Thursday, January 24, 2013

WOMEN: What If This Happened To YOU?


 
 

Imagine this:

You post an article on Facebook about the fact your state is at risk of losing the only clinic to provide abortions. In your post, you express outrage and think it’s wrong. Your employer feels differently. They call you into their office and explain how your post is against their moral code and they fire you. You try to defend your position and they simply don’t care. You’re fired. No more paycheck. No more health benefits.

You’re angry. You can’t stop thinking about it, “They Have NO RIGHT!!” You start researching and find you’re not alone. Other women who worked for the same company have been fired because of content on their personal Facebook pages.

You get an idea. You decide that you will organize a group of women and you will gather on public property close to where you used to work and peacefully protest.

Five of you gather and hold your signs. You’ve alerted some radio stations and local TV media in the hopes they will pick up your story. Within minutes, police show up and tell you that you must leave. You argue that you are on public property and you are breaking no laws. Before you even know what’s happening, you are all being arrested and taken away in handcuffs.

You are stripped of your clothing and treated like a criminal. They throw you into a cold, dank cell and leave you with nothing but your thoughts. You are angry. You are scared. You are raging and you cannot BELIEVE the injustice! No one will listen to you and you haven’t even broken the law. How can this be happening?

As a form of protest, you decide to go on a hunger strike. Days pass, you haven’t eaten anything. Prison doctors put you in a straight jacket and say you’re mentally ill. They restrain you and force a large, cold, metal contraption in your mouth keeping it open, making your mouth bleed and then they stick a long tube down your throat and into your stomach where they pour raw eggs. They do this to you time and again until you vomit blood.

Does this seem extreme to you? Do you think it’s something that would never happen? It DID happen to Alice Paul. In fact, worse things happened to Alice. She didn’t post anything on her Facebook page because she was not protesting about free speech, she was picketing President Woodrow Wilson in 1917 so that women would have the right to vote. She broke no laws. All she wanted was equality for women. Equality for you and for me.
 
 
 
She endured physical torture so you can vote today. In 1920, the nineteenth amendment was ratified into the Constitution and because of Alice and her undying determination, women won the right to vote and it was legally secured. There were many other women who fought with her and also suffered greatly for your freedoms. Shouldn’t the right to vote be granted to everyone?
 
 
Here’s the thing, people of all ages don’t vote. 94 million Americans didn't vote in 2012. They don’t pay attention to what’s happening—and there is a lot happening these days that threaten your rights as a woman. People complain their vote doesn’t count for anything. It does. It IS important. If it wasn't important, why would some people try to keep other people from voting? I know it’s very easy to focus on the things in your life that feel more interesting or take your immediate attention, like school and friends and work. When I was in my twenties, I paid ZERO attention to politics and I didn’t vote. I was even a registered Republican because I didn’t know the difference between the two.

No one taught me about Women’s Suffrage. I didn’t learn about it in school. EVER. Why? Why didn’t the schools I attended tell me about this? This is important history. The incredible and heroic efforts women made are by and large ignored. That’s a shame and it makes me sad. That is why I am writing a book for young women. Voting is extremely important. Why else did men (and some women) fight so hard to keep women from doing it? Think about that. Think about this too: women are not equal in the Constitution. The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was never passed. We were short three states. Thirty-eight states are needed to ratify it. Only thirty-five did in 1972 and then it was dropped and a deadline was attached. It expired. Equality for women EXPIRED! Don’t you think America should legally recognize women as equal in the Constitution? I do.

If you know ANY young women, please send this blog to them. Make SURE they know about Alice Paul and Lucy Burns and Women’s Suffrage. Please. There is a wonderful movie starring Hilary Swank titled Iron Jawed Angels and it chronicles the efforts of Alice Paul and Lucy Burns. Please watch it. It’s shocking and well done.

Vote in every election.



Kimberley-SM Kimberley A. Johnson (BIO) – A.K.A. The Anti Coulter is the author of The Virgin Diaries and an activist for women’s rights. Like her on Facebook, Twitter or follow her on FB HERE.
 



21 comments:

  1. Fantastic! Looking forward to the book, and sharing this with my daughter (she's 26). I appreciate all you do!!

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  2. Some semblance of this fight women had should be taught in schools as part of our history. I never heard of this until I was in my 40's. My wife was not aware of much of this either. SDad. Women, Blacks, now Homosexuals were not included in the "equal".

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  3. Love to see this! I've been researching a biography of Lucy Burns for a little over a year. If you haven't yet read the book A Woman's Crusade: Alice Paul and the Battle for the Ballot, by Mary Walton, it's a must. I teach US History, and all my students are required to know the names of Susan B Anthony, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Alice Paul and Lucy Burns. We may not have been taught this, but we can change what others are learning NOW!

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    1. YAY! Thanks and I am getting that book! :)

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  4. I just realized that I never learned about the Suffrage in school either! Thank Goodness for the American Girl books, I guess. When I get a chance (and spare cash). I'll definitely check out your Indiegogo account. I'd really hope you can include something about Helen Keller. Everyone remembers her as overcoming her disabilities but she has been silenced by history. She was a socialist and a vehement feminist. I just really wish more people would remember her for that, just like the Susan B. Anthonys and Margaret Stangers.

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    1. Rachel - thank you for your commment. I am going to do the best job I can. I really don't want a dry text book feel and I do know Helen Keller was a feminist! :)

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  5. It shouldn't cost that much to publish a book! I would think that many full-service publishers would love this, and then the copyediting, cover design, etc. are all free. Please don't be ripped off by shady self-publishing services.

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    1. Jay, it's not just publishng costs. It's also marketing and advertsing/PR. I was let go from my position as a sales rep in November and because I am an outspoken activist all over the Internet, I am not the most desirable candidate for a job, especially when I am up against many other who are out of work and have no Internet presence. I appreciate your input.

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  6. Did you know that there is NO museum to honor the herstory of American Women and their accomplishments and contributions to our country's progress?

    There is an effort underway to establish a National Women's History Museum on the D.C. Mall. While fundraising goes on, the first order of business to procure the site they have in mind is to get authorization from Congress to purchase the land. The land and the building will be paid for completely with private donations, all we need is authorization to purchase the land.

    Please go to this page to find out more information, including the status of any new legislation in the 113th Congress to authorize the land purchase.
    http://www.nwhm.org/


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  7. Thank you so much for sharing this. It angers me that i am not considered an equal nor will my daughter. I put myself through school and am raising two beautiful children on my own. The thought that i am not good enough or equal to any man (which their father doesnt pay a dime) hurts me on the inside. I follow you on facebook and love the things you post.

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  8. What a story! I will tell Facebookers about this and your new book- Thank you!

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  9. To sign the White House petition to ask the administration to give its full support to Congressional legislation that would eliminate the deadlines on the original 1972 Equal Rights Amendment, go here... https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/vigorously-support-womens-rights-fully-engaging-efforts-ratify-1972-equal-rights-amendment-era/16XQWXpS

    The deadline is February 9th and we still need over 6,000 more signatures to let the president know how vitally important we think the ERA is to women and girls.

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  10. I watched Iron Jawed Angels several years ago, and was moved to tears by Hillary Swank's portrayal of this remarkably brave woman, along with other woman that risked everything to stand up for our rights. Pleas watch this movie; it was an HBO film.

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  11. I am someone who speaks out on domestic violence. Even did a paper about the suffrage as it ties into DV (even today). With all this, it still hadn't occurred to me that I had never been taught about it in school. I just assumed that we did go over it and I slept through it or didn't find its importance at the time but as I scan through my courses in my head and go over the different classes.... there were NO courses to cover it. Even in college, I have yet to see a history of women class. WOW! Thank you!! This needs to change.

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  12. What kind of schools did you people go to? I'm not saying it was covered comprehensively but I ABSOLUTELY was taught about Women's Suffrage in school. I thought everyone was.

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  13. This is a great article and I do commend you on your efforts. I've fought the good fight for feminism for 40 year now and am so disheartened by many of my 20-something female friends total lack of any understanding of politics let alone what we've done for them.

    However, I am high disappointed in your statement on the ERA. I can understand wanting to summarize such a complex issue as a constitutional amendment, but to so totally mis-characterize it was poor writing.

    Here you go, it's from Wikipedia as I am too short on time to regurgitate it in my own words.

    The ERA was originally written by Alice Paul and, in 1923, it was introduced in the Congress for the first time. In 1972, it passed both houses of Congress and went to the state legislatures for ratification.

    The initial pace of state legislative ratifications was rapid, with 30 ratifications by the end of 1973. Then it slowed with just three ratifications during 1974, one in 1975, zero in 1976, and one in 1977. There were no subsequent ratifications. The 92nd Congress, in proposing the ERA, had set a seven-year time limit for its ratification, which meant that the ERA had to be ratified by 38 states by March 22, 1979 in order for it to become part of the Constitution. But, by that deadline, only 35 states had ratified.

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    1. I have written a lot more about the ERA on Liberals Unite. Yes, I only made a brief mention of it here. It was dropped after it failed to get the 3 more states needed. Women didn't continue fighting for it in the same way afterward. I am 44 and didn't realize it was never ratified into the Constitution until this past summer. I found out that 70% of women also don't know this. We have made strides in equality but haven't gone all the way.

      I am currently working with UniteWomen.org to get things going again. We just got the required signatures on a White House petition and we are picking it up again. This particular blog was meant to focus on suffrage.

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    2. Like I said, great article and well done. I look forward to reading much much more.

      It's just your sentence made it seem like it was over and done with in 1972 when the fight lasted 7 more years and was still very much in the news at the time.

      I'm not trying to beat a dead horse here, but rather convey an understanding that it wasn't a flash in the pan and it is still being fought for today.

      Too many young women today, those you are trying to reach, truly have no sense of what life was like for women just 40 or even 30 years ago and what we fought for and continue to fight for. The reduction of the ERA fight to just a single year simply struck a nerve.

      Keep up the brilliant work!

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    3. I want the ERA to pass. I am very saddened that one woman, Phyllis Schlafly, was so successful and undermined the momentum of the amendment.

      I don't know who you are and what your level of commitment is towards working to ratify the ERA today but if you are still working in any way to make it happen, please check out UniteWomen.org on Facebook. Karen Teegarden founded the site and women all over the U.S. are working on various women's issues, the ERA being a big one.

      As a feminist who is only now starting to realize how far we still have to go, I often feel like younger women are truly not aware of what we are facing and feel much of the progress women made in the last 30 years is being eroded. Any help in any way is welcomed and encouraged. Thank you for your comments.

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  14. As I learned today, Kimberly A. Johnson tolerates no dissention in the ranks. Any comments, however benign and respectful, which do not clearly support her position, are quickly pounced upon by her and her followers. This is part and parcel for Conservative sites, but I did not expect to find the same degree of vitriol and intolerance from the Left. When I declined to respond to cross-examination from her and her supporters, she immediately blocked me from her site.

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