You make it a battlefield. You make it dangerous to be female. You make it dangerous to come of age. You make it dangerous to love, to risk, to go for it. We must always be cautious, on guard. And if we say fuck it and risk it anyhow, you blame on us any assaultive behavior that follows.

I want to live in a world where men are looking out for women and girls. I want to live in a world where predatory behavior is not only condemned, but deemed completely uncool and recognized as being hurtful to all of us.

I want to live in a world where a man refuses to participate in a woman’s own self-degredation. I want to live in a world where, when a woman prostrates herself before a man, when she acts out of disempowerment, insecurity, a sense of obligated hypersexuality, that the man will not take advantage of the behavior; but rather, he will take advantage of the opportunity to demonstrate to the woman that she does not have to behave that way, that she can be loved as a whole, powerful being with integrity.

I want to live in world where people stop calling women “girls.” Where female body hair is as accepted as male body hair, where it’s in fact deemed sexy.

I remember being at a falafel stand in Israel half a lifetime ago. When I reached out my arm to take the falafel, the guy behind the counter got totally excited to see armpit hair, and he kept playing with me – about to hand over the falafel, but then moving it back, so that he could see me raise my arms again.

The way he went about it totally pissed me off (partly cute, but mostly power-trippy), but at the same time, it was validating. He said he thought underarm hair was totally sexy on women, and he bemoaned the fact that women shaved, including his girlfriend, whom he wished would not shave. It was one of those awesome life moments where someone is being human, having his own opinion, and is not a carbon copy cookie cutter like almost everyone else on the fucking planet.

I think most men see and look for exactly what they are taught to see. In fact, they stop seeing. Blonde, for example, is not a hair color. It is a commodity. A status symbol. A formula. A mold.

More on the beauty formula in another post.

Little girls run free unbridled. Little human beings. I am a little human being too. I want to run free unbridled. The times I do are the happiest. In the rain naked in the park a little nervous but fuck it. Freedom freedom freedom.

While I was walking, I was not only enjoying the rain, but also thinking about how, as a woman, I have to be vigilantly aware of my surroundings and prepared to defend myself. And thinking how that sucks. And reflecting on how it is illegal for me to carry a gun, despite the staggering levels of assault against women, but legal for a store owner selling jewelry to carry a gun.

Because as we all know, rubies are more precious than women.

I am pissed. I am also denied my constitutional rights to bear arms. Which leaves me thinking that I just might join the National Rifle Association. Because them Republicans got it right on one thing. And proper hot-headed feminist that I am, I’m standing shoulder to shoulder with them on this matter, Green Party and all.

I have the right to walk down any street at any time and be safe. Anyone who threatens to compromise that safety deserves to get it right between the eyes. And I have the right to be the one delivering that magic bullet. End of issue.