After Kavanaugh, Only Women Can Save Us Now
Photo Source- Ivn.us
By Trish Nelson
It’s official. On October 6th, we placed a shotgun beer drinking guy named “Brett” onto the Supreme Court to serve as an impartial judiciary advisor for The United States of America until presumably, around the year 2050.
As we’ve come to understand, Brett is the perfect flesh and blood representation of every single jock/villain character that saturated the plotlines of all of our favorite quintessential 80’s films. If you were to audition for the role of “Brett Kavanaugh” (the “ugh” is silent) this would be your character description:
“Brett is a rage-filled, testosterone driven jock who’s the big man on campus. He’s a guy’s guy and a ladies’ man who makes fun of the nerds and dweebs with his football jersey wearing gym buddies. He claims to have “made it” with a ton of the babes at Georgetown Prep’s sister school, Gaithersburg High. Even that slut Renate Schroeder (that’s what he calls her)! Favorite clothes to wear: Lacoste shirt with the collar popped, or a striped button down. Favorite band: Journey. Special skills: must be able to do keg stands and afterwards pump your clenched fists into the air while yelling ‘Wooooooooooo’!”
Revenge of the Nerds, 1984
Unfortunately, for America, this isn’t a fictional coming of age John Hughes movie. This is real life, current day America. If the men who are presently holding positions of power within our government had any kind of strategy or foresight, they would have understood that they needed to end Kavanaugh’s nomination and find their constituents a less controversial person to appease us with.
Foolishly, the letterman jacket wearing Dinosaurs (that’s the Senate team’s mascot) of Grassley, Hatch, McConnell, Graham and Flake, cheered on by their ever-supportive, pompom wielding cheerleaders Susan, Joni, Shelley, Cindy and Deb, seem to think that this nomination will succeed in putting women in their place, forever silencing them. What this irresponsible move has actually done is inspire them to revolt. By “revolt”, I mean, from this point forward women will work harder than ever to take over these positions of power within the government. They’ll continue to run for office in droves, and they will win. Eventually, they will end up holding Congress’s majority vote. It will happen within our lifetime.
Hatch, Grassley, and McConnell – photo Melina Mara
If our current stock of politicians knew how to play this game AT ALL, they would have given women enough of a response with this Kavanaugh appointment to make them feel like they were being heard. This way, these politicians would still have them on their side because they would believe that they were being, at the very least, considered. They’d believe that these men were trying to do a decent job for them. Instead, these men have chosen to play their Trump card by pushing forward these life-altering agendas with an insane amount of ego, privilege and entitled arrogance, carelessly revealing their entire hand to the world. What a complete lack of skill.
Currently, we have a very white, male driven team running the plays for our country. Out of 100 members of the Senate only 23 of them are women. When you look at the LGBTQ, ethnic and religious diversity breakdowns, those numbers become a mere handful of representatives. This lack of balance has proven challenging in moments such as this current Supreme Court nomination as we strive to represent the needs of our ENTIRE population, rather than just considering the needs of the white upper crust.
It goes without saying that to be a woman sitting at a table made of almost entirely of men is an uncomfortable seat to fill. When you are representing the minority of a group it becomes much easier to be coerced into upholding to the opinions of the majority, if only for the sheer purpose of survival. Regardless of your religious beliefs or political affiliations, this move was traitorous to an entire gender of people who have been endlessly struggling to seek equal standing within a country that touts itself as being an exemplary representation of democracy. It is inexcusable.
The exciting plot twist of this story is that from now on we WILL elect more women into office. Women will pull up their bootstraps and begin seeking appointed government positions on a local and county level, ultimately working their way up to the very top. Eventually, they will have the numbers to push all of these archaic fossils straight out of the game.
The men that we have entrusted our country to have failed us. Their brazen declarations of entitlement that have openly encouraged the male gender to assault, abuse and attempt to control the female body, as well as their complete dismissal of the value of women as human beings has thankfully forced a revolution that will end up changing the entire landscape of this country. This much anticipated sequel to the story of the government is welcomed by many, and extremely long overdue.
About the author: Trish Nelson is an activist, writer, producer and performer. She has been a pioneer within the #MeToo movement and is dedicated to lifting women and amplifying the female voice.
