To all the dirty looks, the kitty cat calls, to the ones who try and throw us up against the back walls, let me tell you something you’ll understand: only the little boys tell you they’re a big man… to all my sisters and all our friends, we have to thank them, please, strength means blessed with an enemy…
I don’t usually like repeating songs unless I have a point. So trust me when I tell you that there is a meaningful point to this repeat. The first time I used this song I talked about my armor and where it came from. Today, I’m here to talk more about the actual song because it is empowering and I feel like I really need to feel empowered. Maybe you do to?
I’m feeling very feisty lately in relation to the general icy fucking attitude towards women in this country. Maybe it’s because they keep taking our fucking rights away, or maybe I’m just hyper aware of how people, ahem, men, treat us and it’s really starting to grind my fucking gears. And honestly, it should grind yours too. My eyes are wide open now and what I’m seeing doesn’t make sense. I’m just trying to figure out how this happened.
We matter. We. Fucking. Matter. We are an integral part of the wheel of life, and I don’t know why people are constantly trying to insist that we aren’t. I touched on this, briefly, in my last post. And I was actually nervous about clicking “Publish” because I didn’t want to seem disrespectful or ungrateful. And I’ve had more time to think about it and let it marinate, if you will, and you know what? Fuck that. I’m done keeping my mouth shut about shit that’s important. Why should I be nervous for speaking about things that are true? Because I’m a woman? No, no, just no. If you’re mad, is it because you think I’m lying or is it because I’m speaking a bit of truth and it makes you uncomfortable?
I’m making a general statement. I know that all men aren’t like this. In fact, most men on this planet know a woman’s worth. It just seems that not enough of those men are the ones who are in positions of power. And I don’t know how we got this far into the future only to go back in time. Back to a time where women were here simply to do what the men needed. There have been so many women who have paved this beautiful path for us, and the men in power are still like “okay, doll face, why don’t you go make me a cup of coffee?” This narrative is gross and needs to just go the fuck away. It’s not going to just go the fuck away, it takes a lot of work and I just keep asking why? Why do we have to work at something that should just be normal?
On the live version of this song, Sara Bareilles explained that the seeds of this song were written when she got home from the Women’s March in DC. She spoke about how she had never felt more safe, seen or heard. That we were finally getting to a point where there was a shift in consciousness and that things that once were didn’t have to be anymore. That was recorded in 2019. What has changed? Because I felt the same way in 2019. I felt like we were finally going in the right direction. That our voices were finally being heard. Maybe things were finally going to be different. That being a woman meant something and that everyone was finally seeing it. And then they overturned Roe v. Wade. And like, I’m sorry, but go fuck yourself. I can think of 400 more issues off the top of my head that were exponentially more important than this, that need immediate attention, that have gone completely ignored because this is what the Supreme Court felt was really fucking important.
And I swear to God, if you fucking tell me that the life of an unborn fetus is more important than the life of the woman carrying it, just go away. This post, and honestly this entire fucking blog, it’s not for you. If you are a woman and want to keep spreading a false narrative about some bullshit that the men who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade keep telling you, I don’t have time for you.
Next they want to overturn every other fucking thing that made people feel safe in this country. Gay marriage, trans rights, ALL OF IT. Just get rid of it like it never happened. How about you mind your own fucking business and work on shit that actually matters? That would be great. Why don’t you work on stimulating the economy and oh, I don’t know, climate change? How about you worry about those things because those are things that actually affect ALL OF US. Overturning laws that were already put into place, that have only made life in this country more tolerable, doesn’t seem like shit a democratic nation should be worrying about. Those laws are good bro, let’s move on to the more important shit. Why are you going backward? Is it because you’re afraid to move forward?
I’m fired up right now and I’m probably talking in circles. But the future of our lives is in the hands of old men and delusional women who are stuck in a time that no longer exists. In order for things to actually change, you have to start somewhere. Yes, I’m aware of the fact that I live in a very progressive state where I can have an abortion safely and not get penalized for it. BUT, what about all of the women who don’t have that luxury? The women who are scared to death? What about them? It’s so much bigger than me or you. You have to take off the blinders and see this for exactly what it is. We have to collectively start somewhere and stay on an actual path into the future.
This wasn’t my most well written post, and I’m grown enough to admit that. But it’s because I’m furious. I’m sick of being treated like an accessory instead of an asset. And maybe that makes me a “crazy broad” but I’m fine with that. We may not all be equal in everyone’s eyes, but we are all human beings. Surround yourself with people who believe it’s time for a progressive change. Because we all came from somewhere and we all deserve the right to a brighter future than the generation before us. The narrative has to change. Change is an integral part of life and progress and it’s fucking scary as hell sometimes, but doesn’t have to be. If we all make one small step and speak up every time we see or hear someone who doesn’t want that narrative to change, then I believe we have a shot. Just because that’s the way it was does NOT mean that that’s the way it has to be. The system is broken but I really do believe that it can be fixed for everyone who comes after us. It starts with us though…
I see the unforgettable, incredible ones who came before me, brought poetry, brought science, sowed quiet seeds of self-reliance… bloom in me, so here I am, you think I am high and mighty, mister? wait ’til you meet my little sister… oh, my armor comes from you, you make me try harder, oh, that’s all I ever do, oh, no my armor comes from you, you make me stronger, now, hand me my armor…
Song name: ARMOR/ Artist: Sara Bareilles/ Year: 2019
TALKING ON EGGSHELLS 