Only Considering Women’s
Rights
Janet Kuypers
8/18/22
Wondering if I was the only one,
Wondering if anyone considered women’s rights
Especially after Roe v. Wade,
I watched a television interview
okay, it was on Comedy Central—
cut me some slack, The Daily Show
conducts daily interviews usually
about relevant lunchtime poll topics...
where the 70th Miss Universe
talked about how she was bullied
for gaining weight
(so... even those who are perceived of
as the most beautiful are also teased?)
but what stuck in my head
is how she was going to rural towns
to make feminine pads available to young girls
since many places don’t even allow women
access to be most basic reproductive needs
—
Because, well, we forget
when, thanks to Obama
birth control’s free
in the U S A
that some parts the world
have it so much worse —
I think of the 3rd world countries
Who restrict women’s rights so...
I contemplate that hey, maybe
We women don’t have it so bad
Here in the you ess ay—
That’s when I have to stop myself,
Remind myself
That we women all have these rights
Or, wait a minute, we had these rights
After fighting for them for far too long
In these quote-unquote United States
...that if this is supposed to be
The land of the free
Then rights should be allowed to full-grown women
And not to missed menstrual cycles
And not to mistakes,
Not human life
Not living,
Breathing,
Voting human beings
Who do not have a heart
(Go ahead, consider dates of fertilization,
Don’t consider the person hosting cells
That may, one day, be a human being)
For these chemical reactions,
If they only had a brain
With cognitive reasoning
They would beg you to
Respect the woman first
—
So, I was watching an interview with Miss Universe
(What an outdated symbol for the value of women),
A woman from India, talking about women’s rights.
And— it made me wonder if I was the only one...
Wondering if anyone considered women’s rights.
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