From the Archives: The Fourth Wave is a Tsunami
originally written January 21, 2017
The times in one’s life where history is being witnessed, and you are aware of it in the moment, are rare. But today was one of them.
They started marching hours before I was even awake. They filled the Mall in DC with more people than had been there for the inauguration the day before. They came with homemade signs, with hands over hearts, with strong words and big smiles. They came in a throbbing sea of pink. They wore “pussy hats” knitted by hand.
Women. Girls.
Brothers, fathers, husbands.
Friends.
Gay, straight, trans, immigrants, First Nations, every race and religion.
And they kept coming.
Hour after hour the crowds grew.
Boston expected 25,000. There were 125,000.
Los Angeles planned for 80,000 and got 750,000.
In Chicago the over 150,000 meant they couldn’t march and instead became a rally.
Between DC and NYC there were an estimated 1.5 million people on the ground.
All 7 continents.
Yes, even Antarctica.
The fourth wave of feminism has arrived and it’s a tsunami.
As a woman you go through life building a suit of armour. With every blade that hits another piece is added on until eventually you are nearly toppled with the weight of it.
It is only when you find someone else who respects how well you’ve fought, stands back as you continue to fight, and picks up a shield to stand beside you, you feel safe enough to take off your armour and rest a while.
My suit of armour is strong. It’s shiny. I’ve built it up over two decades of leering, taunting, cruel men. My armour is practically bulletproof. But it’s heavy. And I’m really fucking tired of having to wear it.
I carry this weight in hopes that in the future she won’t have to.
The battles I fight - feminism, equality, health - I carry their heaviness with me. But not as a martyr. I carry them now so those who come after me can live unencumbered. That their bodies will be free to carry new challenges.
A misogynist sits in power at the head of the United States. A man who claimed to “grab em by the pussy”. As far as women have come in the last hundred years this is still our reality. That there are a huge amount of men who think of women as objects first and humans second. Men who don’t understand the role of a female independent of a man’s wants and needs.
It is disgusting. And disheartening.
Because it means that I will never get to take off my armour. This will always be my fight. And even when I think my own life has been secured I will then have to turn back and fight for the millions of women who have yet to know basic human rights.
When looked at through that long lens it can be easy to think “fuck this” and throw in the towel. “Fuck this” is what I want to yell every time I take the rape whistle out of my purse.
Then I think about the future.
I don’t want them to have to carry rape whistles. They should never have to live in a world where men in power look through them. They should never be treated as commodities.
The tallies are still coming in but it is possible that today was the single largest protest in history. Women are ready to be heard. And today on a global scale their voice said “ENOUGH!”
I have lost count of the derogatory words men use to describe me because of the one I use to describe myself: Feminist.
They yell in my face or from behind screens. I take a deep breath and say again, “Feminism means the equality of all people.” Like I’ve done so many times before. Calmly. With dignity. And with the sliver of hope that maybe this time I will be heard.
Today the world listened.
It’s about time.
