“To the man on the bus I overheard in conversation tell a woman, presumably a friend, you are too ugly to be raped.”
They come in all sizes, shapes, and colors. Some are au natural others have been improved upon but every woman has them. The librarian at your child’s school has two of them! Your grandmother has two of them! And when your daughter gets to be the right age, she’ll get them too. So, if they’re so common, so plentiful, why do we spend so much energy shaming the breasts?
Even though I know it can happen to anyone, I’m always amazed when a celebrity comes forward with a story of sexual abuse. So many of us hide the things that have happened to us so let’s take a moment to appreciate the strength and will it must’ve taken for the lovely and talented Vanessa Williams to open up about her experience.
On June 30, 2014 the Supreme Court ruled (5 to 4) that “two for profit corporations with sincerely held religious beliefs do not have to provide a full range of contraceptives at no cost to their employees pursuant to the Affordable Care Act.”
Here’s a bit of my personal truth. I don’t want to get married. I never have. I didn’t daydream about what it would be like as a little girl. I didn’t plot and plan to acquire that elusive diamond ring as a young adult. I was busy thinking about other things. I still am but every so often I’ll turn on the news to some politician saying stupid things or I’ll have a conversation with a friend that gets me thinking. Marriage. Is it a friend or foe to modern-day women?
Every year the Chicago Tribune along with a few other sponsors puts on the Printer’s Row Lit Fest in Chicago. This year (2014) I was one of many authors that participated. It was a marvelous experience and I hope every writer gets this chance in their career.
It’s a shame that the word choice has been sullied by the abortion debate because choice is central to empowerment—for women especially because historically we’ve faced great opposition when we’ve attempted to control the directions of our lives. Off the top of my head I can think of several examples.