Women Will Never Shut Up Again

The downside of shitting all over Hillary Clinton for writing a book about the presidential campaign is that it will serve as a rallying cry for women of a certain age who have experienced enough misogyny over our lifetime. We watched in horror as the most qualified person to run for the highest office in the land went home after winning nearly three million more votes. She would not be our president and I went to bed before the results were even in. The world had fractured around me and I couldn’t cope anymore. The thought of Donald Trump winning this election was simply too much to bear. In fact, it would be several months before I could watch the news or do anything more than look at headlines, assuming I could even do that.

The so-called conservative opinion on Hillary’s book is more than predictable. They will never support anything about this accomplished woman and will vilify and demonize her forever. What I don’t understand, and didn’t both during and after the primary that Hillary won, why Bernie and his supporters still felt compelled to treat her with such vitriol. It was ugly and self-defeating. And now it’s happening all over again.

Presidential candidates are entitled to share their experiences, after all, it’s what presidential candidates do. They write books. They lecture. They make money.

Just not Hillary.

So here’s what I think. Women are sick and tired of being told what to do by dimwits who haven’t got a clue as if they have the inherent right to say anything at all. The double standard that women live with is sickening. And with the current attitude toward education and basic intelligence, if you’re an intelligent, accomplished woman, you’re to be seen and not heard and if that’s too much, then go away entirely.

We’re either damned with faint praise or we’re damned entirely, but make no mistake about it, intelligent and accomplished women are a threat to men and women alike. It’s expected from men and sadly, now from women. And no, I don’t believe women should automatically get a pass from other women simply because we’re women but I do think some women parrot what they hear from men and look no further for any other perspective. And when they do that, they participate in a misogyny that’s been impacting women forever.

You’d think they’d leave a little something in reserve. Just a little bit of doubt. Just in case the men around them are wrong.

I know many women who have been on the receiving end of such vitriol, myself included. Whatever accomplishments, whatever success, whatever ability, none of that matters. All that matters is the put-down, the demeaning of our accomplishments, and the suppression of our voice. Women of any substance are disregarded unless they fall in line with the existing patriarchy.

Well, I have a feeling that this vulgarity may be reaching its end. Toxic masculinity has reached its pinnacle and it’s time for it to go. The current so-called president doesn’t help by reinforcing hate and white supremacy as he does. No, he only makes matters worse. He lost the popular vote by a huge margin and can’t even humble himself long enough to acknowledge that. Instead, he bothers everyone with his delusions over crowd size and winning. He’s the greatest president ever. Just ask him. Or wait a few minutes and he’ll post another tweet about it.

There should be a Crone in the White House, instead of the travesty we’re now experiencing. There would be no daughters popping into meetings unannounced, no endless vacations, and no predictable twitter storms. Instead, we would have a calm, rational approach to governance. One that has a measured response, and one that has compassion for the people of not only this country, but also the world.

Our rights would be preserved. Our country would move forward. Our dignity would be intact. Irma’s got nothing on Hurricane Trump who seeks to dismantle all that we’ve built. All because some couldn’t imagine THIS woman in the White House.

Women of a certain age have watched from the sidelines long enough and we’ve grown tired of what we see. We’re not shutting up and we’re not going anywhere anytime soon.

In fact, women will never shut up again.