Dispatch 2: Excerpts from the Field

"The Great Wall of Vagina" by Jamie McCartney

"The ultimate sexist put-down: the prick which lies down on the job. The ultimate weapon in the war between the sexes: the limp prick. The banner of the enemy's encampment: the prick at half-mast. The symbol of the apocalypse: the atomic warhead prick which self-destructs. That was the basic inequity which could never be righted: not that the male had a wonderful added attraction called a penis, but that the female had a wonderful all-weather cunt. Neither storm nor sleet nor dark of night could faze it. It was always there, always ready. Quite terrifying, when you think about it. No wonder men hated women. No wonder they invented the myth of female inadequacy.” 

                                                             --- from Fear of Flying by Erica Jong

"I have chosen to no longer be apologetic for my femaleness and my femininity. And I want to be respected in all of my femaleness because I deserve to be.” 

                                                             --- from We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

"The heart is capable of sacrifice. So is the vagina. The heart is able to forgive and repair. It can change its shape to let us in. It can expand to let us out. So can the vagina. It can ache for us and stretch for us, die for us and bleed and bleed us into this difficult, wondrous world. So can the vagina. I was there in the room. I remeber.” 

                                                             --- from The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler

To Be a Woman is to Live in a Time of War

by Joi Barrios

To be a woman 

Is to live at a time of war.

I grew up 

with fear beside me,

uncertain of a future,

hinged to the men of my life;

father, brother,

husband, son.

I was afraid to be alone.

To be a mother 

Is to look at poverty at its face.

For the cruelty of war

Lies not on heads that roll,

But tables always empty.

How does one look for food for the eldest

As a baby sucks at one’s breast?

No moment is without danger.

In one’s own home,

To speak, to defy

Is to challenge violence itself.

In the streets,

Walking at nightfall

Is to invite a stranger’s attack.

In my country

To fight against oppression

Is to lay down one’s life for the struggle.

I seek to know this war.

To be a woman is a never ceasing battle

To live and be free."

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