Oh joy. It's that time of year again! Thank you capitalism for making sure that every store email list I never subscribed to now sends me a reminder of a way to "treat" myself on Mother's Day. Well, the joke is on them, because my mom is dead but I can still take ruthless advantage of their Mother's Day sales! I got new sheets, new pans, new period panties! Nothing says "celebrate motherhood" like thanking the invisible labor of women by purchasing home goods!! Wheee!
Wow, did it get political around here? Yes, hello. Welcome to 2019. I saw The Handmaid's Tale and Killing Eve, went to a few marches and now I'm super totes radicalized. Wheeeee! (jk, I was radicalized the moment I saw Teen Witch in 1989.)
See, I realized that while Mother's Day does give me complicated feelings, I have also been socially conditioned to multitask and for once I am gonna put that to good use! So, if you have come to this blog for some motherless camaraderie and commiseration, here is some space I will hold for you and all your feels.
BUT, I have a new vision for Mother's Day. My mom is dead and I don't have kids, so why not f*ck shit up? (Don't worry, there is still brunch.)
WHAT IF...we all reorganized Mother’s Day so it’s brunch + reproductive rights? (Hallmark is charging $9+ for cards now, clearly capitalist holidays have jumped the shark.) What if we stopped making nice...and got hysterical?
Hysteria literally translates to the idea of wandering uteruses. If we weren’t afraid of being called hysterical, what might our uteruses accomplish on behalf of their own freedom? Into what bright new day might they wander? Somewhere there is a future where bodily autonomy, common sense and legislation all co-exist. In the face of current legislation, that future seems so close, yet so far. It’s almost as hysterical as all the old boyz desperately trying to rein our autonomy in.
WHAT IF...Mother’s Day was a riot/reclamation/celebration of our right to choose, like a big dance party where we all agree to mind our own business? You don’t need to be a mother to party hardy for that.
By next year, let’s have figured this out and make new traditions. If there is anything we can learn from the patriarchy, it’s how to co-opt a matriarchal holiday and repurpose it for our own doctrine. (See: Easter, Halloween, everything....)
Let's reframe Mother's Day into a day of hysterical protest! Or at the very least, let's sing the lyrics to Olivia Newton-John's Physical as "Let's get hysterical-sterical! Let me hear your body talk!"
(I know I'm not the first person to suggest this idea, so let's all work together and get a move on! If you have other resources and ideas, let me know!)
In the meantime, here's what I will be doing this Mother's Day, in the name of reproductive freedom:
- Writing thank you notes to abortion providers. (Thank you to Lady Parts Justice League for inventing the Thank Bank - Lady Parts Justice League: https://lpjleague.org/thankbank/)
- Making a Mother's Day Card for Georgia's Governor Kemp.
- Watching The Resistance Revival Chorus on repeat: https://www.facebook.com/ResistanceRevivalChorus/?__tn__=*s-R
- Donating money
- Reading stuff & getting educated from resources like:
- https://www.abortioncarenetwork.org
- https://www.aclu.org/issues/reproductive-freedom
- https://www.rhavote.com/
- https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/
- https://www.equalrightsamendment.org
My mom is dead, but I still have plenty of time to fight.
Happy Mother's Day. May all our bodies be our own.
Love,
Laura
P.S. Let us not forget the great Mother's Day Blessing of this royal baby:
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