Today I Voted with My Ovaries & I Couldn’t Be Prouder
#ImWithHer, and I’m not afraid to support Hillary BECAUSE she’s a woman
I have done my best to avoid sentimentality during this election, because I believe that now is not the time for sentiment; now is the time for reason, facts, and informed decision-making. I have carefully weighed all the information, and I knew fairly early on that I would vote for Hillary Clinton for president, for a myriad of reasons.
One of those reasons is that when I was a teenager, I nearly died because a male doctor overlooked my obvious appendicitis symptoms and instead diagnosed me with “female pain.” It’s a footnote in my life now, only because my parents were smart enough to not accept that diagnosis and take me to another doctor, who rushed me to surgery in time to save my life. But that feeling of being overlooked and dismissed based on my reproductive system? That has remained.
I respect all the Bernie supporters still smarting from his loss. I respect all the third-party-candidate supporters. My own husband, a real-life male feminist, is voting for Jill Stein and the Green Party ticket, and I support his decision. (Don’t tell him I said this, but he’s read a lot more about the election and our government, from a wide array of sources, than I have. Plus he promised early on to vote for Hillary if our state, Illinois, was a in a close Clinton/Trump race. It’s not.) I don’t even know what to say about the Trump supporters, except that I respect the humanity I truly believe they must be stifling in order to vote for him.
Hillary has flaws, but she’s not my second-choice candidate. She’s not my “lesser of two evils.” She’s not my “this is the best the Democrats could come up with to defeat Trump.”
I’m with her. I’m with HER. Today I voted for this person for president of the United States because I believe that she will be the best person for the job, despite her flaws and all the reasons for which we must hold her feet to the fire when she’s elected. I believe that Hillary will fight for women’s rights, for access to healthcare, for affordable education, for tighter gun control laws, for real movement on climate change. I believe this woman will do her best to combat the ugly streak of racism and misogyny that has been churned up from the underbrush of society by her opponent. I believe that she will appoint Supreme Court justices who will protect LGBTQ rights and uphold a woman’s right to choose when and how she has children and overturn decisions that have flooded our political system with untold corporate billions. I know that she will work to promote the interests of women and girls around the world, and that she will protect our country and its global reputation.
And I’m also with her because I have ovaries*, and so does she.
I’m tired of pretending that I’m voting for Hillary DESPITE her gender. Fuck that. Men have been promoting men for millennia. It was only a few generations ago that half the country actively opposed giving women the right to vote.
Every woman has an ovaries story: a story about a time she was taken for granted, not believed, overlooked, dismissed, condescended to, because of her gender. Hillary has many.
She knows how that feels, and she has faced that time and time again and clawed and fought her way back and put on her pantsuit one leg at a time just like the rest of the woman in this world who have to claw and fight and dress up to be taken seriously.
I am tired of studiously avoiding sentiment. I am a woman and I am intelligent and I am emotional. I voted for Hillary because I agree with most of her policies and stances and also because doing so today made me cry in the voting booth. I voted for Hillary because I believe that her policies will lead to a better future for our country’s children in concrete ways, and because I believe that her example will create more possibilities in the minds of young girls than we can even imagine.
I voted for Hillary because girls rule and boys drool, if you like. And IDGAF if you don’t.
Over a decade ago, having ovaries almost caused me to die. Today, they caused me to vote for a woman to become President.
Patriarchy, 0. Ovaries, 1.
Here is a great resource to find out how to vote in your state — it is NOT TOO LATE and you have no excuse not to make a plan and go vote. Here is another. Here is another. Here’s how you can support our girl Hillary. Here are some more reasons why her supporters love Hillary. Here is a video of puppies playing with other kinds of animals, because there is only so much I can do.
*Author’s Note: I know that possessing ovaries does not in itself make me a woman; nor are ovaries required for a person to identify as a woman. My ovaries have contributed to the life experiences I have had that make me a woman. Woman without ovaries have different experiences that are no less valid. People with ovaries who aren’t women have different experiences that are no less valid.
