After a whirlwind week of victim-blaming and exploding insecurities in white men, it's pretty safe to say I'm at my wit's end. On account of this, I have a few simple requests to allow me to stop feeling placated by a system stunted in its evolution. Here they are:
Stop telling me things will be different.
Stop giving air time to the predator in the President costume.
Stop telling me what's happening will change the way men act and the way women are perceived.
Stop telling me victims of sexual assault feel emboldened.
Stop telling me that this is the time to take back the night.
Stop telling me bullshit.
I want to believe that the testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford against Brett Kavanaugh was so compelling that it moved people, changed people. But everything around me is telling me not to believe.
No matter how damning the evidence, how credible the testimony, we hold no power over rich white men. We live in a system defined by them, built to cater to them and protect them from tarnishing their ever-so-important futures.
I want to say that this week has changed me. Has made me want to look my own assailant in the eye and say: "You lose." but that's simply untrue. If anything, I have spent the week questioning what my own credibility would even look like. I'm no doctor, no saint. I'm just a girl in a world that thinks I'm trying to pull the victim card.
I had my own democracy look me square in the face this week and say: We don't care about you. Your trauma is less important than our politics. White men rule the world and you can't change that.
What hurts me more than my own second-guessing, is that I imagine millions of other women feel just as powerless as I do.
So badly do I want to provide you with words to inspire you. I often like to use this platform to make young women feel empowered, but this week robbed me of that.
The light at the end of this tunnel exists, but all of these blows to the face have swollen our eyes so much to the point that we can hardly see a glint.
Do you really want to know what will make a difference? I've provided some pointers:
Start telling us you believe in your daughters, your sisters and your wives.
Start highlighting the candidates attempting to make a change.
Start raising men who understand and respect the word "No."
Start accepting that we are people, not victims.
Start putting rapists in jail so the night isn't something we have to take back.
Start voting.
It's really as simple as that. I wish I could tell you coming forward and speaking your truth was the answer, but our government and legal system have proven to us time and time again that it won't make a difference. Things will change only when the people in power change. Let's make that happen this November. Register to vote here.
