Ways to Prevent Sexual Assault - In a handy poster format

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Motherhood

It’s those sticky fingers
reaching upwards,
glazed with supper’s residue,
holding a bite
of something
resembling a strawberry.
As I open my mouth to say,
“No, you eat it”
her tiny hand rushes
into my mouth,
leaving me chewing
that pink blob and saying,
“Mmm, perfect.”

-Lauren Adams

Attacks

The assault on Planned Parenthood continues. In Indiana they have voted to cut all funding from the program. This measure also makes it illegal for a woman to have an abortion after 20 weeks, unless she is going to die, basically.

How is it that states can vote 66-32 against an organization that does so much good?

Growing up in a very conservative and fundamentalist Christian household left me ridiculing women who chose to have abortions for a large part of my life. Then I woke up to realize that my body is sacred and mine alone. I should be able to choose what happens to my body. That type of thinking only leads to the obvious decision to stand for other women's right to their own fucking bodies.

Why are we fighting for this now? Does this seem completely obvious and ridiculous to anyone except me? I mean, how can you trust me with a child if you can't trust me with my own body?

Yet all of that seems to be beside the point. State governments are still attacking Planned Parenthood. I stand with Planned Parenthood. If you stand with them, then be sure to call or email your Representatives and Senators. The Arkansas Representatives can be reached here. The Arkansas Senate members can be reached here.

Just remember that even if you are against abortion, you probably aren't against preventative care, which makes up 97% of Planned Parenthood's services. These services go to women, men, and teens who cannot get this treatment anywhere else. Planned Parenthood offers so much more than abortion. Know the facts. If you are making an uninformed vote or are misinformed about an issue then you are hurting more than just yourself.

journey

In Live for a Living Buddy Wakefield writes in the passage titled "Wrest" some thing that I think may be one root of the problem we seem to be facing today. He says, "For my first 23 years, I was scared into believing in a God who would eventually and literally burn forever anyone who did not strictly adhere to His laws as written by man in a book using language that has long since been subtly mutilated."

This text that so many people are basing their lives on is one fraught with fear and reward. I remember getting "saved" when I was five years old. I couldn't sleep late one Sunday night. I was frightened of dying in my sleep, and if I died, then God (this mighty and worshiped being) would send me, an innocent child, to the pits of hell to burn with other sinners forever. Of course, as I became older I rationalized that God wouldn't do such a thing to a small child, but this is the same book that says if a person strikes his mother or father he shall be put to death (Exodus 21:15).

Later as I contemplated the realities of the Bible, as I studied other thought and theories, when I finally took some looks into evolution on my own, I found that things were not making sense. I spent two years trying to rid myself of the fear of giving up my "belief" in God, a belief that hadn't truly been there in some time. Now I have overcome the guilt of natural and healthy human desires. I realize that I do not need a reward to be kind to others, and I find that I am far more compassionate towards others.

There is this control exercised in the Bible, given to men or parents or God, that has pervaded the thoughts of western civilization. Now many feel as though the are in control of other living things, that the Earth and her creatures are human's possessions to rule. When will the vast population realize that the Earth and her creatures can all survive easily without humans, yet we cannot survive without her and her creatures.

All of these thoughts lead me to want to work towards change. I find myself pondering what I can do between work, motherhood, and just trying to make it. I can work to better myself. I can recycle and compost. I can talk to others about the things that I know that they may not know. Maybe I can convince one person to buy less during the next year. Maybe I can explain to one woman that women's beauty products cost more than men's products of the same nature.

I have realized that feminist doesn't cut it. Humanist. That's a difficult title.

This is an issue.

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