Yes, It Was Women’s Day. No, We’re Not Doing The “When Is Men’s Day” Thing Again.
Because you didn’t care last year, this year, and you won’t care next year either.
International Women’s Day was a few weeks ago. Yay. But also, nothing has changed since my last Women’s Day rant. Actually, scratch that. Things have changed because they’ve gotten considerably worse.
But, I’m too exhausted with life multi-dumping on me, to go on another tirade about the same injustices. So this year, I’m choosing my own peace of mind.
In fact, lately, I’m finding myself lacking in patience and I-too-know to explain basic human decency. Because if you cannot see that we’re currently living in a real-world version of the Handmaid’s Tale, you’re willingly choosing to be blind. And blind from a very comfortable point of privilege.
And if your reaction to “It’s Women’s Day” is “When is Men’s Day”, take a long hard look at the mirror. Re-evaluate your value system and ask yourself why you have a problem with half of the world’s population being celebrated.
Because why do you expect a woman to tell you when YOUR day is? And why do you expect that it’s also going to be on us to plan, organize, and curate safe spaces for you to feel valued, especially when other men aren’t exactly rushing to do it?
Isn’t it crack?
That you don’t even know when your own day is, don’t particularly care about it, but only ever bring it up as a rebuttal to Women’s Day. There’s a name for that kind of thinking.
If we’re being honest, most men don’t give two rat’s whiskers about Men’s Day. What they CARE VERY MUCH about, is making sure we know that they think Women’s Day (and anything about women really) is overrated and shouldn’t be a big deal.
Yes. I think it’s crack.
Anyway, me as me, me as Laura, I’ve made peace with the fact that you cannot change a grown person’s mindset. So I’m no longer wasting energy explaining to men why women deserve basic human rights.
It’s boring. Exhausting. Redundant.
And most of them don’t care.
I’m not going to argue with anyone about why I deserve to vote, have a bank account, work, be safe, BE ALIVE! Simply by virtue of being a human being.
I don’t even like the “men vs. women” discourse because the premise is flawed from the start. The well-being of a woman does not mean the downfall of a man. Women thriving doesn’t mean men are losing. Every human being regardless of gender OR race, deserves the very best life can offer. It’s not a competition. It never was.
But if you think it is - if a woman simply having basic human rights feels like a threat to you - then let me hold your hand (with a napkin in between) when I tell you this:
The problem is YOU.