Margaret and Helen: Pink Razors [View all]
Another brilliant blog from Helen Philpot!
Margaret, do you remember how angry we were the day we finally realized that womens legs are not harder to shave than mens faces, but rather razors made for women cant hold a candle to those made for men? And the womens razors are more expensive to boot. Id like to meet the asshats at Gillette and give them a piece of my mind. Did they really think we wouldnt mind just because they made the razors pink?
And speaking of pink, this whole mess with Komen should be a wake-up call to women everywhere. Komen knew damn well that this had nothing to do with mammograms and everything to do with politics. They just thought we wouldnt notice because the ribbons were pink. They knew what they were getting when they hired Karen Handel. She ran for office in Georgia with a campaign promise to close down Planned Parenthood. Exactly what womens health clinics did they think we women were using for years before we started racing for a cure? Did they think that the millions of us who had gone to Planned Parenthood before we had health insurance (and even after) werent aware of the services we were provided? Trust me. When you go to a place and have a doctor poke around your hoo-ha, you pay attention.
Nancy Brinker, shame on you. You honestly thought your fellow women were so stupid that we would think your reason for defunding Planned Parenthood was somehow different than the never-ending cry for defunding that comes from the far right every election cycle? Well I am here to tell you that it is bad enough when it comes from the male-dominated, testosterone-filled legislatures. But when it comes from a supposedly apolitical womens health organization, its unforgiveable. Your original intent when you started this organization was noble and I commend you. But honey, you have lost your way. So much so that you were willing to put tens of thousands of women in harms way because the Republican party wants to keep women barefoot and pregnant.
I, for one, am tired of pink razors. And I know I speak for millions of women when I say that from now on if you push us, we will push back. From this point forward, when someone says that you fight like a girl, they had better watch out. We girls know how to fight when our backs are against the wall. No longer is it acceptable that we are half the population but only 16% of the Senate, 16% of the House of Representatives and 16% of the Governors. Margaret, did you know that the proportion of women in Americas Congress is about half the average for national legislative bodies throughout the world? Well honey, you and I are not dead yet, and we sure as hell arent leaving this world anytime soon if the womens movement to date has only gotten us this far.
More at http://margaretandhelen.wordpress.com/2012/02/06/pink-razors/