Dear silent liberal men,
First of all, as liberals, I do wish to thank you for politically identifying according to what is right, rather than with your privilege. It is so important, especially when deciding the fate of our country, to think about how our actions will impact the masses, rather than just our individual selves. Therefore, for you to not support a candidate who sees men as vastly superior, and thus, could propel you to the top of the social and economic food chain, that really means a lot.
However, your fight for what’s right should not have stopped at the polls. With the influx of prejudiced and marginalizing executive orders threatening the safety and very existence of individuals and communities, your voice matters more than ever.
Don’t be fooled, though. My voice matters, too. So do the voices of all of my female friends, family and soul sisters I have never even met. As a woman, I know we matter. I am sure, as a liberal male, that you do, too. That being said though, you are bound to understand in our current political climate, women do not matter to the administration nearly as much as we should.
Our president is clearly sexist and has employed an obviously anti-female administration. Or, with the women that do currently serve, they are anti-feminist and their morals go against everything that it means to be an empowered female. We do not have representation. More importantly, we do not have intersectional representation of women that spans more backgrounds than just white, middle-aged, straight, Christian, wealthy women. We are stuck. And we are panicking.
We are not asking you to rescue us, though. Let’s not get carried away to even suggest such an archaic principle. Instead, we’re asking for your assistance. Going by the social hierarchy, as men, your opinions are more likely to be heard and valued by our androcentric government. In layman’s terms, then, that means that if you and I were both discussing politics with our president, he’d at least look at you.
Yet, the majority of the time I have seen someone speaking out about politics, it’s a woman. Whenever I log onto Facebook, it is, more often than not, a woman who is expressing her discouragement toward the government. Out of the four protests and political marches I have attended, it is women who make up the majority. When I’ve called my representatives and asked what demographic they have heard from the most, they respond with “women.”
We are nasty, and we do not need saving. We need your voice.
So, what do I want from you, men? I want to see a Facebook rant every now and again. I want you to angrily tweet in response to the nonsense that seeps out of our president’s brain and into his fingertips. I want you to show up to a march, whether or not it was your girlfriend/wife/daughter’s idea. Or, better yet, start one. I want you to call your representatives and change the aforementioned statistic. Most of all, I want you to show women that we do not have to pull all of the weight in this fight for equality.
If you are ever going to abuse your male privilege, you might as well do it for a good cause. Support us by using it for something that matters. Be an advocate.
Signed,
Women everywhere