A Message to Women

I was talking with a young friend in her twenties a few years ago, and the subject of Apollo 11 came up. "Dustin (her recent husband) says that never happened. He says that it was all fake." I was raised near the birthplace of Neil Armstrong, and I did not take this opinion lying down. "Of course it happened," I replied. "I watched it on television with my grandparents. And you said that Dustin thinks it is fake. What do YOU think?" "Well, I don't know much about it, but I agree with Dustin." I was flabbergasted. When did women stop thinking for themselves? A few weeks later another young friend, also in her twenties, was talking about politics. I had never heard Laurie mention politics before. When I asked her about it, she replied that her boyfriend listened to "that channel where everyone is always yelling at everyone else. I agree with them, too." Huh? This was Laurie who could tell you every character and plot twist of The Hills, but had never given politics a second thought until her boyfriend entered the picture. I wouldn't have been so shocked at Laurie's sudden interest in all things political, if she had studied the issues and decided for herself that she supported one platform over the other. The fact that young women were blindly following their men without forming their own opinions astounded me.
I grew up in the 70's, and say what you will about that era, I read and heard a lot about the Equal Rights Amendment. Women were entering the work force in record numbers and demanding equal pay for equal work. This made complete sense to me. Why should a man make more than a woman who has the same responsibilities? This was the Gloria Steinem era. I was a precocious reader and Glamour magazine had excellent articles on why the ERA and Roe vs. Wade were vitally important to women. Sadly, the ERA lost fire, and the 80's and 90's ushered in the hyper sexualization of young women a la Madonna and Britney Spears.
Despite the swiveling hips and provocative clothing, I believed that women were intelligent beings, capable of thinking and making decisions for themselves. After the conversations with my young friends, and observations made (mostly through social media), I became aware that many, many women were indeed believing what their partners believed. To me this also translated to voting as their partners voted. Don't get me wrong, I am certain that some of these women have studied the issues and have deep beliefs of their own accord. It's the others that concern me. Yes, it is 2018, but if the past few years have taught us nothing else, we have learned that there are very controlling men who walk among us. They are our boyfriends, our husbands, and our brothers. Many women are ruled by domineering men. That is a fact. This is what I want to say to those women: There is one place where your man cannot control what you do and that is inside the voting booth. He can tell you how to vote all day long, but when you are inside that booth, sister, you are free! You are free to vote for what you truly believe! You can vote for female candidates and candidates who support women and children. You can vote for candidates who will work to ensure that the rights of our LGBTQ brothers and sisters are protected. It's time for women to galvanize and protect our rights and the rights of our children. Exercise YOUR right to vote, and make your voice heard with every click of the lever. You can CHANGE THE COURSE OF HISTORY with your vote.