In late July, reproductive rights activists stood strong against anti-abortion terrorist group Operation Save America, which had set out to harass the women’s clinics of Charlotte, N.C., for a solid week.
Living in and interacting with a culture permeated by violence eats away at us a little every day, making violence seem less horrific, more ordinary.
I’m 19, and this isn’t the first national tragedy I’ve lived through, but it’s the first one that’s rooted itself deep inside me and followed me around. There’s no indoor space I can inhabit now without looking around constantly, breathing too fast and hugging my arms to my body and feeling painfully aware of how unprotected we all are.
Anti-violence legislation may never be perfect, and many of the neediest women will suffer without ever knowing what recourse the law guarantees them. That’s a tragedy. But when survivors, advocacy groups and legislators can pinpoint ways to expand legal protections and improve programs to those underserved populations, responsible lawmakers should follow through.
Old feminism might be about “cranky white women burning bras,” by my feminism was robustly intersectional and lived in the Petri dish of the Internet.