[My oldest with her youngest]
Every bloomin,’ freakin’ day are you getting 10 to 15 frantic emails from the Democratic Party and their kin? Do the senders wring their hands about the dire state we’re in and what terrible things will happen if YOU don’t send them 5 bucks? Do some “We’re teetering on the Edge!!” emails also remind you of how many times they’ve already emailed you this past week and yet . . . Do you struggle with this blitz of near-hysterical requests? Do you want to to do the right thing—yet wonder if money is really what’s needed? Do you suspect that your contribution’s simply adding to an already spiraling downward madness in this country?
Yeah. Me, too.
Here’s what I’m doing: If, indeed, raising money is truly the only way to save ourselves from That Other Party, my money’s going to Emily’s List. Because, it’s true, the personal is the political. And Emily’s List supports women candidates who will speak out on the issues that most affect me, my daughters and my grand-daughters; indeed, all women.
FYI, here’s a list that spells out–in part– what I’m talkin’ about:
- The right to vote.
- The right to be protected against domestic abuse, sexual harassment, and rape under the law.
- The right to receive an equal wage.
- The right to be promoted, despite whether or not you have children, despite your gender, based solely upon your work performance.
- The right to quality healthcare.
- The right to have access to birth control.
- The right to choose.
- The right to have a career, a family, or both.
- The right to marry, despite your sexual orientation.
- The right to choose your path in life, and not have gender roles assign your path in life.
- The right to quality daycare.
- The right to be represented in our political and religious institutions.
- The right to speak your mind, instead of being dismissed because you are a woman.
- The right to have impossible beauty standards removed from your life.
- The right to have a job in a traditional male-dominated field.
- The right to financial independence.
Dear Patricia,
Hi, there, Patricia! What a spectacular blog post article you have written with such clear cut perspicacity, Patricia, as well as your other very sagacious blog post articles and other writings! I, too, get my inbox inundated with urgent email messages and requests from the Democratic party and also asking for donations. I feel badly because I want to donate but I am indigent by being on a fixed income as a disabled person with multiple disabilities who receives disability benefits. My heart is there for us ad Democrats and I pray so, so very hard for our Dems. I wish that I could help the Democratic Party and causes but I also lack the energy to read all of these emails. Patricia, I know what you mean about being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the emails.
I love the title of this insightful blog post article, Patricia! The personal is indeed political!. As a lesbian black woman, I have always thought all of my life that racism is not necessarily worse than sexism. I think that sexism is universal. Many men and boys across many races, classes, socioeconomic statuses, and backgrounds can be downright sexist. Like you so wisely wrote in an earlier blog post article, sexism will always be there and there will always be haters. So, so very true, Patricia!
We as women and girls face and endure the vile and pernicious common denominator of sexism I went to college when I was younger in the early 1980s but I withdrew from college back then. I went back to college, this time at The University Of Iowa at Iowa City (not my original college) at the age of 40 in 2002. I was a Women’s Studies Major and I received my certificate in Sexuality Studies. I am a rejoicing and proud feminist! As a lesbian woman, I care so about women and girls, and for our best interests. I graduated with my B.A, degree from The University Of Iowa at the age of 48 in 2010.
We as women and girls are indeed all sisters. Even in 2014, we still need to fight and advocate for our rights, needs, and concerns as we enact our agency and empowerment. Like you do, Patricia, I, too, love and highly regard and value Emily’s List. What proactive and effective work which they do! Patricia, your powerful list of what we so vitally need as women and girls is very relevant and accurate. We as women and girls are definitely not postfeminism.
I think from the deepest depths of my heart that solidarity is for all of us as women. Also, as a lesbian black woman, I can totally be in the spirit of unity with white women as I love and cherish white women so, so especially and very, very much from the deepest depths of my heart, for white women are my heart! I truly believe all of us together as women make this indeed happen because this is very possible and workable.
Patricia, your very magnificent and insightful blog post article has inspired me greatly toward my day in this early morn. I just so enjoy your wise words of wisdom. You write with such acute perspicaciousness, and your very fine and excellent writing just makes my day that much brighter! You are such a gift, a gifted writer, and a blessing!
Patricia, please know that I for always pray for and think of you, your dearest daughter and her recovery from her horrible bicycle accident, and that I also for always in general pray for and think of you, your daughter, and the rest of your precious and beloved family! Please have a very nice, special, and a blessed day my white sister as an ally and in solidarity who you are so, so very much, Patricia!
Very Sincerely Always,
Your lesbian black sister in solidarity, Sherry Gordon