Who is Standing Up for Women? An Exercise in Looking for the Helpers.

Last night was one of those nights when it feels hard to breathe; when you want to rage and cry and fight and scream and sob. Nothing was wrong in my little circle, but make no mistake, things were, and are, very, very wrong. For the past week my newsfeeds have been lit up with stories of violence against women, stories of harassment and abuse and rape and kidnapping and false imprisonment and forced marriage and killings, “honorable” and otherwise. And of course, the stories that have been skimming across my newsfeed for the past week are only the tip of a colossal, lethal iceberg of demonic depravity. I have no serious doctrinal defense of this, but sometimes I think Satan hates women worst of all. Given the way our Savior came into the world, it doesn’t shock me that so many atrocities are committed against women’s reproductive systems.

Oftentimes, when confronted with mind-numbing atrocities like this, we comfort ourselves with the idea that there is nothing we can do. But in this situation, at least, that’s baloney. Maybe we can’t storm in and solve the particular problems we hear about in the news, but violence against women is a systemic social problem, and if we have the will, we can all stand against it. We can scold when we hear degrading jokes, instead of laugh. We can speak up when we see inappropriate behavior, instead of ignoring it. We can teach our sons to respect and honor women, and teach our daughters to respect and honor themselves. We can help girls in the developing world stay in school (message me if you’d like to sponsor a Kenyan schoolgirl!). We can fund micro-loans that give women dignity, independence, and a way to provide for their children. We can lobby for better laws, we can advocate for better education, we can, to use a tired old cliche, be the change we want to see. Together, like a rising tide, we can. 

Here is what I want today. I want to hear about the helpers, about what people are doing to address these issues. Tell me what you are doing! Tell me what people you know, or people you know of, are doing. Link to websites. Tell me stories of hope and courage. I need to hear them, and maybe you do too. Let’s encourage one another!

But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! -Amos 5:24.