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Rant“Don’t say women” and other "helpful" protest tips from Planned Parenthood
I don't want to be angry at organizations fighting for abortion rights right now, but I am. I was on the Bans Off Our Bodies website (run by Planned Parenthood) looking for protests to join since I don't live near a big city when I stumbled across their Protest Tips page. I thought it would be helpful, but it turned out to be a load of garbage.
Here are some of their helpful tips:
Word Wise: Dos and Don'ts: Whether you’re speaking up for abortion rights at a rally or online, be inclusive and supportive. Help people of all races and genders in this movement feel embraced, not excluded!
Include gender-neutral language.
Don't just say "women" — say “people.” Trans men and nonbinary people need abortions, too.
Don’t just say “girls” — say “children” or “young people”. Trans and nonbinary kids are in this movement, too.
“Pregnant person” is preferable to “mother.” People have unique relationships with their pregnancies and identify in a variety of ways.
*Remember: Gender-inclusive language doesn't leave women out. To the contrary, it ensures that we're clear: EVERYONE deserves access to abortion! *
Language and Symbols to Avoid There are several slogans and symbols that we don't use because they are stigmatizing, divisive and counter-productive to the movement.
Hangers: Coat hanger images represented deaths from self-managed abortions before the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. But the anti-abortion movement twisted this symbol to associate all abortion with death. Let’s avoid stigmatizing abortion — especially self-managed abortion — and leave this outdated symbol OUT.
Heavy "pro-choice" messages: Black, Latino, Indigenous, and other people of color have been shut out of the health care system due to this country's legacy of racism and discrimination. As women of color in the Reproductive Justice Movement have made clear, "choice" wording is an affront to these communities because it suggests they have the same access as others.
Handmaid's Tale references: For people who don't have access to abortion and other health care, bonnets and red capes can feel insensitive. Better option: Wear something that expresses your individuality and your freedom to make your own choices about your body. But lead with comfort — wearing walking shoes and bringing rain gear in case of showers.
I don't even understand some of these explanations. Bonnets and red capes are insensitive? What if that's how I express my individuality? I had a "Welcome to Gilead" sign for the protest I attended on Friday, so apparently, I did it wrong.
For added fun, the coat hangers bit links to an article with this paragraph:
Like the tired images of Handmaid’s Tale and Ruth Bader Ginsburg quotes, the coat hanger has quickly become a token of unhelpful narratives being spun since the Roe v. Wade leak earlier this week. Imagining a future reality based on one book/TV show, glorifying a departed judge and throwing around stock illustrations of wire coat hangers do nothing to either ensure that abortion rights are protected or help people access safe abortions.
Gyns, we have to stop talking about RBG because she died. Time to move on /s
Uggh. I already knew that Planned Parenthood was deep in the gender woo and progressive nonsense, but I had some hope that their national campaign to fight for reproductive rights was, you know, not actively working against itself. Women (yes I said it and I'll say it again!) WOMEN deserve better than this.
Fandom has a very... particular culture that I've not seen imitated in the real world. I suspect there are quite a few reasons for this, but the fact that it's all pretty much online is no doubt the biggest. I first came into fandom with the expectation that we'd all congregate over love for our chosen media and boy oh boy, that definitely wasn't the case. The way a lot of these girls/women behave, you can't get away with that shit in real life.
IDK it isn't only online in my experience:
I tried to be part of my local Fandom scene when I was in my twenties (I live outside a city and we have a very active fandom and convention scene) and it was uncomfortable and weird there, too. I hung out a bit with some of the people who were very active congoers (and con runners) and everyone was always getting trashed and there was an underlying assumption that your participation meant you wanted to hook up, which I did not. I expected to be hit on by men I wasn't interested in but I was unprepared for all the other socially awkward nerdy women to be so sexually uninhibited and to express disapproval that I wasn't interested (not even in them! Just that I wasn't interested in hooking up in general.)
And there was so much drama all the time. I never knew enough of the people to know who was being talked about, even though people would tell me stories as if they assumed I knew so lol I had half-context stories about people I didn't know and wouldn't recognize if I did know them.