“Indeed, the idea of ‘winning the girl’ – of overcoming female objections or resistance through repeated and frequently escalating efforts – is central to most of our modern romantic narratives. (Female persistence, by contrast, is viewed as pathetic.) And the more I think about instances of creepiness, harassment and stalking that culminate in either the threat or actuality of sexual assault, the more I’m convinced that a massive part of the problem is this socially sanctioned idea that men are fundamentally entitled to persist. Because if men are meant to persist, then women who say no must only be rejecting the attempt, not the man himself, so that every separate attempt becomes one of a potentially infinite number of keys which might just fit the lock of the woman’s approval. She’s not the one who’s allowed to say no, not really; she should be silent and passive as a locked door, waiting patiently while the man runs through however many keys he can be bothered trying. And if he gets sick of this lengthy process and just breaks in? Well, frustration under those circumstances is only natural. Either the door shouldn’t have been there to impede him, or it shouldn’t have been locked.”

“

A catcall is entirely about reminding you that you are not yours. The purity myth is entirely about reminding you that you are not yours. The fetishization of female purity in a world where catcalls are an acceptable form of communication telegraphs one thing very clearly:

“Women, stop sexualizing yourselves—that’s our job, and you’re taking all the fun out of it.”

The sexualization of women is only appealing if it’s nonconsensual. Otherwise it’s “sluttiness,” and sluttiness is agency and agency is threatening.

”

“For the last three decades many Americans have puzzled over a system that gives an R to a movie in which a women is carved up by a chainsaw and an NC-17 to one that shows a woman sexually pleasured. From such ratings one might conclude that sexual violence against women is OK for American teenagers to see, but that they must be 18 to see consensual sex. What message does this send to the kids the MPAA presumably means to protect?”

“The wounded child inside many females is a girl who was taught from early childhood on that she must become something other than herself, deny her true feelings, in order to attract and please others.”

“If owning a gun and knowing how to use it worked, the military would be the safest place for a woman. It’s not.

If women covering up their bodies worked, Afghanistan would have a lower rate of sexual assault than Polynesia. It doesn’t.

If not drinking alcohol worked, children would not be raped. They are.

If your advice to a woman to avoid rape is to be the most modestly dressed, soberest and first to go home, you may as well add “so the rapist will choose someone else”.

If your response to hearing a woman has been raped is “she didn’t have to go to that bar/nightclub/party” you are saying that you want bars, nightclubs and parties to have no women in them. Unless you want the women to show up, but wear kaftans and drink orange juice. Good luck selling either of those options to your friends.

Or you could just be honest and say that you don’t want less rape, you want (even) less prosecution of rapists.”

“

Reduce cellulite. Be gone dry skin. Vanish unwanted facial hair. Diminish stretch marks. Fade age spots. Eliminate feminine odor. Lose weight. Dissolve belly fat. Erase wrinkles.

I think someone wants me to disappear.

”

“Weight and body oppression is oppressive to everyone. When you live in a society that says that one kind of body is bad and and other is good, those with “good” bodies constantly fear that their bodies will go “bad”, and those with “bad” bodies are expected feel shame and do everything they can to have “good” bodies. In the process, we torture our bodies, and do everything from engage in disordered eating to invasive surgery to make ourselves okay. Nobody wins in this kind of struggle.”

“What students need isn’t a lecture on abstinence. They need a community that sees sex as about mutual pleasure and intimacy, not point scoring or getting something, and that doesn’t shame or problematize female sexuality. Heterosexual women need male partners who are respectful, generous in bed and emotionally competent, and who treat women like people regardless of whether those women are girlfriends, one-night stands or friends with benefits. Sex, be it in a committed relationship or a more casual arrangement, doesn’t have to be the fraught power play or unpleasant interaction merely tolerated by young women. Sex is sex. Human beings throughout all of history have enjoyed it for very good reason. Consensual, mutually pleasurable sex is, for many people, at the top of their “favorite things” list.”

“

[TW: ableist language]

If you tuned into this like I told you to, tie yourself down to whatever chair you’re sitting in, because this speech is going to be a rough fucking ride.
For those of you that have your heads stuck under rocks, which apparently is the majority of this Senate, you have been FUCKING UP in terms of reasonable gun control legislation. I’ve been getting texts on texts about Senators LITERALLY being so fucking INHUMANE and so fucking CALLOUS. If you’re reading this right now and saying to yourself “But oh em gee Barry, I’ve been having so much fun with my NRA pals this week!”, then punch yourself in the face right now so
that I don’t have to fucking find you on the Hill to do it myself.

I do not give a flying fuck, and Gabby Giffords does not give a flying fuck, about how much you fucking love to talk to your NRA pals. You have 364 days out of the fucking year to talk to the NRA, and today is NOT, I fucking repeat NOT ONE OF THEM. Today is about repairing something broken in our communities, and that’s not fucking possible if you’re going to stand around and talk to the NRA and not to families of victims. Newsflash you stupid cocks: AMERICANS DON’T LIKE COWARDS. Oh wait, DOUBLE FUCKING NEWSFLASH: AMERICANS DO NOT WANT TO VOTE FOR YOU IF YOU FUCKING SUCK, which by the way in case you’re an idiot and need it spelled out for you, YOU FUCKING SUCK SO FAR. This also applies to you little shits that have talked openly about how background checks won’t change anything IN FRONT OF NEWTOWN FAMILIES. Are you people fucking retarded? That’s not a rhetorical question, I LITERALLY want you to email me back telling me if you’re mentally slow so I can make sure you don’t go to anymore votes. If your constituents openly said “Yeah we’re gonna screw you the next chance we get”, would you be happy? WOULD YOU? No you wouldn’t, so WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU DO IT TO THEM?? IN FRONT OF THEM?!! First of all, you SHOULDN’T be voting against 90% of Americans interests, I don’t give a FUCK if Wayne LaPierre wants you to, if Ted Nugent wants you to, or if the entire NRA wants you to. YOU DON’T. YOU. DON’T. And you ESPECIALLY do fucking NOT convince other Senators to vote with you.

“But Barry!”, you say in a whiny little bitch voice to your TV screen as you listen to this speech, “I’ve been saying I’m appalled by the tragedies, doesn’t that count for something?” NO YOU STUPID FUCKING ASS HATS, IT FUCKING DOESN’T. DO YOU WANNA KNOW FUCKING WHY?!! IT DOESN’T COUNT BECAUSE YOU’VE BEEN FUCKING UP ON INTERNATIONAL FUCKING VOTES TOO. I’ve not only gotten texts about Senators being fucking WEIRD on the UN Arms Trade Treaty (for example, being stupid shits and adding amendments to budget bills saying “durr we don’t approve treaty…” is not fucking funny), but I’ve gotten texts about Senate Democrats voting with the opposing team. The opposing. Fucking. Team. ARE YOU FUCKING STUPID?!! I don’t give a SHIT about bipartisanship, YOU VOTE FOR OUR GODDAMN TEAM AND NOT THE OTHER ONE, HAVE YOU NEVER BEEN IN AN ELECTION? ARE YOU FUCKING BLIND? Or are you just so fucking
obsessed with making the NRA like you that you think being a good little supporter of the gun community is going to make your voters happy? Well it’s time someone told you, NO ONE FUCKING LIKES THAT, ESPECIALLY YOUR FUCKING VOTERS. I will fucking cunt punt the next person I hear about doing something like that, and I don’t give a fuck if you IMPEACH me, I WILL FUCKING ASSAULT YOU.

“Ohhh Barry, I’m now crying because your speech has made me oh so so sad”. Well good. If this speech applies to you in any way, meaning if you are a little asswipe that votes against dead children or if you’re a weird shit that thinks a gentle breeze can infringe on the second amendment, this following message is for you:

DO NOT RUN FOR REELECTION.

I’m not fucking kidding. Don’t run. Seriously, if you have done ANYTHING I’ve mentioned in this speech and have some rare disease where you’re unable to NOT do these things, then you are HORRIBLE, I repeat, HORRIBLE PR FOR THIS COUNTRY. I would rather have 40 Senators that are reasonable, talk to the families of victims, and not fucking cowardly than 80 that are fucking bitches. If you are one of the people that have told me “Oh nooo boo hoo I can’t talk to victims families I have an A rating from the NRA”, then I pity you because I don’t know how you got this far in life, and with that in mind don’t fucking run for reelection unless you’re going to stop being a goddamn cock block for legislation that can save fucking lives. Seriously. I swear to fucking God if I see anyone being a goddamn boner at the next vote, I will tell you to resign even if you’re a Democrat. I’m not even kidding. Try me.

And for those of you who are offended at this speech, I would apologize but I really don’t give a fuck. Go fuck yourself.

”

“In the wake of something terrible, I am generally stunned into silence. There is nothing to be said that can encompass the unfathomable—news of a pedophile football coach, news of pedophile priests, a bombing in a country far away, a mass shooting in a movie theater, a mass shooting at a high school, a mass shooting at an elementary school, a bombing at the finish line of a marathon, the final mile of which was dedicated to the victims of a mass shooting at an elementary school. What wearies me is how often I have found myself stunned and silent in recent years. What especially wearies me is having such a finely honed vocabulary for tragedy.”