'll be
there.”
A week where, my entire
gender got together and said NO MORE.
While I am filled with
silver linings, I remain without words. Through writing, I find my
voice, but in more difficult times, it becomes difficult to access.
So today, I will let someone else speak for me:
On inauguration day, Ashley
Judd brought me to tears, as she recited the following poem, “Nasty
Woman” written by 19 year old, Nina Donovan. If you have not read,
or heard this poem, I encourage you to take the time to do so now.
I am a nasty woman.
I'm not as nasty as a
man who looks like he bathes in cheeto dust. A man whose words are a
distract to America; Electoral College-sanctioned hate speech
contaminating this national anthem. I am not as nasty as Confederate
flags being tattooed across my city. Maybe the south actually is
gonna rise again; maybe for some it never really fell. Blacks are
still in shackles an graves just for being Black. Slavery has been
reinterpreted as the prison system in front of people who see melanin
as animal skin.
I am not as nasty as a
Swastika painted on a pride flag. And I didn't know devils could be
resurrected but I feel Hitler in these streets-a mustache traded for
a toupee; Nazis renamed the cabinet; electro-conversion therapy the
new gas chambers, shaming the gay out of America turning rainbows
into suicide notes.
I am not as nasty as
racism, fraud, conflict of interest, homophobia, sexual assault,
transphobia, white supremacy, misogyny, ignorance, white privilege.
I'm not as nasty as
using little girls like Pokemon before their bodies have even
evolved.
I am not as nasty as
your own daughter being your favorite sex symbol-like your wet dreams
infused with your own genes.
But yah, I am a nasty
woman!
A loud, vulgar, proud
woman.
I'm not nasty like the
combo of Trump and Pence being served up to me in my voting booth.
I'm nasty like the
battles my grandmothers fought to get me into that voting booth.
I'm nasty like the
fight for wage equality. Scarlett Johansson: Why were the famous
actors paid less than half of what the male actors earned last year?
See, even when we do
go into higher paying jobs our wages are still cut with blades,
sharpened by testosterone. Why is the work of a Black woman and a
Hispanic woman worth only 63 and 54 cents of a white man's privileged
daughter?
This is not a feminist
myth. This is inequality.
So we are not here to
be debunked. We are here to be respected. We are here to be nasty.
I am nasty like the
blood stains on my bed sheets. We don't actually choose if and when
to have our periods. Believe me, if we could, some of us would. We
don't like throwing away our favorite pairs of underpants. Tell me,
why are tampons and pads still taxed when Viagra and Rogaine are not?
Is your erection really more than protecting the sacred messy part of
my womanhood? Is the bloodstain on my jeans more embarrassing than
the thinning of your hair?
I know it is hard to
look at your own entitlement and privilege. You may be afraid of the
truth. I am unafraid to be honest. It may sound petty bringing up a
few extra cents. It adds up to the pile of change I have yet to see
in my country.
I can't see. My eyes
are too busy praying to my feet, hoping you don't mistake eye contact
for wanting physical contact. Half my life I have been zipping up my
smile hoping you don't think I wanna unzip your jeans.
I am unafraid to be
nasty because I am nasty like Susan, Elizabeth, Eleanor, Amelia,
Rosa, Gloria, Condoleezza, Sonia, Malala, Michelle, Hillary. And our
Pussies ain't for grabbin'. Therefore, reminding you that our balls
are stronger than America's ever will be. Our pussies are for
pleasure. They are for birthing new generations of filthy, vulgar,
nasty, proud, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Sheikh-you name it-for new
generations of nasty women. So if you {are} a nasty woman or love one
who is, let me hear you say hell yeah!
-Nina Donovan
To all the Nasty Women I know and the men who love us, Hell Fucking
Yeah.
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