By Tracy Lynne Stout Meisky
“Dedicated to the governor of Pennsylvania, who suggested that women upset at being forced to have an unnecessary internal ultrasound should ‘close their eyes’, and to the Georgia legislator who wants to outlaw abortion even for a woman carrying a dead fetus because ‘cows and pigs do it all the time’ , and to the gentleman in Wisconsin who wants to outlaw divorce and says that women who are abused by their husbands should just ‘remember the good times’, and… and…. and….
“Just close your eyes” he said.
Close your eyes and maybe it won’t hurt so much. Maybe you can make the shame go away if you don’t have to look at it, don’t have to meet the eyes of the doctor who is ready to violate you, who is no longer allowed to address your pain and need.
Close your eyes and deal with it because from this point on, health care for you is nothing more than a power play, the political blood sport of men, drenched in your own desperate blood.
Close your eyes, ladies, and think of Jesus who wants you to know that you are a sinner- and a slut for having dreams beyond the ones given to you by your pastor, your employer, and your governor.
See, they are worried that you might get an abortion mistakenly thinking it’s a treatment for the flu or something, eager to brand you a wanton for having sex at all, a Jezebel for enjoying pleasure without consequence…the way that they get to.
Close your eyes and pretend that you are still a person with the right to make your own, most intimate decisions about your future.
Close your eyes and remember when planning your own family wasn’t considered dirty, when owning your body was still your birthright and the right to give birth also included the right not to.
Close your eyes and forget that you are supposed to be a mindless object of desire, to be salivated over and then dismissed, used by men to sell beer and shoes and laundry detergent, expected to exist only for their sexual pleasure, reviled for feeling it yourself, condemned for being what they so determinedly make you: a sexual being.
So come here, little girl, here’s a push-up bra, stilettos and a chastity belt. Learn now that sex is something for a man to do to a woman, not actually with her.
Understand that you must grow up to be either a slut, a dyke or a mother…and a mother, and a mother.
Close your eyes, girls, and enjoy your patent leather Mary Janes and princess dreams that don’t yet end in blood and probes and congressmen playing doctor behind the statehouse, insisting that the princess carry even death in her womb, all in the name of life.
Close your eyes and think of your grandmothers, and of their grandmothers owned by their fathers, traded to their husbands, needing permission to go to college.
Think of the days when the few lady-like jobs that existed were only for those un-natural old maids unable to join the ranks of the real women doing a woman’s real job of having babies.
Think of not even being allowed to learn or to help support yourself and your family, of depending on a man to feed and clothe you and your children, your own love and need to protect them a chain and an anchor that keeps you in the harbor of even a loveless, abusive marriage, your yards and yards of beautiful sail forever stowed belowdecks, because the open seas of life is no place for a woman.
Close your eyes, ladies, and think of England; and of Iran and Afghanistan where women are chained for their own good, beaten for showing their faces, stoned for going to school, sewn shut between babies, robbed of the ability to feel passion, used for a man’s desire but allowed none of their own; receptacles, incubators, cooks and maids.
So close your eyes, and shut your mouths, and be thankful that you live in such an enlightened, modern land.”
Brava Tracy! I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Tags: abortion, birth control, childbirth, contraception, feminism, fetal personhood, forced birth, human rights, misogyny, patriarchy, poor women, poverty, pregnancy, privilege, pro-choice, rape, sexism
April 22, 2012 at 2:54 pm |
Right to the point. Thank you.
April 24, 2012 at 3:24 pm |
Your words rivited me to my chair. Inspiring. The Ugly Truth
April 24, 2012 at 9:36 pm |
Beautiful. Thank you.
April 24, 2012 at 11:11 pm |
Tracy , you’ve hit the bull’s eye ! What you’ve said is very true ! Most men may not realise that there’s much more to gain from pleasing a woman first , from giving her first and taking later ! Unfortunately , many men think that a woman is a mirror and when they kiss that mirror , it’s themselves that they’re kissing !
April 25, 2012 at 2:22 am |
Beautiful and powerful
April 25, 2012 at 10:54 am |
Wow…just…wow. I’m speechless.
May 18, 2012 at 3:13 am |
I wish everyone HAD to read this. The government should never have any say in what we do with our bodies.
May 25, 2012 at 9:24 pm |
Perfectly written and needs to be seen by every woman walking the face of this earth. BUT, first it needs to be seen by every woman in the U.S., and they need to be told to get up and SCREAM that we are not sex toys and sluts, we are equal to all men and start living that life!
May 26, 2012 at 3:54 pm |
Great article intense but good.
December 13, 2012 at 6:32 pm |
Tracy, wow, you are my hero and now I am a fan. Every woman in the world, especially our young females, need to read this!!!! Is it legal, or illegal, to print a copy of this article to let others read ? I will not do that without your permission.