And I have to say, when I hear the song "Sweet Home Alabama," it makes me think of a cute Reese Witherspoon, little blonde bob and a romcom that you either loved or hated.
Now when I hear that song, I will think of a Trump era, and how the world is literally falling apart around us.
With Brexit being the contagion that has plagued the United Kingdom and our fellow friends across the seas for what feels like an eternity, the utter horror of even contemplating a future where Nigel Farage et al have any say on what we the electorate want and think, worse yet, or not so different, the working man's Nigel Farage - our racist, fan to the flame of hatred, Tommy Robinson - such prime examples of what Great Britain is! IGNORANT AND MISINFORMED time and time again.
For those of us who choose to read the Daily Mail as opposed to wipe our arse with it and those of us who listen to twats like Piers Morgan for general insights into what is going on in the world, is there any wonder we are on the precipise of chaos?
Since Trump came into power, there has been an uneasiness across the world, those of us with brains, and souls, and morality, sit with baited breath waiting for the next PR boob he comes out with; or grabs.
Is it to be expected when a President says
“If you go with what Hillary is saying
in the ninth month, you can take the baby and rip the baby out of the womb of
the mother just prior to the birth of the baby,”
And with President Trump very aware he needs to secure some serious loyalty, his sure fire way into securing a second term (ironic phrase given the topic) is to pander and protect the radical Christian aspect, the evangelicals, the pro-life loonies and all that goes with it.
So it got me thinking.
What kind of world are we living in where abortion is punished more harshly in the eyes of the law than crimes such as rape?
Is this a world ironically that we want to bring our children into?
In 2007, as those of you who read my blog will know, I had an abortion. I had the free choice to do so.
Don't misunderstand me, it wasn't an easy process, there were checkpoints along the way, but mostly to safeguard ME. A woman in my right mind, making decisions about my own body, and why is that the most critical aspect?
When someone rapes you, and takes away your choice, and leaves you powerless, is it not your right as a woman to resume that power and make your own choices as to what happens next?
IF you are as unfortunate as I was and end up pregnant because the arrogant monsters in question don't offer you the courtesy of premeditation and wrap their weiner, then joy of joys you are left with the afterthought of the traumatic event that almost broke you. A pregnancy.
I was 20 years old, in my second year at University and I had two choices.
1) Choose to have a child I never wanted nor created, but was forced to conceive by accidental and grotesque circumstance. Put my life and my future on hold for something I never asked for, never gave permission for. Surrender my hopes and dreams to the future of that growth of cells forming inside me. To forgo my education and dive head first into financial chaos of raising a child that I knew in my heart I could and never would love no matter what, because it would always, always be the creation of something I wanted to forget.
2) Choose my life, my body. Choose my hopes, my dreams. My future. To not allow this thing to develop and become a person one day, that I could only ever remember and acknowledge for such sad reasons. To bring a child into this world, is to love, is to give every piece of your heart and create a future for. If you can't promise that, you shouldn't do it. And in the case of rape inparticular, how can you ask that of women who have already been abused and used and ask them to give up their body and mind for something they never asked for? When there is a safe choice that puts them first, as it should be. We should be protecting women, not shunning them, punishing them.
How can the state of Alabama ask women to accept this? To conform? To bow down to the idiotic, shovenist, short sighted, dangerous and damaging bullshit legislation they dare to call law?
Are we a global society that will sit back and allow this to continue? Let these men, these selfish, uneducated, archaic assholes decide for us? For the women of the world? This is a war.
It begins with the Trump-esque pussy grabs and the jokes about banging his daughter and it escalates into aboortion clinics being hounded, doctors being hurt, women being demonised and all too soon the coat hangers are coming out of the closet and women are in the back alleys and hiding, in shame, in pain and in horror.
How very Handmades Tale.
This is who we are in 2019. Goverened by ignorant men with selfish desires who steer us into the sun and destroy all that is good, and kind, and hope.
We are a society of love, of decency, at the core. I believe that.
So we need to make a stand. It needs to stop.
Enough is enough.
