Wellbeing
Published on February 21, 2018
Comments 24

World Wednesday: Tell it like it is

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In 2014, a campaign was launched online called Ban Bossy. It wanted to end the use of ‘bossy’ as an insult or control mechanism over assertive girls and young women, and instead promote ‘has leadership qualities/shows great initiative/stands up for herself’.

When I watch this speech by Emma Gonzales, speaking in such passionate, articulate, and distressed terms about the terrible Florida school shooting, the Mum inside me is so damn proud of her.

Tell the world Emma, what you know is wrong and right! Call BULLSHIT on that crap President of yours, and the other politicians lining their pockets with donations from the NRA!

Tell the truth, and tell it like it is.

Because 17 dead school children aren’t ever going to graduate, or travel overseas, or have their own children or start their own businesses…

I cannot begin to imagine the pain of their bereft parents.

Shame on those politicians indeed.

So stuff being ‘good’. Stuff being ‘quiet’. Be a leader if you want to, big or small.

#thefutureisfemale

#TIMESUP

 

24 Comments

  4. Matt Berger says

    I keep hoping for that gun-related tipping point…but the culture of guns in this country (well, in the rural and exurban parts of this country) is so deeply embedded…

    Curse you, Amendment II.

    Liked by 1 person

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    • bone&silver says

      I know; I have the exact same response.
      And yet slavery was once the deeply-embedded culture of those same areas, and look what happened. Never give up standing up for what you know is right, and the power of this teenage energy wave can carry us all if we unite I reckon…

      Liked by 2 people

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      • Matt Berger says

        I am a few years from experiencing teenage energy waves up close and personal-like.

        I could argue the “attitude” of slavery still permeates those areas, but your point is well taken.

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    • bone&silver says

      Great! When I first drafted this post, I wrote about how often I’d been called ‘bossy’ too, & that it remains a wound which triggers me into feeling shameful. But f*ck that! Women and girls NEED to speak up and out: look at the goddam mess the men are making of the world… 💪🏼💃🏻

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      • Marian says

        When my daughter was quite young, a random grandmotherly-aged woman told me (in the grocery store) that my daughter was “just like a girl…bossy!” It took everything I had not to call this woman out for being a rude busybody (and really, in hindsight, I should have). I am SO in awe of my (now) 21-year-old daughter, who has never been afraid to speak her mind, and who consistently stands up for what she believes in. I am 100% with you – those of us (women and girls, yes, but also men and boys!) who are awake enough to recognize the mess this world is in NEED to speak up.
        (I found your blog via a comment you left on acoastalplot quite a while ago – you told Sam you thought the grumblings of a middle-aged mum were things people might just want to read about. As an unapologetically greying 50-year-old mum of three (who is fully awake to the mess the world is in), I’d like to thank YOU for speaking up. It takes courage to speak one’s mind, to call a spade a spade (especially for those of us who are anxious introverts); I keep hoping that this sort of courage is contagious and that if enough of us speak up, we really will be able to effect change…)

        Liked by 2 people

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        • bone&silver says

          Marian, thank you: your comment just brought me to tears! I agree so much with what you’ve said, and am so touched to think my little blog is contributing to the waking up we all need to do to save our planet- males, females, the inbetweeners, and the young and old. I am so grateful you took the time to leave such a long comment, and I honour you for rasing such a wonderfully-sounding empowered daughter: well done! With love and respect, G xO

          Liked by 1 person

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  7. Widdershins says

    Beware the angry young women … and the rest of us too! … watching and listening to this gave me such a feeling of … hope! 😀 … I read a transcript of her speech too, I couldn’t catch all of it from the video, and it was just as compelling.

    Liked by 1 person

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  8. Trace-Blogs says

    Thank you for posting this. I just watched it with 17. Amazing young person. Almost restored my faith in humanity. x

    Liked by 1 person

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