The other day I came home late after the Mets game, to my roommate and Australian houseguest (who is 21 and so cute and so young that my mind plays "Pretty Young Thing" just looking at him) and found an incredibly important piece of correspondance perched precariously above the mailboxes. It was a piece of paper confirming that I am now a registered New York state voter.
I've voted in every presidential election in which I have had the great priveledge to partake, and will of course do it again this November. I believe that if you don't get out there and vote, then I don't have to listen to you complain when the elected official does something you don't like. Because you didn't even try to change things for the better. You had the chance to be counted, and you stayed home.
Fun story about Election night 2008. Spent the night at "The American Bar" in a fancy London hotel, flanked by an Australian guy, an Irish guy, and a dude from LA. (He's a dude. I think he'd agree.) Pretty much the best, most intelligent and hilarious company a girl could ask for, even though it sounds like the setup for a terrible joke. We drank overpriced beer, ate spicy bar snacks, and waited for history to be made. I was most nervous watching the votes come in from Virginia, the state I was still a registered voter from. A ballot is always special, but in that moment, I felt like my absentee ballot from a swing state just contributed to something important, something much bigger than I'd ever be. When the announcement was official - Mr. Barack Obama was the President-Elect of the United States of America, it was like the kickoff to the happiest night on earth. The guys and I all hugged. "Way to not fuck this up!" the Irishman congratulated me. "We can actually go home again," said the dude from LA. "This guy from Texas won't stop hitting on me" said the Australian. It was a pretty perfect night. Then I rode the tube with the Irishman at 5am and he smeared newspaper all over my face, like you do when you're friends. So I arrived home that morning, tired, happy and hopeful, with newsprint on my face and a tiny American flag clutched in my hands.
Going into this election, 2008 seems like both yesterday and a lifetime ago. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way with the passage of time between elections. There are a lot of important issues, and while I try to watch the news and read a few papers a day, I'm not as up on the issues as I'd like to be. I'm thinking a lot about gun legislation, the armed forces overseas, marriage equality and the creation of jobs. Those are my big picture thoughts. But the one that is currently scaring the ever-living crap out of me is the closest to my body, the abortion debate.
WARNING: Again, as always, the following is a collection of thoughts and opinions.
This is a blog.
This is a blog.
Akin, the Republican nominee to gain a US Senate seat in Missouri, made some mind-meltingly ignorant (both scientifically and emotionally) statements about abortion and rape. I'm sure you've heard it before, but here's the bullet point recap:
- “It seems to me, first of all, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” - Akin
- "To suggest there are different categories of rape — some real and awful and others that are not — is loathsome....stunning in its stupidity and insensitivity...in a long-running effort to downplay the horror of rape as a way to restrict access to abortion. " -Washington Post
- Further evidence of a GOP effort to minimize rape came earlier this year when Congress considered whether to rewrite the rape exception in federal abortion funding bans by including the phrase “forcible” ahead of "rape." RAPE IS RAPE. Among the bill’s 227 co-sponsors was Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney’s running mate.
Mr. Akin, I have three close friends (that I know of) who have been raped. And the thought that a.) you have no idea how science actually works and b.) you would dare trivialize ANY of these traumas, or have the indecency to refer to them as "illegitimate" breaks my heart and makes me want to make sure you never hold political office again. Have you ever comforted someone after a rape? You can't. You can hold them, and tell them you'll do anything to keep them safe. You can tell them there will be justice against the one who hurt them. You can say a lot of things. But you can never take away the searing agony that they are living through. You can't make them feel safe. You can't help them trust people. You can't help them on the anniversary of the day, because that's one they'll never forget. How can you, a man with a wife and daughters, feel...nothing towards women who live through this? "Violated" isn't even the tip of the iceberg. Would you really rebuff your own daughter, should she get pregnant by a rapist? Would a tiny piece of your mind think "she must have led him on, or she really enjoyed it, because there's no way she'd have a baby otherwise." Would you insist she keep it, and "make the best out of a bad situation?" Would you be content to look at your grandchild's face, and see parts of a man who forced himself upon the most private aspects of her body? Can you really live like that? I know it's not the child's fault, not at all. But that doesn't mean a woman should be forced to carry it to term. There is no mercy in that, none whatsoever.
When I think about the chance that this could happen to me, I lose my breath. These politicians who want to hold the highest seats of power might potentially force me to give birth to my rapists child.
Doesn't matter that I'm not sure I want kids.
Doesn't matter that I don't make nearly enough money to provide for a child.
Doesn't matter the physical ordeal that pregnancy and childbirth is - the toll it takes on ones body.
None of it matters, because to Akin and an alarming number of people who think like him, my body didn't deploy it's magical baby-repellant in time, so I've got live with the consequences of being near the wrong person at the worst possible time.
HOW FUCKING DARE YOU.
This is my body.
You are not welcome.
You have no power here.
And God help me, armed with my ballot, I'll do my best to ensure you never have any right to dictate what happens to it.
And you know what else? You (yes, you) have the right to completely disagree with me. And you've got a ballot too.
This is Why We Vote.
