brofisting:

I haven’t said anything here yet about the Elliot Rogers shooting, though I have at a few points felt as though I were overflowing with words. Twitter got a lot of them.

What it comes down to is: I am not surprised. It does not shock me in the least that a person who has been ingesting misogyny since the day they were born & who was later encouraged and taught to focus that misogyny by groups such as “Men’s Rights Activists” (a name that sickens me in its irony daily) and “Pick-Up Artists” would find the next logical step murder.

It doesn’t shock me at all. As many others have said, this is the same misogyny we see daily: the only difference is degree, and even that not by much. I am horrified and saddened, but I am horrified and saddened most of the time if I let myself consider the way women are thought of and treated by many. This, too, only changes by degree.

But this week, I don’t feel alone in my horror. Women are stepping up. Women are shouting. Women are raging and furious and talking about it. And I know how hard that can be, for so many reasons. And I know it’s not sustainable, as we must all take care of ourselves, and not let this eat us alive from the inside out. But right now, I am comforted, and buoyed, and proud.

What I am seeing right now is something I know always, but that is not always visible: that women are unbelievably strong. To live in a world that fights against you at every turn, that you have to play along with in order to get ahead, to survive; to be able to fight back, claim inches of progress where you can. That takes a strength unlike any other, tested and battered and absolutely solid.

When you have been told to be quiet all your life, to speak is an act of courage. And this week I see women speaking.