Dear readers,
I love you guys so much. And, yeah, I just called you guys, a gender-neutral term for more than one person.
I got several private notes, and some public comments, after my post this morning with really, really good points that I wish I’d included in the original piece on gender fatigue. Like, hey, we may be tired, and kids may get bored, but in the meantime, these ideas have been enshrined in law and policy such that: male rapists are housed in women’s prisons; schools are hiding information about kids’ mental health from parents; kids are still being taught that there is something wrong with their bodies if they don’t conform to stereotypes.
So I might have ended the piece with: Take a nap! And fortify yourself. Because America is so broken that long after the post-woke kids are onto the next subject, the stain of this ideology will remain in our institutions. And that will take time. That will take money. That will take faith. That will take optimism. That will take determination. That will take courage. And that will take energy.
So, yeah, a lot of people are tired and exasperated. Feel your feelings. Eat your veggies. And never give up.
Thank you all for your feedback.
—Lisa
I am definitely feeling the fatigue, and the strain it is causing to some of my relationships. Not to mention the toll on my mental health. There is a big part of me that wants to just turn off Twitter and bury my head in the sand. But there is a bigger part of me that won’t allow that because there is already so much damage being done. We have to stay and fight!
Thank you for this! As a lesbian radical feminist activist who has been in many protests against men in women's prisons and recently testified at the Oregon legislature which nevertheless passed into law HB2002 which will, among other things, require medical insurers to cover any and all "gender affirming" services requested by anyone, including minors unbeknownest to their parents, I am often "fatigued". This is going to be a long struggle. We each need to pace ourselves and do what we need to sustain ourselves. Music can help! Ella reminds me of what I need to do! Even though I am not anyone's son! lol https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=5jbM0gVl_5w&feature=share