Be Proud to be You

"I suspect it’s difficult for men to imagine a world in which their bodies have long been inextricably linked to their value as an individual, and that no matter how encouraging your parents were or how many positive female role models you had or how self-confident you feel, there is an ever-present pressure that creeps in from all sides, whispering in your ear that you are your body and your body defines you. A world where, from the time of pubescence on, you can feel the constant and palpable weight of the male gaze, and not just from your male peers but from teachers and sports coaches and the fathers of the children you baby-sit, people you’re supposed to respect and trust and look up to, and that first realization that you are being looked at in that way is the beginning of a self-consciousness that you will be unable to shake for the rest of your life.

Even if they are never verbalized, the rules of bodily conduct for females become clear early on: when school administrators reprimand you for the inch of midriff that shows when you lift your hands straight in the air or youth group leaders tell you that the sight of your unintentional cleavage is what causes godly young men to fall, you learn that your body is dangerous and shameful and that it’s your responsibility to cloister it in a way that is acceptable to everyone else. You learn that your body is a topic of public debate that everyone is entitled to weigh in on, from a male classmate telling you that those jeans make your ass look huge to the male-dominated United States Congress dictating the parameters that rape must fall within to be considered legitimate. To be a woman, and to live life in a woman’s body, is to be held to a set of comically paradoxical standards that make you constantly second-guess yourself and jump through a million hoops in pursuit of an impossible perfection."

Stop Catcalling Me | Thought Catalog (via ceedling)

Today, 26 people died in a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school, Connecticut. 20 of those people were children, between the ages of 5 and 10. 6 were adults, with 1 person injured, and hundreds of innocent children left traumatized.

This is yet another tragic example of the fact that in this world, there are some truly horrific and disgusting people. Only by standing together and fighting for justice can we have any hope of preventing events such as these from re-occurring. Regardless of your stance on whether or not US citizens should be allowed to bear arms, it cannot be denied that the law needs to change – these heinous crimes are committed too often. How many more people need to die before enough people are convinced that perhaps gun control is just a little lax?

RIP to the 26 who died today in this abominable tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers go with them, and with their families as they mourn the loss of their loved ones. I hope that this tremendous loss is one in from which at least a slight gleam of hope is born – we may not be able to save those who have been lost, but it is possible to learn from their untimely deaths and safeguard the children of future generations. So let’s make that change – we owe it to Connecticut. We owe it to everyone.