April 29, 2025 • 35 mins
#171: The path to women's rights has been a long and winding road. From gaining the vote just over a century ago to today's heated battles over reproductive freedom, we're still fighting many of the same battles our grandmothers faced. But why does it feel like we're moving backward?
This raw, unfiltered conversation dives into the uncomfortable truth about how women's autonomy continues to be challenged in America. I share my personal frustration with how easily women's intelligence and confidence are dismissed, including a recent social media exchange with a "girl dad" who couldn't see the irony in publicly demeaning a highly educated congresswoman while raising a daughter himself.
We explore the historical context of women's rights, from the suffrage movement of the 1800s to the landmark reproductive rights decisions of the mid-20th century, and how recent political shifts threaten decades of progress. I tackle tough questions about reproductive responsibility, healthcare access, and the troubling gray areas in current legislation that put women's lives at risk.
What strikes me most powerfully is how society still polices women's voices. When we speak up, negotiate confidently, or refuse to back down, we're labeled "too much," "abrasive," or worse. But here's the truth I've come to embrace: smart, outspoken women scare small-minded people, and that's exactly as it should be.
Whether you identify as a feminist or not, this episode offers an honest perspective on what it means to navigate a world that still often views women's rights as negotiable. Share this with someone who's been told she's "too much" and remind her she's not alone in this fight.
You can now send us a text to ask a question or review the show. We would love to hear from you!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Johnna (00:00):
What is up everyone?
Welcome back to another episodeof the Babbles Nonsense podcast
.
On today's episode, I'm goingto attempt to do my best at
speaking about women's rightsand some things that have
happened in social media latelythat I've interacted with some
men about not saying that I'mthe one to call this out
(00:20):
publicly, and this is in no wayto be a man bashing session on
this episode of the podcast.
But I think certain things,especially in the political
environment that we are in rightnow, do need to be talked about
, and although I don't have thebiggest platform, I do have a
platform to talk about this.
So we are going to get intothings like women's rights,
(00:43):
fighting for body autonomy andcertain conversations
surrounding these politicalstances, if you will.
So let's get into it.
All right, guys?
(01:20):
So this is going to be a littlebit more of a serious
conversation, more so than whatI typically do, and I wanted to
talk about this becausesomething happened last week
that just kind of offset thistopic.
Since the new transition inpower in the White House or
president, or whatever you wantto talk about in November, I've
(01:40):
had three specific conversationswith three men on social media
that I don't know.
I don't even know how to say itBecause, like, everyone's
entitled to their opinion, thisisn't going to be to bash any
political party or anything likethat.
I mean, I obviously have mystances and my beliefs and why I
believe that, and I I'm veryaware that other people have
(02:00):
beliefs that differ from mine,and that's perfectly okay,
that's what makes AmericaAmerica.
But what I'll say is therudeness surrounded around it is
what bothers me, the thingsthat people openly say without
thinking, and I know we all saythings before we think and we
can all, you know, go back andsay I'm sorry, we can all go
(02:22):
back and try to grow and learnfrom it.
But I think it's thoseconversations that we have where
it's just kind of that deadstop where you can tell
someone's not trying to learnand grow from it, and they meant
everything that they said isthe problem.
So there's three specificincidences that I had.
Like I try my best not to getinto political conversations
with anyone, just because itnever goes anywhere.
(02:43):
Right, because most people Imean that's what they say like
there's three types ofconversations in the world that
we shouldn't have or not that weshouldn't have, but you should
know who to have them withbecause it can just start a
fight and me and my aunt havetalked about this before just
because, like in thoseconversations, being surrounded
around religion, money andpolitics, and that's because
(03:06):
most people have a deep rootedbelief system and that's okay.
I have my deep rooted beliefsystem, but I think, again, like
I'm saying, it's the morals andthe ethics that are surrounded
around it.
When someone can't just opentheir mind and see a different
point of view, or how do I wordthis or they are trying to put
(03:30):
their belief system out therewhen it is damaging and harmful
to other, whether it be genders,ethnicities, whatnot.
So it's kind of hard to talkabout because, again, when you
do a podcast or you have aplatform, it's more so, like I'm
not trying to offend anyone,even though I know I will,
because my belief system isclearly different than a lot of
(03:53):
people.
I have a lot of women thatlisten to this podcast.
So I would assume most womenthink politically the way I
would, but again, that's anassumption, right, like, maybe
they don't think politically theway I would, but again, that's
an assumption, right, like,maybe they don't.
But before we can kind of diveinto that hard conversation
around body autonomy for womenand you know, the evolution of
(04:14):
women's rights, and then getinto those examples that I've
experienced since November.
So, from November till now, wehave to kind of dig into the
history of, you know, women'sevolution, because I think we
all forget, even even women.
I think we forget that itwasn't long ago that women just
(04:35):
gained their rights, you know.
So we all know that women'srights have always been that
uphill battle.
But let's just begin with oneof the most pivotal moments in
the fight for equality, whichwas the women's suffrage
movement.
And if you know me, you know I'mnot a history buff, so I had to
do a little bit of digging anda little chat GBT to get some of
(04:56):
this history, because I'm justnot a huge history buff, even
though this particular year Ihave tried to get more
politically involved, or morepolitically aware, if you will,
because it's something thataffects all of us and it's
something that we have to startcaring about.
It can't be one of thosesituations where it's like, well
(05:17):
, this doesn't affect me, so Idon't care, because it does
affect you in some form oranother.
Down the line, whether that beyour child, you have in 10 line,
whether that be your child youhave in 10 years, whether that
be the family you're trying toraise, whether you're trying to
stay on this planet.
For the rest of you know whatI'm?
Obviously we're staying on thisplanet, but I'm just using
examples.
But going back to the historylesson here, so bear with me for
(05:40):
the history lesson.
That might be a little bitboring, but it's just something.
I feel like we quickly forgethow, not long ago, these things,
you know, went into effect withwomen.
So, going back to the women'ssuffrage movement, so in the
late 1800s and early 1900s,women in the United States began
to organize in order to gainthe right to vote.
So it was women like Susan BAnthony and Elizabeth Cady
(06:05):
Stanton, I believe, is how youpronounce her name.
They rallied and marched andfought for basic political
rights and it took decades ofresistance and women finally
gaining the right to vote in1920.
So this started in the late1800s, when they started this
movement just for women to vote.
So women didn't gain the rightto vote until 1920, when the
(06:28):
19th Amendment got passed.
So let's think about that realquick.
So it's 2025 and women gainedthe right to vote in 1920.
So that was 105 years ago.
And even though that seems, ohwell, it was 100 years ago, Sure
, but think about that Like itwas only 100 years ago.
Sure, but think about that,like it was only 100 years ago.
Men have had the right to votefor decades and centuries, you
(06:49):
know, and even in 1920, it stillwasn't just a clear cut victory
, you know, after that suffragemovement, with, where women were
still subjected to countlessrestrictions in society with
their vote, so, like, eventhough women gained the right to
vote, we still were limited.
Like, we were limited in careeropportunities and the
(07:11):
expectation was still surroundedby marriage and motherhood,
like that's all, quote unquote,women were good for.
So, if you fast forward a fewdecades past 1920, and the fight
for women's autonomy expandedinto the realm of reproductive
rights.
So we gained the right to vote1920.
And then, still, there waslimitations around that.
(07:31):
And then, you know, in the mid20th century, that's when
reproductive rights startedcoming around, like birth
control, it became one of thehottest issues in women in the
women's rights movement, in thewomen's rights movement.
So, in 1965, the US SupremeCourt ruled in the Griswold
versus Connecticut that marriedcouples had the right to use
contraception, marking a majorvictory for women's autonomy
(07:52):
over their bodies.
But was it, you know, and we'lldive into that in a little bit
but in 1973, that's when Roeversus Wade decision legalized
abortions nationwide.
It was a defining moment in thefight for women's reproductive
freedom.
But even after those victories,the battle for body autonomy was
(08:15):
not over.
Like we sure, we gained rightto birth control, and something
I'm going to say here with birthcontrol and I think a lot of
people have talked about morerecently is that y'all can hate
me for saying this, but like,why is it women's job to take
(08:35):
birth control where?
Yeah, how do I say this?
Nicely, it's proven, like,obviously, right, so women are
pregnant for nine months out ofthe year.
Right, you can only have onebaby in 12 months.
You physically can't.
Well, you can have twins ortriplets, whatever I'm just
talking about.
You can only have one pregnancyin 12 months, okay.
(08:57):
So if we can only have onepregnancy in 12 months, why are
we trying to then put thereproductive responsibility on
the women, when men canliterally have sex 20 times a
day, if not more, and impregnate20 women at in one day?
Why are we not focusing onmen's reproductive rights?
(09:19):
Because when we think about,like studies, like medical
studies and any kind of study ingeneral, whether that be the
diet industry, the fitnessindustry, you know, medical,
medical studies.
Women were not studied untilrecently, because our hormones
fluctuate so much that it'salmost near impossible to get an
accurate study or to have thatbaseline where you want it,
(09:40):
because every woman's cycle isso different and you just never
know how someone's going torespond to one thing versus the
other.
And that's why, like, I'm notsaying I'm pro abortion when it
comes to like a form of birthcontrol.
And these are just my opinionsand my thoughts, so y'all please
don't come after me.
I am very pro choice for peopleto decide.
(10:01):
I have my own thoughts and Idon't.
I've never been in a situationwhere I needed an abortion and
that's you know.
I'm very fortunate for that,and so I'm not going to sit here
and judge or make a statementof I would never do that or
anything like that, because Idon't know what I would do if I
was placed in that situation.
I would think that I wouldn'thave an abortion, because that's
(10:23):
just something in my beliefsystem, but I don't know.
Like there's certain situationslike what if I was raped.
What if you know there was?
There was something geneticwrong with a child, I don't know
.
That's why, a long time ago, Ipersonally decided that I don't
want children.
And it's not because I don'tlike children.
I love children.
My sisters and brothers havechildren.
I'm an aunt to multiple niecesand nephews my friends.
(10:46):
I love hanging out with theirkids.
They're funny.
I just personally don't wantthem, and a lot of it has to do
with the political stances andsociety and how I feel our world
is going, and it's just scaryto me.
But when it comes to justhaving the choice and having the
woman's choice, I think thatit's just crazy to me that we
(11:10):
let men mostly men dictate ourbodies when they have no idea
what it's like Like.
There's a lot going on in thepolitical community right now.
Sure, if y'all want to makepro-life a thing and you want to
overturn Roe versus Wade, whyare we not then trying to figure
out ways to help women havemore children so they're not
(11:34):
wanting to have abortions?
And again, not all women arewanting to have abortions.
There are certain situations, Ifeel like, where abortion
should be legal, whether that berape, incest, whether there's
just certain things.
I do feel that if women needaccess to that, they should have
access to it, because what'ssomething we do know in society,
even if there's not access toit, people will find access to
(11:55):
it and it's way more dangerousand it's way more harmful to
society and to women.
But regardless of that, I'mjust not to get on a tangent
about abortion.
I'm just saying that if we'regoing to make birth control
strictly for women and women'sresponsibility, then we need to
make it more affordable, we needto make it more accessible,
(12:16):
which they're trying, and Iappreciate the stance on like
the opil.
I think that's that's the newthing that you can get without a
prescription at walmart.
Um, they're still allowing themorning after pill to be
utilized.
But I just feel like we're notdoing things about maternity
leave and we're not doing thingsabout, um, raising a child in
(12:36):
our economy, where it's almostnear impossible because children
are expensive, and so I justthink, if you're trying to
lessen something that you don'tbelieve in, then I also think
that you should try to enhanceother aspects to where people
don't need that option.
But we don't do that.
We just cut things out and sayyou can't do that.
I'm a man, you're a woman, youcan't do that, and it almost
(12:59):
makes you feel, as a woman, thatwe're going backwards to the
1800s by someone telling youwhat you can and can't do.
For example, you know I work inhealthcare.
There's a lot of men that I seethat have erectile dysfunction
and what do they want?
They want a pill to fix it.
And there's a lot of people thatgo around saying, well, it's
God's will for you to have thatbaby because you got pregnant.
(13:20):
And I'm not disagreeing withthat.
I'm just saying like, if it, ifwe're going to play it to that
aspect because a lot of peopleplay into their Christianity
when it fits their narrative ifwe're going to play into that
aspect, then if it's God's willfor someone to have a baby, I
can get on board with that.
But then also, it's God's willfor you to have limp dick.
Let's just say that you knowthere shouldn't be a pill for
(13:41):
you to be able to have it.
You know, I'm just sayingthere's also men that have 14
different baby mamas.
Don't take care of any of them,and we're still not doing
anything about that.
We're allowing that to happen.
And then these women and forsome reason the women are blamed
(14:04):
for this right because again,we have to go back to the birth
control aspect of it.
It's the woman's responsibility, and me and my brother got into
a huge argument about this andwe don't have to agree.
We don't have to see eye to eye.
Everyone has values and moralsand things that they believe in
and, like I said, I'm notsitting here saying that I
believe people should just goout here and have abortions
(14:24):
every day because they want to.
I'm saying that there should becertain exceptions and we
shouldn't judge people for whatthey do, because we're not in
their shoes and we do not knowhow hard of a decision that is
for them in that moment, becauseI've never been in that place
so I don't know, and so it'shard for me to say absolutely
not, you should have figuredthat out beforehand.
(14:45):
It's hard for me to sit hereand say that is all I'm saying.
So enough of that talk, let'stry to get back on board with
the history lesson.
So we kind of ended priorbefore me getting on a tangent
was that in 1973 is when the Roeversus Wade decision legalized
abortion nationwide.
So we can fast forward to todayand kind of our climate that I
was just recently speaking aboutand, you know, despite the
(15:07):
progress we have made over thesedecades of women's body
autonomy, it's to.
I feel like I'm not speakingfor women everywhere.
I'm just saying, like a lot ofwomen that I've spoken with, it
just feels like our bodyautonomy is still under serious
attack now in today's politicalclimate.
And we can take a look at thatpolitical landscape because in
(15:29):
recent years, we've seen analarming rise in laws and
policies aimed at restrictingaccess to reproductive health.
You know, the overturning of Roeversus Wade in 2022 was the big
one that sent shockwavesthrough the country, leading to
a cascade of state levelrestrictions and bans and
abortion access and all thatstuff.
And it's still kind of going ontoday like we're hearing about
(15:51):
certain states trying to make itillegal for women to cross
state lines and that, likethey're trying to then get like
not make it illegal, like if youcome back into your state and
you went across the state lineto where it was legal, which
again, like you could say thatabout, like smoking marijuana,
like it's legal in certainstates and it's not legal but
you don't put them in jail forgoing to a state where it's
(16:12):
legal and then coming back totheir home state, like that's
where it's getting like reallychaotic.
It's just like and if y'alldon't believe this is happening
seriously, it is look it up.
But regardless, it's not justabout the abortion that's under
a threat, it's the birth control, the gender affirming care and
comprehensive sexual healtheducation that is also under
(16:33):
attack.
So we can take, for example,texas senate bill number eight,
which allows for privatecitizens to sue anyone who
performs or aids in abortion.
So the ongoing battles in stateslike Mississippi and Alabama,
where legislation is pushing forextreme abortion bans, some
with no exceptions for rape andincest, and even taking it a
(16:58):
step further, because where thelaw doesn't become clear is
things like tubal pregnancies,and if you don't know what that
is, it's where the baby forms inthe fallopian tube and there's
like it didn't get to the uterusbut it's starting to grow
within the fallopian tube and itwill not survive and it will,
if rupturing, kill the mother,like it's just a hundred percent
(17:19):
fact.
So usually once you find outthat you have a tubal pregnancy,
you hope to find it early.
Most of the time, I think theyhave to remove the fallopian
tube, which then puts you atgreater risk for not being able
to get pregnant in the future.
But it saves the mother's lifeand it does obviously terminate
the pregnancy because it's notgoing to like it has a hundred
(17:39):
percent non-survival rate.
But even things like that wherewomen are going to emergency
rooms because they're eitherhemorrhaging vaginally and
having a miscarriage or they'rehaving tubal pregnancies and
it's ruptured because the law isso gray, there's certain areas
where it's so strict thatdoctors are afraid to help women
(18:00):
until it becomes life or deathbecause they're so afraid that
they're gonna go have to standin front of a courtroom and
defend their medical licensebecause they quote unquote
performed an abortion, and solet's think about that.
So even the term abortion isjust got such a negative
connotation In medical care alot of you probably don't know.
Like when you go in to have ababy you have gravida, para and
(18:22):
abortion on.
It's like GPA and if you'veever said so, gravida means how
many pregnancies you've had.
So let's say you've had threepregnancies but you had one
miscarriage, so you have twoliving children.
Okay, let's go with thatexample.
So you would be G3 because youhad three pregnancies, p2
because you have two livingchildren and A1 because you had
(18:43):
a miscarriage.
So the term abortion alsoincludes miscarriages, but
because it has such a negativeconnotation, women are like
please don't put on my chartthat I've had an abortion
because I have not had anabortion.
So like, there's electiveabortions and then there's
abortions that happen naturallyand that's called a miscarriage.
But you don't see it GPM, yousee it gpa, and so a lot of
(19:05):
people forget that.
And so like, even if it's a med, a um, what's it called a
medicine?
Induced abortion because thebaby was not going to survive
and it causes a miscarriage.
That is now, they're saying,illegal in certain states
because the law is not.
Um, what's it called like clear?
It's just very gray.
(19:26):
But it's not just aboutlegislation.
It's about the fight forwomen's body autonomy, because
it's deeply tied to how womenare portrayed in the media and
politics.
From the constant scrutiny ofwomen's appearance to the
framing of their reproductivechoices, women's bodies are
often used as political pawns ormedia fodder.
Should women have over theirown lives and decisions and how
(19:52):
much should the government beallowed to control?
You know what I'm saying.
So the rhetoric, the rhetoricaround women's rights, is very
intense, it's divisive and attimes it's deeply harmful, and I
see that a lot just being inthe medical field but we see
constantly that politicians andpublic figures usually men I
mean, there's some women, I'mnot going to sit there and say
it's always men, but it'susually I hate to say this white
(20:14):
men deciding that women can andwhat women can and cannot do
with their bodies, and theyignore the voices of women
giving them these stories ormedical providers telling them
like, hey, there are certainsituations where this is life or
death for the mother, and it'slike people don't care.
But what's clear is that womenaren't backing down.
(20:34):
We are.
You can tell that there's asurge of activism going on.
There's protest, there'spushing back against these
political efforts, and one ofthe most notable movements is
the hashtag me too movement,which did spark conversations
around sexual harassment, genderbased violence and the right
for women to be in control oftheir own bodies and voices.
(20:55):
So you can tell that this isstemmed from the 1800s and it's
still going on today, in 2025,which is almost mind boggling
and baffling.
It's like we're going backwardsand a lot of people are saying
that.
You know, even though thepolitical landscape currently
feels like an uphill battle,there is a growing wave of
(21:16):
activism and advocacy that isfighting for change.
Those examples is thereproductive justice movement,
which is highlighting not onlythe right to have access to
abortion but also the right tohave a child and raise that
child in a safe and supportiveenvironment.
And that goes back to theconversation I was having
(21:37):
earlier, like, if we want womento continue having babies and we
want to eliminate the need forabortion, then we have to, as a
society and as a politicalsociety, do something about that
supportive and safe environmentabout having a child.
Um, because we all know that,like, postpartum depression is
real, more people are talkingabout it.
(21:58):
Um, we still forget howdangerous pregnancy is.
Just because we have hospitalsand stuff like that does not
mean that pregnancy is still notkilling women, you know?
Um, so we just have to rememberthat and I think it's just.
I think about more women showingup at the polls and voting, and
record numbers is what ischampioning these women's rights
(22:20):
.
But even talking about womengoing back to voting and how we
just got access to vote in the1920s, this new bill that was
passed, and I forget, I thinkit's called like the safe.
What's it called?
Let me look it up real quick.
I think it's called like theSAFE.
What's it called?
Let me look it up real quick.
Yes, it's called the SafeguardAmerican Voter Eligibility Act.
So it's the SAVE Act and itactually got voted on and passed
(22:41):
recently.
But a lot of women were veryconcerned about it because there
is a place in there thatbasically says so.
Essentially, the SAVE Act, inshort, is to prove that you're a
citizen to vote, which we allagree with, right, like we
should all prove that we'recitizens to vote.
But the part in it that's very,again, one of those gray, it's
not very black and white.
(23:01):
It says if you have a differentlast name than your birth
certificate, then you have toprove that you're a citizen, and
so I don't know what they'regoing to put into place and all
that.
So I'm not.
I'm not trying to speak sonegatively about it, but I
understand where the women werecoming from when this came out,
like there, I feel like theyneed to enhance it a little bit
more and put more verbiage inthere, because let's think about
(23:24):
that Most women who are marrieddon't have the same last name
as their birth certificate.
I personally don't have the samelast name as their birth
certificate.
I personally don't have thesame last name as my birth
certificate.
I've never been married, but mystepdad adopted me, so I have
my stepdad's last name and Ihave to and I know like even not
not just with voting, but likewhen I went to get my license or
I graduated nursing school, Ihad to take my name change, form
(23:47):
the legal document where Ichanged it to prove why I
changed my last name, which Iunderstand.
Like, even when women getmarried, they have to do that.
They have to take theirmarriage certificate to the DMV
and all that stuff.
So it's a lot that women haveto do.
So it's either going to happenone or two ways.
Women are going to stopchanging their last name and say
, screw it, what's the point.
Or they're going to have to,like, make this law where it's
(24:08):
like less scrutinized, I guess,or where it's like well, if you
have a driver's license and youhave a passport, you clearly
proved that you're a citizen, soyou don't have to worry about
it, or something I don't know.
I don't know what they're goingto do there.
Like, I know there's a lot ofpublic and political debate
about this current act right now, so we're just going to have to
see how that plays out.
But it's just think littlethings like that, like we
(24:29):
shouldn't have to worry about,can we vote?
Because you have to think inthe back of your mind.
That's where it's like well, dothey even want women to vote?
Because more women are showingup to vote and women care about
reproductive rights and womencare about all these things.
Because it almost feels and I'mnot trying to say that it is it
almost feels like we want thedominance in society to be white
(24:51):
men.
And why is that?
Why do we want that?
Why do we want to go back orbackwards?
We know that this nation has,you know, grown and thrived off
of diversity and we need tocontinue to diversify our nation
to make it such a great nation,because the cultures and the
diversity is what makes Americagreat, you know.
(25:14):
So, yeah, that's all I'm goingto say about that.
But what stemmed so that thatwas a long winded historical
lesson.
But what kind of triggered allof that was this comment on
Facebook recently about a guy Iwent to college with.
So I wouldn't necessarily saythat we're like besties or
(25:35):
anything Like.
I did hang out with him a lotin college because a lot of my
guy friends hung out with himand he posted and again, I'm
just going to preface this likeeveryone's entitled to post what
they want to post politicallyon their Facebook pages or
Instagram, wherever Like.
Obviously, yes, I can defriendand whatnot, but there's certain
things that people post that Ido feel compelled to respond to
(25:56):
and this one I definitely did,and it's usually when it's just
rudeness about someone'scharacter.
So there was this article and Idon't even know if it's a real
article or not.
I honestly haven't done anydigging or whatnot but it was
about Jasmine Crockett sayingthat she was challenging Trump
to an IQ test and whatever youwant to post that, post it.
(26:18):
But then it was the captionabove it that really triggered
me when he said my nine monthold daughter is smarter than
this woman talking about JasmineCrockett.
So where do we even start withthis?
So I think, before we even getinto that, I just want to start
out by saying I think there'ssomething, this is something
that we don't talk about enough,and that's just how comfortable
(26:40):
the world gets when women dohave confidence and are
intelligent and, you know, areshowing up to vote and you know
we're standing up for ourselvesbecause we have had this huge
movement since the 1800s, whereit was just sit in the kitchen,
be quiet, do what your husbandsays.
And now we're having more andmore women each year speak up
(27:00):
for what they believe in andwhat they stand for.
Who is constantly, you know,called a bitch or told that I'm
too much or that I'm tooabrasive because I don't back
down and I do share my ownopinion.
And then you have women thatare very smart and you know, and
(27:20):
they're, you know, they're,they're called other things than
just being smart.
Or if someone's bold, you know,they say she better smile when
she says something.
If someone's bold, you know,they say she better smile when
she says something.
Or, going back to the one, ifsomeone's smart, like, then you
have to also be sweet and notshow too much intelligence.
So it's just this you knowwe're supposed to just downplay
(27:44):
our thoughts and our processesand you know, look to men to
lead and that's fine, like if we, if we're going to go back to
the female masculine energything, but I'm talking about
like true character and true,you know, intelligence and
things like that.
So, going back to the exampleof this guy posting that, that's
what bothered me.
So I did speak up and you know,I did tell him and I said the
(28:06):
comment to me was like, I'm notmaking this political.
Like if you want to share thisand you're upset about it
because you're a Trump supporter, obviously, then that's fine,
that's your right.
I'm not.
But there was no reason to thenhave to put Jasmine Crockett
down.
Jasmine Crockett is actually avery intelligent woman.
She has multiple degrees, shegraduated from Harvard Law.
So what are you talking about?
You're nine month old, issmarter than her, than her Like.
(28:32):
That was just such a derogatory, rude comment that was just
unnecessary.
You could have captioned itwith anything else, anything you
could have just said can youbelieve this?
Or what the hell?
Anything.
But you didn't have to put heras a woman, especially a woman
of color, down about, about,about anything.
So my comment back to him wasyou know, you really didn't have
to do that.
I'm not trying to make thispolitical, but speaking of being
(28:54):
a girl dad, like wouldn't yoube very upset if someone was
speaking about your daughter?
The way you're speaking aboutJasmine Crockett Because that's
something that really blows mymind about men that have
daughters is that they don'teven stop to think.
I'm not saying all again, thisis not just a all I know,
there's a spectrum.
I'm just speaking about thisfar left spectrum.
(29:14):
Like it just blows my mind,even in dating, not just
politics that when you'retreating a woman a certain way,
like the thought doesn't crossyour mind like this is someone's
daughter, would I want mydaughter to be treated the way
I'm treating this woman?
And that's just mind bafflingto me.
And the fact that he respondedback to my comments saying well,
(29:38):
my daughter.
What did he say?
He said well, my daughter.
Um, oh, he said something likeum, well, even though she's
someone's daughter doesn't meanthat her comment wasn't stupid
or something like that.
So like I had to hit him backand I'm going to read exactly
what I wrote.
So I had had to hit him backwith this response.
As I said before, let's justhope your daughter never
(29:59):
expresses an independent thoughtthat someone decides to tear
down the way you just attemptedto do about Jasmine Crockett.
Your response makes it clearwhere you stand and for me this
isn't about politics.
It's about's about basicdecency, empathy and how you
choose to speak about women,especially women of color.
One day, your daughter may bethe one on the receiving end of
a careless comment like yoursand when or if that day comes, I
(30:21):
hope you remember this momentbecause you are setting the tone
for what's acceptable and willhave no room to be outraged.
The fact that you, a father,can't even recognize the weight
of your own words is disturbing,because this isn't just a
difference of opinion.
This is a reflection ofcharacter and, honestly, it's
not a good look.
It's best we go our separateways on Facebook, not because we
don't see eye to eyepolitically, but because I
(30:41):
refuse to engage with someonewho defends disrespect under the
disguise of just speaking thetruth and refuses to see how the
comments being made are notonly disrespectful but downright
rude.
And he deleted the post, whichyou know, point proven it wasn't
about the post and the pictureor whatever.
I don't care that you supportTrump.
I've literally seen yourtimeline since November and I've
(31:02):
said nothing.
It was this one rude commentabout women and clearly y'all
can tell I'm aggravated by itand I think it's just recently
that it's been bothering me,like clearly I've been a woman
my whole life, like it's neverreally bothered me.
I would I wouldn't say I'm likean over, overly active feminist,
but I think, just in mostrecent times in my life, like
especially with my job recently,where I had to negotiate my
(31:24):
salary and things and commentsbeing made about like I was very
professional during it, duringit, but it's almost like I was
never called a bitch or anythinglike that, but it's almost like
that's how I was made to feel,like I was made to feel like I
was asking for too much or I wasbeing too outspoken, and me and
my aunt again had aconversation about this where
(31:44):
it's like if I was a man in thatmoment it wouldn't have
mattered what I said, becausemen are allowed to ask certain
things and they're allowed to beassertive and they're allowed
to have that characteristicabout them.
But if a woman is outspoken ora woman is, you know not, you
know not backing down andthey're standing their ground
and they're speaking veryprofessionally, then we are
(32:06):
considered a quote, unquotebitch.
We are considered, you know,unruly or too much.
And it's just, I think, becauseyou know, nearing 40, it's just
too much sometimes and I thinkthat society could all do better
, politically, societally,workforce dating, all of it
(32:26):
could just be better.
But anyways, again tangent,going back to this comment by
this guy, like it just it reallystruck a nerve with me, like it
just really made me realize,and then, like, just reflecting
on everything in my life, likegoing back to the birth control
situation and the conversationsI've had with men about that and
whatnot, it's just crazy to me,like it really is insane, like
(32:51):
women and men just do have adifferent thought process.
Now, don't get me wrong, someof my very best guy friends I
just love having conversationswith them about that because
they're very open minded andthey do sit down and like we can
have like talks and we don'tnecessarily have to agree, but
then we both walk away.
Learning something and changedbehavior is the way to address
what, what we've learned.
(33:11):
You know, not just speakingabout it, um, but yeah, it's
just, you know it's justexhausting, it's it's it's a
trap in a, in a, in a way, um, Ijust.
But what I'll say is I'll takeaway, like I used to get really
bothered when someone told me Iwas too much or I was.
(33:32):
You know I was, I was strong,or I'm intimidating or any other
word you want to put in therethat where a woman just stands
up for herself or knows whatshe's wants, or very career
driven.
Just know, if people makecomments like that to you, like
it used to really bother me, Um,but I think, like, just as I
age and the more people I talkto and like working in therapy,
(33:54):
I just think it just meansyou're doing something right.
I think the truth is that smart,outspoken women scare small
minded people, and you know weshould, and that, just if
someone's coming at you prettyaggressively and you know that
you're speaking professionallyand you know that you're coming
from a place where you canchange things or make something
different, or you know you'rethe right person for the job, I
(34:16):
think that you are dealing witha small-minded person who can't
even fathom a thought outside ofwhat they're thinking and
that's on them, you know.
Continue to speak boldly,continue to think critically and
never, ever ever let sarcasmstop you from taking up space in
this world, because we have tocontinue fighting that fight.
(34:36):
It's going to be a fight for areally long time, unfortunately,
but I'm just going to end itright there.
I'm sorry, I babbled a lot, butI hope you enjoyed this
conversation and thank you againfor allowing me the space to
vent my frustrations out.
But if you felt this episodeand you liked it, then I hope
you will share it with someonewho's been underestimated in the
(34:57):
past and remind her that she'snot alone.
So until next time, guys, keepyour voices strong and your
standards high.
And bye, thank you you.
What is up everyone?
Welcome back to another episodeof the Babbles Nonsense podcast
.
On today's episode, I'm goingto attempt to do my best at
speaking about women's rightsand some things that have
happened in social media latelythat I've interacted with some
men about not saying that I'mthe one to call this out
(00:20):
publicly, and this is in no wayto be a man bashing session on
this episode of the podcast.
But I think certain things,especially in the political
environment that we are in rightnow, do need to be talked about
, and although I don't have thebiggest platform, I do have a
platform to talk about this.
So we are going to get intothings like women's rights,
(00:43):
fighting for body autonomy andcertain conversations
surrounding these politicalstances, if you will.
So let's get into it.
All right, guys?
(01:20):
So this is going to be a littlebit more of a serious
conversation, more so than whatI typically do, and I wanted to
talk about this becausesomething happened last week
that just kind of offset thistopic.
Since the new transition inpower in the White House or
president, or whatever you wantto talk about in November, I've
(01:40):
had three specific conversationswith three men on social media
that I don't know.
I don't even know how to say itBecause, like, everyone's
entitled to their opinion, thisisn't going to be to bash any
political party or anything likethat.
I mean, I obviously have mystances and my beliefs and why I
believe that, and I I'm veryaware that other people have
(02:00):
beliefs that differ from mine,and that's perfectly okay,
that's what makes AmericaAmerica.
But what I'll say is therudeness surrounded around it is
what bothers me, the thingsthat people openly say without
thinking, and I know we all saythings before we think and we
can all, you know, go back andsay I'm sorry, we can all go
(02:22):
back and try to grow and learnfrom it.
But I think it's thoseconversations that we have where
it's just kind of that deadstop where you can tell
someone's not trying to learnand grow from it, and they meant
everything that they said isthe problem.
So there's three specificincidences that I had.
Like I try my best not to getinto political conversations
with anyone, just because itnever goes anywhere.
(02:43):
Right, because most people Imean that's what they say like
there's three types ofconversations in the world that
we shouldn't have or not that weshouldn't have, but you should
know who to have them withbecause it can just start a
fight and me and my aunt havetalked about this before just
because, like in thoseconversations, being surrounded
around religion, money andpolitics, and that's because
(03:06):
most people have a deep rootedbelief system and that's okay.
I have my deep rooted beliefsystem, but I think, again, like
I'm saying, it's the morals andthe ethics that are surrounded
around it.
When someone can't just opentheir mind and see a different
point of view, or how do I wordthis or they are trying to put
(03:30):
their belief system out therewhen it is damaging and harmful
to other, whether it be genders,ethnicities, whatnot.
So it's kind of hard to talkabout because, again, when you
do a podcast or you have aplatform, it's more so, like I'm
not trying to offend anyone,even though I know I will,
because my belief system isclearly different than a lot of
(03:53):
people.
I have a lot of women thatlisten to this podcast.
So I would assume most womenthink politically the way I
would, but again, that's anassumption, right, like, maybe
they don't think politically theway I would, but again, that's
an assumption, right, like,maybe they don't.
But before we can kind of diveinto that hard conversation
around body autonomy for womenand you know, the evolution of
(04:14):
women's rights, and then getinto those examples that I've
experienced since November.
So, from November till now, wehave to kind of dig into the
history of, you know, women'sevolution, because I think we
all forget, even even women.
I think we forget that itwasn't long ago that women just
(04:35):
gained their rights, you know.
So we all know that women'srights have always been that
uphill battle.
But let's just begin with oneof the most pivotal moments in
the fight for equality, whichwas the women's suffrage
movement.
And if you know me, you know I'mnot a history buff, so I had to
do a little bit of digging anda little chat GBT to get some of
(04:56):
this history, because I'm justnot a huge history buff, even
though this particular year Ihave tried to get more
politically involved, or morepolitically aware, if you will,
because it's something thataffects all of us and it's
something that we have to startcaring about.
It can't be one of thosesituations where it's like, well
(05:17):
, this doesn't affect me, so Idon't care, because it does
affect you in some form oranother.
Down the line, whether that beyour child, you have in 10 line,
whether that be your child youhave in 10 years, whether that
be the family you're trying toraise, whether you're trying to
stay on this planet.
For the rest of you know whatI'm?
Obviously we're staying on thisplanet, but I'm just using
examples.
But going back to the historylesson here, so bear with me for
(05:40):
the history lesson.
That might be a little bitboring, but it's just something.
I feel like we quickly forgethow, not long ago, these things,
you know, went into effect withwomen.
So, going back to the women'ssuffrage movement, so in the
late 1800s and early 1900s,women in the United States began
to organize in order to gainthe right to vote.
So it was women like Susan BAnthony and Elizabeth Cady
(06:05):
Stanton, I believe, is how youpronounce her name.
They rallied and marched andfought for basic political
rights and it took decades ofresistance and women finally
gaining the right to vote in1920.
So this started in the late1800s, when they started this
movement just for women to vote.
So women didn't gain the rightto vote until 1920, when the
(06:28):
19th Amendment got passed.
So let's think about that realquick.
So it's 2025 and women gainedthe right to vote in 1920.
So that was 105 years ago.
And even though that seems, ohwell, it was 100 years ago, Sure
, but think about that Like itwas only 100 years ago.
Sure, but think about that,like it was only 100 years ago.
Men have had the right to votefor decades and centuries, you
(06:49):
know, and even in 1920, it stillwasn't just a clear cut victory
, you know, after that suffragemovement, with, where women were
still subjected to countlessrestrictions in society with
their vote, so, like, eventhough women gained the right to
vote, we still were limited.
Like, we were limited in careeropportunities and the
(07:11):
expectation was still surroundedby marriage and motherhood,
like that's all, quote unquote,women were good for.
So, if you fast forward a fewdecades past 1920, and the fight
for women's autonomy expandedinto the realm of reproductive
rights.
So we gained the right to vote1920.
And then, still, there waslimitations around that.
(07:31):
And then, you know, in the mid20th century, that's when
reproductive rights startedcoming around, like birth
control, it became one of thehottest issues in women in the
women's rights movement, in thewomen's rights movement.
So, in 1965, the US SupremeCourt ruled in the Griswold
versus Connecticut that marriedcouples had the right to use
contraception, marking a majorvictory for women's autonomy
(07:52):
over their bodies.
But was it, you know, and we'lldive into that in a little bit
but in 1973, that's when Roeversus Wade decision legalized
abortions nationwide.
It was a defining moment in thefight for women's reproductive
freedom.
But even after those victories,the battle for body autonomy was
(08:15):
not over.
Like we sure, we gained rightto birth control, and something
I'm going to say here with birthcontrol and I think a lot of
people have talked about morerecently is that y'all can hate
me for saying this, but like,why is it women's job to take
(08:35):
birth control where?
Yeah, how do I say this?
Nicely, it's proven, like,obviously, right, so women are
pregnant for nine months out ofthe year.
Right, you can only have onebaby in 12 months.
You physically can't.
Well, you can have twins ortriplets, whatever I'm just
talking about.
You can only have one pregnancyin 12 months, okay.
(08:57):
So if we can only have onepregnancy in 12 months, why are
we trying to then put thereproductive responsibility on
the women, when men canliterally have sex 20 times a
day, if not more, and impregnate20 women at in one day?
Why are we not focusing onmen's reproductive rights?
(09:19):
Because when we think about,like studies, like medical
studies and any kind of study ingeneral, whether that be the
diet industry, the fitnessindustry, you know, medical,
medical studies.
Women were not studied untilrecently, because our hormones
fluctuate so much that it'salmost near impossible to get an
accurate study or to have thatbaseline where you want it,
(09:40):
because every woman's cycle isso different and you just never
know how someone's going torespond to one thing versus the
other.
And that's why, like, I'm notsaying I'm pro abortion when it
comes to like a form of birthcontrol.
And these are just my opinionsand my thoughts, so y'all please
don't come after me.
I am very pro choice for peopleto decide.
(10:01):
I have my own thoughts and Idon't.
I've never been in a situationwhere I needed an abortion and
that's you know.
I'm very fortunate for that,and so I'm not going to sit here
and judge or make a statementof I would never do that or
anything like that, because Idon't know what I would do if I
was placed in that situation.
I would think that I wouldn'thave an abortion, because that's
(10:23):
just something in my beliefsystem, but I don't know.
Like there's certain situationslike what if I was raped.
What if you know there was?
There was something geneticwrong with a child, I don't know
.
That's why, a long time ago, Ipersonally decided that I don't
want children.
And it's not because I don'tlike children.
I love children.
My sisters and brothers havechildren.
I'm an aunt to multiple niecesand nephews my friends.
(10:46):
I love hanging out with theirkids.
They're funny.
I just personally don't wantthem, and a lot of it has to do
with the political stances andsociety and how I feel our world
is going, and it's just scaryto me.
But when it comes to justhaving the choice and having the
woman's choice, I think thatit's just crazy to me that we
(11:10):
let men mostly men dictate ourbodies when they have no idea
what it's like Like.
There's a lot going on in thepolitical community right now.
Sure, if y'all want to makepro-life a thing and you want to
overturn Roe versus Wade, whyare we not then trying to figure
out ways to help women havemore children so they're not
(11:34):
wanting to have abortions?
And again, not all women arewanting to have abortions.
There are certain situations, Ifeel like, where abortion
should be legal, whether that berape, incest, whether there's
just certain things.
I do feel that if women needaccess to that, they should have
access to it, because what'ssomething we do know in society,
even if there's not access toit, people will find access to
(11:55):
it and it's way more dangerousand it's way more harmful to
society and to women.
But regardless of that, I'mjust not to get on a tangent
about abortion.
I'm just saying that if we'regoing to make birth control
strictly for women and women'sresponsibility, then we need to
make it more affordable, we needto make it more accessible,
(12:16):
which they're trying, and Iappreciate the stance on like
the opil.
I think that's that's the newthing that you can get without a
prescription at walmart.
Um, they're still allowing themorning after pill to be
utilized.
But I just feel like we're notdoing things about maternity
leave and we're not doing thingsabout, um, raising a child in
(12:36):
our economy, where it's almostnear impossible because children
are expensive, and so I justthink, if you're trying to
lessen something that you don'tbelieve in, then I also think
that you should try to enhanceother aspects to where people
don't need that option.
But we don't do that.
We just cut things out and sayyou can't do that.
I'm a man, you're a woman, youcan't do that, and it almost
(12:59):
makes you feel, as a woman, thatwe're going backwards to the
1800s by someone telling youwhat you can and can't do.
For example, you know I work inhealthcare.
There's a lot of men that I seethat have erectile dysfunction
and what do they want?
They want a pill to fix it.
And there's a lot of people thatgo around saying, well, it's
God's will for you to have thatbaby because you got pregnant.
(13:20):
And I'm not disagreeing withthat.
I'm just saying like, if it, ifwe're going to play it to that
aspect because a lot of peopleplay into their Christianity
when it fits their narrative ifwe're going to play into that
aspect, then if it's God's willfor someone to have a baby, I
can get on board with that.
But then also, it's God's willfor you to have limp dick.
Let's just say that you knowthere shouldn't be a pill for
(13:41):
you to be able to have it.
You know, I'm just sayingthere's also men that have 14
different baby mamas.
Don't take care of any of them,and we're still not doing
anything about that.
We're allowing that to happen.
And then these women and forsome reason the women are blamed
(14:04):
for this right because again,we have to go back to the birth
control aspect of it.
It's the woman's responsibility, and me and my brother got into
a huge argument about this andwe don't have to agree.
We don't have to see eye to eye.
Everyone has values and moralsand things that they believe in
and, like I said, I'm notsitting here saying that I
believe people should just goout here and have abortions
(14:24):
every day because they want to.
I'm saying that there should becertain exceptions and we
shouldn't judge people for whatthey do, because we're not in
their shoes and we do not knowhow hard of a decision that is
for them in that moment, becauseI've never been in that place
so I don't know, and so it'shard for me to say absolutely
not, you should have figuredthat out beforehand.
(14:45):
It's hard for me to sit hereand say that is all I'm saying.
So enough of that talk, let'stry to get back on board with
the history lesson.
So we kind of ended priorbefore me getting on a tangent
was that in 1973 is when the Roeversus Wade decision legalized
abortion nationwide.
So we can fast forward to todayand kind of our climate that I
was just recently speaking aboutand, you know, despite the
(15:07):
progress we have made over thesedecades of women's body
autonomy, it's to.
I feel like I'm not speakingfor women everywhere.
I'm just saying, like a lot ofwomen that I've spoken with, it
just feels like our bodyautonomy is still under serious
attack now in today's politicalclimate.
And we can take a look at thatpolitical landscape because in
(15:29):
recent years, we've seen analarming rise in laws and
policies aimed at restrictingaccess to reproductive health.
You know, the overturning of Roeversus Wade in 2022 was the big
one that sent shockwavesthrough the country, leading to
a cascade of state levelrestrictions and bans and
abortion access and all thatstuff.
And it's still kind of going ontoday like we're hearing about
(15:51):
certain states trying to make itillegal for women to cross
state lines and that, likethey're trying to then get like
not make it illegal, like if youcome back into your state and
you went across the state lineto where it was legal, which
again, like you could say thatabout, like smoking marijuana,
like it's legal in certainstates and it's not legal but
you don't put them in jail forgoing to a state where it's
(16:12):
legal and then coming back totheir home state, like that's
where it's getting like reallychaotic.
It's just like and if y'alldon't believe this is happening
seriously, it is look it up.
But regardless, it's not justabout the abortion that's under
a threat, it's the birth control, the gender affirming care and
comprehensive sexual healtheducation that is also under
(16:33):
attack.
So we can take, for example,texas senate bill number eight,
which allows for privatecitizens to sue anyone who
performs or aids in abortion.
So the ongoing battles in stateslike Mississippi and Alabama,
where legislation is pushing forextreme abortion bans, some
with no exceptions for rape andincest, and even taking it a
(16:58):
step further, because where thelaw doesn't become clear is
things like tubal pregnancies,and if you don't know what that
is, it's where the baby forms inthe fallopian tube and there's
like it didn't get to the uterusbut it's starting to grow
within the fallopian tube and itwill not survive and it will,
if rupturing, kill the mother,like it's just a hundred percent
(17:19):
fact.
So usually once you find outthat you have a tubal pregnancy,
you hope to find it early.
Most of the time, I think theyhave to remove the fallopian
tube, which then puts you atgreater risk for not being able
to get pregnant in the future.
But it saves the mother's lifeand it does obviously terminate
the pregnancy because it's notgoing to like it has a hundred
(17:39):
percent non-survival rate.
But even things like that wherewomen are going to emergency
rooms because they're eitherhemorrhaging vaginally and
having a miscarriage or they'rehaving tubal pregnancies and
it's ruptured because the law isso gray, there's certain areas
where it's so strict thatdoctors are afraid to help women
(18:00):
until it becomes life or deathbecause they're so afraid that
they're gonna go have to standin front of a courtroom and
defend their medical licensebecause they quote unquote
performed an abortion, and solet's think about that.
So even the term abortion isjust got such a negative
connotation In medical care alot of you probably don't know.
Like when you go in to have ababy you have gravida, para and
(18:22):
abortion on.
It's like GPA and if you'veever said so, gravida means how
many pregnancies you've had.
So let's say you've had threepregnancies but you had one
miscarriage, so you have twoliving children.
Okay, let's go with thatexample.
So you would be G3 because youhad three pregnancies, p2
because you have two livingchildren and A1 because you had
(18:43):
a miscarriage.
So the term abortion alsoincludes miscarriages, but
because it has such a negativeconnotation, women are like
please don't put on my chartthat I've had an abortion
because I have not had anabortion.
So like, there's electiveabortions and then there's
abortions that happen naturallyand that's called a miscarriage.
But you don't see it GPM, yousee it gpa, and so a lot of
(19:05):
people forget that.
And so like, even if it's a med, a um, what's it called a
medicine?
Induced abortion because thebaby was not going to survive
and it causes a miscarriage.
That is now, they're saying,illegal in certain states
because the law is not.
Um, what's it called like clear?
It's just very gray.
(19:26):
But it's not just aboutlegislation.
It's about the fight forwomen's body autonomy, because
it's deeply tied to how womenare portrayed in the media and
politics.
From the constant scrutiny ofwomen's appearance to the
framing of their reproductivechoices, women's bodies are
often used as political pawns ormedia fodder.
Should women have over theirown lives and decisions and how
(19:52):
much should the government beallowed to control?
You know what I'm saying.
So the rhetoric, the rhetoricaround women's rights, is very
intense, it's divisive and attimes it's deeply harmful, and I
see that a lot just being inthe medical field but we see
constantly that politicians andpublic figures usually men I
mean, there's some women, I'mnot going to sit there and say
it's always men, but it'susually I hate to say this white
(20:14):
men deciding that women can andwhat women can and cannot do
with their bodies, and theyignore the voices of women
giving them these stories ormedical providers telling them
like, hey, there are certainsituations where this is life or
death for the mother, and it'slike people don't care.
But what's clear is that womenaren't backing down.
(20:34):
We are.
You can tell that there's asurge of activism going on.
There's protest, there'spushing back against these
political efforts, and one ofthe most notable movements is
the hashtag me too movement,which did spark conversations
around sexual harassment, genderbased violence and the right
for women to be in control oftheir own bodies and voices.
(20:55):
So you can tell that this isstemmed from the 1800s and it's
still going on today, in 2025,which is almost mind boggling
and baffling.
It's like we're going backwardsand a lot of people are saying
that.
You know, even though thepolitical landscape currently
feels like an uphill battle,there is a growing wave of
(21:16):
activism and advocacy that isfighting for change.
Those examples is thereproductive justice movement,
which is highlighting not onlythe right to have access to
abortion but also the right tohave a child and raise that
child in a safe and supportiveenvironment.
And that goes back to theconversation I was having
(21:37):
earlier, like, if we want womento continue having babies and we
want to eliminate the need forabortion, then we have to, as a
society and as a politicalsociety, do something about that
supportive and safe environmentabout having a child.
Um, because we all know that,like, postpartum depression is
real, more people are talkingabout it.
(21:58):
Um, we still forget howdangerous pregnancy is.
Just because we have hospitalsand stuff like that does not
mean that pregnancy is still notkilling women, you know?
Um, so we just have to rememberthat and I think it's just.
I think about more women showingup at the polls and voting, and
record numbers is what ischampioning these women's rights
(22:20):
.
But even talking about womengoing back to voting and how we
just got access to vote in the1920s, this new bill that was
passed, and I forget, I thinkit's called like the safe.
What's it called?
Let me look it up real quick.
I think it's called like theSAFE.
What's it called?
Let me look it up real quick.
Yes, it's called the SafeguardAmerican Voter Eligibility Act.
So it's the SAVE Act and itactually got voted on and passed
(22:41):
recently.
But a lot of women were veryconcerned about it because there
is a place in there thatbasically says so.
Essentially, the SAVE Act, inshort, is to prove that you're a
citizen to vote, which we allagree with, right, like we
should all prove that we'recitizens to vote.
But the part in it that's very,again, one of those gray, it's
not very black and white.
(23:01):
It says if you have a differentlast name than your birth
certificate, then you have toprove that you're a citizen, and
so I don't know what they'regoing to put into place and all
that.
So I'm not.
I'm not trying to speak sonegatively about it, but I
understand where the women werecoming from when this came out,
like there, I feel like theyneed to enhance it a little bit
more and put more verbiage inthere, because let's think about
(23:24):
that Most women who are marrieddon't have the same last name
as their birth certificate.
I personally don't have the samelast name as their birth
certificate.
I personally don't have thesame last name as my birth
certificate.
I've never been married, but mystepdad adopted me, so I have
my stepdad's last name and Ihave to and I know like even not
not just with voting, but likewhen I went to get my license or
I graduated nursing school, Ihad to take my name change, form
(23:47):
the legal document where Ichanged it to prove why I
changed my last name, which Iunderstand.
Like, even when women getmarried, they have to do that.
They have to take theirmarriage certificate to the DMV
and all that stuff.
So it's a lot that women haveto do.
So it's either going to happenone or two ways.
Women are going to stopchanging their last name and say
, screw it, what's the point.
Or they're going to have to,like, make this law where it's
(24:08):
like less scrutinized, I guess,or where it's like well, if you
have a driver's license and youhave a passport, you clearly
proved that you're a citizen, soyou don't have to worry about
it, or something I don't know.
I don't know what they're goingto do there.
Like, I know there's a lot ofpublic and political debate
about this current act right now, so we're just going to have to
see how that plays out.
But it's just think littlethings like that, like we
(24:29):
shouldn't have to worry about,can we vote?
Because you have to think inthe back of your mind.
That's where it's like well, dothey even want women to vote?
Because more women are showingup to vote and women care about
reproductive rights and womencare about all these things.
Because it almost feels and I'mnot trying to say that it is it
almost feels like we want thedominance in society to be white
(24:51):
men.
And why is that?
Why do we want that?
Why do we want to go back orbackwards?
We know that this nation has,you know, grown and thrived off
of diversity and we need tocontinue to diversify our nation
to make it such a great nation,because the cultures and the
diversity is what makes Americagreat, you know.
(25:14):
So, yeah, that's all I'm goingto say about that.
But what stemmed so that thatwas a long winded historical
lesson.
But what kind of triggered allof that was this comment on
Facebook recently about a guy Iwent to college with.
So I wouldn't necessarily saythat we're like besties or
(25:35):
anything Like.
I did hang out with him a lotin college because a lot of my
guy friends hung out with himand he posted and again, I'm
just going to preface this likeeveryone's entitled to post what
they want to post politicallyon their Facebook pages or
Instagram, wherever Like.
Obviously, yes, I can defriendand whatnot, but there's certain
things that people post that Ido feel compelled to respond to
(25:56):
and this one I definitely did,and it's usually when it's just
rudeness about someone'scharacter.
So there was this article and Idon't even know if it's a real
article or not.
I honestly haven't done anydigging or whatnot but it was
about Jasmine Crockett sayingthat she was challenging Trump
to an IQ test and whatever youwant to post that, post it.
(26:18):
But then it was the captionabove it that really triggered
me when he said my nine monthold daughter is smarter than
this woman talking about JasmineCrockett.
So where do we even start withthis?
So I think, before we even getinto that, I just want to start
out by saying I think there'ssomething, this is something
that we don't talk about enough,and that's just how comfortable
(26:40):
the world gets when women dohave confidence and are
intelligent and, you know, areshowing up to vote and you know
we're standing up for ourselvesbecause we have had this huge
movement since the 1800s, whereit was just sit in the kitchen,
be quiet, do what your husbandsays.
And now we're having more andmore women each year speak up
(27:00):
for what they believe in andwhat they stand for.
Who is constantly, you know,called a bitch or told that I'm
too much or that I'm tooabrasive because I don't back
down and I do share my ownopinion.
And then you have women thatare very smart and you know, and
(27:20):
they're, you know, they're,they're called other things than
just being smart.
Or if someone's bold, you know,they say she better smile when
she says something.
If someone's bold, you know,they say she better smile when
she says something.
Or, going back to the one, ifsomeone's smart, like, then you
have to also be sweet and notshow too much intelligence.
So it's just this you knowwe're supposed to just downplay
(27:44):
our thoughts and our processesand you know, look to men to
lead and that's fine, like if we, if we're going to go back to
the female masculine energything, but I'm talking about
like true character and true,you know, intelligence and
things like that.
So, going back to the exampleof this guy posting that, that's
what bothered me.
So I did speak up and you know,I did tell him and I said the
(28:06):
comment to me was like, I'm notmaking this political.
Like if you want to share thisand you're upset about it
because you're a Trump supporter, obviously, then that's fine,
that's your right.
I'm not.
But there was no reason to thenhave to put Jasmine Crockett
down.
Jasmine Crockett is actually avery intelligent woman.
She has multiple degrees, shegraduated from Harvard Law.
So what are you talking about?
You're nine month old, issmarter than her, than her Like.
(28:32):
That was just such a derogatory, rude comment that was just
unnecessary.
You could have captioned itwith anything else, anything you
could have just said can youbelieve this?
Or what the hell?
Anything.
But you didn't have to put heras a woman, especially a woman
of color, down about, about,about anything.
So my comment back to him wasyou know, you really didn't have
to do that.
I'm not trying to make thispolitical, but speaking of being
(28:54):
a girl dad, like wouldn't yoube very upset if someone was
speaking about your daughter?
The way you're speaking aboutJasmine Crockett Because that's
something that really blows mymind about men that have
daughters is that they don'teven stop to think.
I'm not saying all again, thisis not just a all I know,
there's a spectrum.
I'm just speaking about thisfar left spectrum.
(29:14):
Like it just blows my mind,even in dating, not just
politics that when you'retreating a woman a certain way,
like the thought doesn't crossyour mind like this is someone's
daughter, would I want mydaughter to be treated the way
I'm treating this woman?
And that's just mind bafflingto me.
And the fact that he respondedback to my comments saying well,
(29:38):
my daughter.
What did he say?
He said well, my daughter.
Um, oh, he said something likeum, well, even though she's
someone's daughter doesn't meanthat her comment wasn't stupid
or something like that.
So like I had to hit him backand I'm going to read exactly
what I wrote.
So I had had to hit him backwith this response.
As I said before, let's justhope your daughter never
(29:59):
expresses an independent thoughtthat someone decides to tear
down the way you just attemptedto do about Jasmine Crockett.
Your response makes it clearwhere you stand and for me this
isn't about politics.
It's about's about basicdecency, empathy and how you
choose to speak about women,especially women of color.
One day, your daughter may bethe one on the receiving end of
a careless comment like yoursand when or if that day comes, I
(30:21):
hope you remember this momentbecause you are setting the tone
for what's acceptable and willhave no room to be outraged.
The fact that you, a father,can't even recognize the weight
of your own words is disturbing,because this isn't just a
difference of opinion.
This is a reflection ofcharacter and, honestly, it's
not a good look.
It's best we go our separateways on Facebook, not because we
don't see eye to eyepolitically, but because I
(30:41):
refuse to engage with someonewho defends disrespect under the
disguise of just speaking thetruth and refuses to see how the
comments being made are notonly disrespectful but downright
rude.
And he deleted the post, whichyou know, point proven it wasn't
about the post and the pictureor whatever.
I don't care that you supportTrump.
I've literally seen yourtimeline since November and I've
(31:02):
said nothing.
It was this one rude commentabout women and clearly y'all
can tell I'm aggravated by itand I think it's just recently
that it's been bothering me,like clearly I've been a woman
my whole life, like it's neverreally bothered me.
I would I wouldn't say I'm likean over, overly active feminist,
but I think, just in mostrecent times in my life, like
especially with my job recently,where I had to negotiate my
(31:24):
salary and things and commentsbeing made about like I was very
professional during it, duringit, but it's almost like I was
never called a bitch or anythinglike that, but it's almost like
that's how I was made to feel,like I was made to feel like I
was asking for too much or I wasbeing too outspoken, and me and
my aunt again had aconversation about this where
(31:44):
it's like if I was a man in thatmoment it wouldn't have
mattered what I said, becausemen are allowed to ask certain
things and they're allowed to beassertive and they're allowed
to have that characteristicabout them.
But if a woman is outspoken ora woman is, you know not, you
know not backing down andthey're standing their ground
and they're speaking veryprofessionally, then we are
(32:06):
considered a quote, unquotebitch.
We are considered, you know,unruly or too much.
And it's just, I think, becauseyou know, nearing 40, it's just
too much sometimes and I thinkthat society could all do better
, politically, societally,workforce dating, all of it
(32:26):
could just be better.
But anyways, again tangent,going back to this comment by
this guy, like it just it reallystruck a nerve with me, like it
just really made me realize,and then, like, just reflecting
on everything in my life, likegoing back to the birth control
situation and the conversationsI've had with men about that and
whatnot, it's just crazy to me,like it really is insane, like
(32:51):
women and men just do have adifferent thought process.
Now, don't get me wrong, someof my very best guy friends I
just love having conversationswith them about that because
they're very open minded andthey do sit down and like we can
have like talks and we don'tnecessarily have to agree, but
then we both walk away.
Learning something and changedbehavior is the way to address
what, what we've learned.
(33:11):
You know, not just speakingabout it, um, but yeah, it's
just, you know it's justexhausting, it's it's it's a
trap in a, in a, in a way, um, Ijust.
But what I'll say is I'll takeaway, like I used to get really
bothered when someone told me Iwas too much or I was.
(33:32):
You know I was, I was strong,or I'm intimidating or any other
word you want to put in therethat where a woman just stands
up for herself or knows whatshe's wants, or very career
driven.
Just know, if people makecomments like that to you, like
it used to really bother me, Um,but I think, like, just as I
age and the more people I talkto and like working in therapy,
(33:54):
I just think it just meansyou're doing something right.
I think the truth is that smart,outspoken women scare small
minded people, and you know weshould, and that, just if
someone's coming at you prettyaggressively and you know that
you're speaking professionallyand you know that you're coming
from a place where you canchange things or make something
different, or you know you'rethe right person for the job, I
(34:16):
think that you are dealing witha small-minded person who can't
even fathom a thought outside ofwhat they're thinking and
that's on them, you know.
Continue to speak boldly,continue to think critically and
never, ever ever let sarcasmstop you from taking up space in
this world, because we have tocontinue fighting that fight.
(34:36):
It's going to be a fight for areally long time, unfortunately,
but I'm just going to end itright there.
I'm sorry, I babbled a lot, butI hope you enjoyed this
conversation and thank you againfor allowing me the space to
vent my frustrations out.
But if you felt this episodeand you liked it, then I hope
you will share it with someonewho's been underestimated in the
(34:57):
past and remind her that she'snot alone.
So until next time, guys, keepyour voices strong and your
standards high.
And bye, thank you you.
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