“If one man can destroy everything, why can't one girl change it?” - Malala Yousafzai
Only a few of our favorite women in music are featured below but, as 8 year old girls everywhere are about to have to answer writing assignments asking "what would you do if the president came to dinner?" and bullshit power essays about a pleasant dinner with a man who's committed sexual assault, we'd like to take this time to remind you that women are unstoppable. Never "just stop" or silence yourself for someone else's comfort; keep talking and keep fighting, no matter how insurmountable it seems. This weekend's marches - and the next four years of undoubted fights - are not limited to women (they are pointedly, intelligently, beautifully set to represent us all), but women have been fighting established ideas since birth and I know you've developed a tough enough skin to keep going; we were conditioned and raised to fight for our right to be heard.
Remember to protest peacefully this weekend. Peaceful protests take a lot of slack but they gave equal voting rights to black men and women, they gave women bodily autonomy and the right to choose the future they want, they gave us the right to marry whomever we love, they gave Muslim school kids in New York City the same rights to religious holidays as Christian and Jewish children (and in many more cities, too!), and just a few weeks ago they re-directed an entire oil pipeline (that's amazing, guys). There's still more to do in every instance, but peaceful protest got us there and it will continue to get us far, no matter the hate you face and the people who insist you're only whining about something as infantile as not getting your way.
It does take far more strength to love and forgive than it will ever take to hate and fear, so continue fighting and take care to choose mob love over mob hate, every time.
"You don't make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas. - Shirley Chisholm
