The Week in Patriarchy is a weekly roundup of what’s happening in the world of feminism and sexism. If you’re not already receiving it by email, make sure to subscribe.
Ten people, most of them children, are dead this week because the United States refuses to do anything about our gun problem. As an American, I’m furious and heartbroken; as a mother to a school-aged child, I’m terrified.
Our kids are literally being shot to death by weapons of war, and the government continues to do nothing. Parents across the country can’t send their children to learn math and reading without worrying that they’ll never hug or see them again. This is no way to live.
Any politician that takes money from the NRA has blood on their hands, and any legislator for whom stopping gun violence isn’t their first priority should be ashamed. Who are we if we can’t even protect the most vulnerable among us?
I’d offer words of hope, but I don’t have any. I lost them in Sandy Hook. And Parkland. And Texas.
Glass half full
This Australian man who has a rare blood type has been donating plasma every week FOR SIXTY YEARS. He’s saved millions of babies - literally.
What I’m RTing
Don't bother tweeting me that it's too soon to talk about the need for stronger gun laws. It's always too soon in America. For kids shot at Santa Fe High School today, it's too late.
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) May 18, 2018
If you watch nothing else about the mass shooting at #SantaFe High School in Texas, watch this.
— Leah McElrath (@leahmcelrath) May 18, 2018
Her name is reportedly Paige.#SantaFeHighSchool pic.twitter.com/Xwy5VMCOTK
Bill Gates says that in *both* meetings he had with Trump, Trump asked if HPV and HIV were the same thing. https://t.co/Py7fRwC6l0
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) May 17, 2018
If you don't agree with abortion there is literally nothing you can do to stop it happening in the world.
— Claire Hennessy (@chennessybooks) May 17, 2018
Vote to make it illegal. Fund fake crisis pregnancy centres. Wave banners. Stand outside clinics. Lock women up.
You can only make it less safe. You can't stop it.
Who I’m reading
Jia Tolentino on “the rage of the incels,” The New York Times on the racist criminalization of marijuana in New York; and Kaitlin Menza at Cosmo on the women taking over for Eric Schneiderman.
What I’m watching
Jay Smooth on “not monetizing line-steppers” and professional provocateurs.
How outraged I am
The Trump administration announced on Friday that it’s implementing a domestic gag rule which would prevent any health centers that receive Title X funding from even mentioning abortion. I’m at a full ten out of ten.
How I’m making it through this week
I’m trying to look to student activists this week to give me hope about the sad state of gun reform in our country, while also recognizing how supremely unfair it is that this burden has been placed on their shoulders.
