Conservative Blogger Mansplains Why Women Don't Need To March

Matt Walsh mansplains why women don’t need to march

Conservative Christian blogger Matt Walsh is one of many taking to social media after Saturday’s marches, truly baffled about why women felt the need to march in the first place. Instead of listening to the millions of voices telling him “why” over the weekend, he decided to turn inward and mansplain the march – explaining why we never needed it to begin with.

He posted a blog Saturday questioning the legitimacy, begging us “to name one single right men have in America that women do not.” Perhaps it would be easier to digest if he just asked the question he really wanted answered: “Why can’t women just shut up and feel grateful for what we’ve chosen to give them already?”

“Any ideas?

Anything?

Anyone?

Hello?

Hello?

Yeah, that’s what I thought.

But sure, enjoy your march.”

Matt believes women in this country cannot possibly face issues which warrant a march because he does not see where “women are being INSTITUTIONALLY or LEGALLY victimized or disenfranchised or put upon or deprived of their constitutional rights in America.”

Throughout history, institutional oppression, racism, and sexism have been used as forms of social control in order to maintain dominance over people of color and women. You can’t ignore 250 years of slavery, 100 years of legal segregation, and centuries of racism and prejudice and say, “Welp, people of color have the same legal rights as white people now, so what’s everyone bitching about?”

Because certain laws exist today protecting those parties legally, doesn’t mean discrimination doesn’t exist. It’s the same as saying drugs are illegal in America, therefore, America does not have a drug problem. Instead of dismissing protesters because you can’t possibly fathom why they would stand up for rights you believe they legally possess, try asking them. Take the time it took you to hate-type that vitriol and ask one of us directly. Try actually listening to our answers.

When you say, “Yes, things like rape and domestic violence occur all too often, but these aren’t examples of legal persecutions. Violence against women is illegal,” you might as well stop at “but.” Did you know that only 34% of people who are injured by intimate partners receive medical care for their injuries? Do you think, in part, this is a result of women not believing the law will look out for them? Victims of intimate partner violence (that’s one in three women) lose a total of eight million days of paid work each year. What downstream effect do you think this has on her ability to provide for herself and her family? But hey, it’s illegal to hit women so I guess your conscience is clear.

“I can, in fact, name some rights women have in America that men do not,” Walsh writes. “At least one, anyway, but it’s a big one: Women have the right to kill their kids. Now, that’s not a positive right, not a good right, not an actual right that springs from Natural Law, but it is a legal entitlement given only to women.”

We are not marching for, “the right to kill (our) kids.” We marched because we are concerned about the new administration defunding important programs women (and men and children) rely on, such as Planned Parenthood. If this happens, as many as 650,000 women could be left without proper medical care. Women use Planned Parenthood for things like cancer screening, breast exams and prenatal care. And some of us marched for choice.

“I challenge anyone at the “Women’s March” or anyone who supports it to name one single right men have in America that women do not. Just one,” Walsh writes. “Just one right. Give me just one right that you lack which may justify all of this hyperventilating.”

I would challenge you, and all those that commented and “liked” and “shared” your post to consider this for a moment: Because a situation isn’t happening to you, does not mean it isn’t happening.

People spent Saturday exercising their freedom. A freedom permitted to us in this country because of the millions of people before us who marched and stood up for what they believed in. How do you think women got the right to vote, or gay people got the right to marry, or slavery was abolished in the first place? It didn’t result from people sitting on the sidelines.

It wasn’t “hyperventilating.” It was protest. The only thing that has brought about any significant change in our country’s great history.

Too bad you’re on the wrong side of it.