Silencing Women
The news and social media are alive about Republican Senators “shutting up” Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, who was voicing her opinion about Senator Jeff Sessions’ nomination for Attorney General. Elizabeth Warren was reading the words of Coretta Scott King, who voiced her opposition of Sessions to a federal judgeship. Not only did McConnell shut Warren up, but he tried silencing King’s words beyond the grave. His words, "She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted," are now considered a rallying cry for us. The fact she and Mrs. King were silenced in the company of mostly men is nothing new to many of us.
It took until 1920 for women to vote under the 19th Amendment. The fact that no woman, regardless of race, creed, color, religion, sexual orientation, or class, we were not given a political voice until it was deemed appropriate by the men in our society. The fight for the right to vote began in 1878, with many women like Susan B. Anthony taking up the cause. It took decades of protesting, with some women even participating in hunger strikes and silent vigils. (https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=63) For almost 40 years, women raised their voices and never backed down, until on August 20, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the Amendment, and women were given the right to vote. I am sure that many of these women were also warned to remain silent, but yet they still persisted.
Knowing this history, and the strides we have made toward equal rights on all fronts, I am still shocked by those who seem to want to regress these rights. As a woman born in the 1970’s, all I’ve known are these rights granted to me by the laws of the United States. On the front lines now, are my reproductive rights that were granted in 1973 (I was only two years old!), Right now, the social and religious moralist want to ban abortion. But I do not think it will stop there, I think this misogynist movement is after birth control, too. Really, the pill has been around since 1960 for contraceptive use, how far back are we taking this? (A subject for another writing.) Granted, maybe this regressiveness is a fight for women younger than me, but I can’t imagine a world where women are forced into childbirth for any reason, so I will fight for those younger women. No woman can be a feminist and be against reproductive rights, how can someone be a political or economic force if they cannot control their own bodies? The current “pro-life” movement seems to target not only abortion but birth control! I no longer will consider the argument that the “pro-life” movement is about “saving the babies”, but it is again about “silencing” us. If one is not ready to be a mother for whatever reason, then why not leave it up to herto decide? A woman’s economic and political voice and well being can only be as strong as the control of her reproduction rights. Again we will persist.
For the past 40 years, we have made tremendous strides toward sexual assault, sexual discrimination, and domestic violence, but we need to continue to move forward.. When I was an undergraduate at Illinois State University, I took a class called “Women Today”, it was like a feminist class for beginners. We purchased this binder for the class that contained a great deal of articles on various subjects, one article struck me the most. It was an article about a case involving the rape of a five-year-old girl in the early 1970’s. The judge had ordered a reduced sentence for the perpetrator because the girl had “seduced” him. I wish I could find the binder, to quote the case and judge accurately, but as a survivor, I can tell you that this shocked me beyond anything else. Even in 1991, I was grateful that our society had come far since that. At least in my memory, the 1980’s brought to public discussion these types of crimes against women and children. When it came to these crimes, women were continuously told to be silent, even by their own mothers. The sad part is that women are still shamed or not believed into silence, especially if the perpetrator is well known. In these cases, silence means continued victimization and not justice.
For those who need reminded, we are in 2017, and we now have 20 women (14 Democrats, 6 Republicans) serving the U.S. Senate. For many of us, this is something we can be proud of and show that we move forward, even though we came short of having our first woman President. The deeper meaning of silencing Senator Elizabeth Warren (and Mrs. King) is that men continue to want to silence us, no matter how much we have gained. What is also pathetic is that six of the Republican women Senators helped silenced her. At times, we seem to become our own enemy, agreeing with men in public spheres to be silent and many women will gladly.
Many men think or convinced the quickest way to silence is us is to throw labels our way. We, who are not silence, have heard the labels: bitch, cunt, dyke, and other words. We have heard our level of attractiveness criticized or praised in the middle of a valid and intellectual point whether it’s in class or at work. Unless you have reached a level of status that mainly men (usually white and wealthy) have obtained you were silenced. Your level of attractiveness (but not too attractive, because what does your pretty head know) has to match their verbal assaults. It is the only reason why I think many of women would call themselves “conservative”. To be liberal would not go along with their rhetoric, it would be cause for them to hear the same labels. Though liberal men should not celebrate quite yet...as I know that I have been silenced among them also. To be an equal, we cannot be silenced, not when it comes to our rights or our rightful place in the is world. We cannot fight oppression and violence if we are kept silent.
“She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted," A rallying cry not just for American women, but for women around the world. No more silencing.
