#YesAllWomen

Repost of items posted to my Fb page: Paraphrases of Tweets from the #YesAllWomen feed and my reactions to this activism.

We all should be following #YesAllWomen.
THIS is why Santa Barbara happened.
This hashtag is the most amazing, powerful, strong, united vibrant, anti-rape-culture thing I've ever read. Ever.
Because "Women are not objects".
Because "Women's default position is not 'sexual partner'".
Because "My hormones make me an ineffective leader, but a man's hormones absolve him of rape".
Because "It's safer to give a man a fake phone number" or to "tell him I have a boyfriend" "than to just turn him down".
And, "If you're offended, you're the problem".

Because "I have to think about my risk every time I leave the house: what I'm wearing, what time it is, and where the safe places are along the way."
Because "#NotAllMen are creeps, but if I don't know you, I have no way of telling the difference."
Because "I teach my sons that the word 'No' is the end of a conversation, not the beginning of a bargaining session."
Because "Women have internalized objectification: we judge other women's level of risk based on what they are wearing."
Because "Not enough men will intervene when I'm experiencing street harassment."
Because "If you don't understand, YOU are the problem."
#YesAllWomen

Because "Power isn't a zero-sum game." #YesAllWomen

Because "Feminism is about equity, not superiority."
Because "Women candidates like Hillary are judged more for their appearance than their ability to lead."
Because "Sexism and misogyny are forms of structural violence."

Yes, I believe in this, passionately and unapologetically. It's about time the voices were heard. I'm perfectly willing to have the difficult conversations. But, if you don't like it, hide me or unfriend me. #YesAllWomen

Because "Some men believe women shouldn't not have ultimate autonomy over their bodies - appearance, sexuality, reproduction."
#YesAllWomen

If you are male and don't understand what women are so angry about, I challenge you to spend 30 minutes reading #YesAllWomen.

Because, YES, every single one of us has experienced unwanted objectification, catcalls and street harassment, being groped (often by strangers). Most of us have experienced unwanted sexual advances. Far, far too many women have been assaulted or raped.

This problem is created by a culture that teaches men that they have the right to access women's bodies: women they don't even know, women they see on a street or meet in a social setting, women they have taken on a date or bought dinner for, women they in a committed relationship with. Women are NEVER "asking for" unwanted objectification, touching, or advances, and men NEVER "deserve" any access to a woman's body.

This same culture teaches men that "No" means "Maybe", and "Maybe" means "Yes". And this same culture says men ought to have the right to pass laws that limit what a woman can or can't do with her own body. It's all the same culture, and it needs to change. Women are NOT here to be the object of or to be controlled by men's desires. #YesAllWomen

If you are the father of a son, teach him that women are not objects. If you are the father of a daughter, teach other men that women like your daughter are not objects. Men, if you don't like what women have to say about this, you have power to change the culture so we can stop saying it. Start today. If you don't understand, I challenge you to spend 30 minutes following#YesAllWomen.