The Truth

I wrote this on FB, and am sharing it here because it seems important to say (have a NYTimes pic of Dr. Russell but can’t post it, because it’s not mine, so I have no picture and am not interested in finding one on topic, though could just post one of my girl-self, who was sexually abused).

Diana Russell, who studied violence against women, dies at 81. She popularized the term “femicide,” to highlight the killing of women “because they are women” and to distinguish these killings from other homicides. Dr. Russell first used the term publicly when addressing the International Tribunal on Crimes Against Women, a global event held in Brussels in 1976 and attended by 2,000 women from 40 countries. I am listening to this now.

A small number of friends and family members have asked me to just post pretty pictures and “Be Positive”. This world will not change by people pretending everything is lovely. Look around you. It is NOT all lovely. If you can’t handle the truth of suffering, I’m sorry, but it exists and I will not pretend it doesn’t. To make it stop, we have to admit it. To turn our heads away or shame people into silence means it isn’t worth our trouble to address, or try to set right. I will not be silenced. If you want my friendship, you get both the pretty pictures and the truth, beautiful and ugly. Thanks for listening.