From Lil Reese To Mitt Romney: Women, We Are Under Siege!

I am scared. I was never scared to be a woman in America. I was never, not once, scared of being a woman in a "free" country, in one of the "greatest cities in the world." Never. Not once.

I admit, I am still a player in a constant internal struggle to differentiate my feminism from my love for makeup, high heels and sometimes even rap music, but there are some things that are becoming extremely problematic, and further fueling my desire to be heard as a woman.

Back in August, after reality TV starlet Evelyn Lozada was involved in a domestic dispute with her then-husband Chad Ochocinco, she received backlash for her persona on Basketball Wives, with some implying that she somehow deserved the beating.

Strike one.

Campaigning for the presidential elections began, and Mitt Romney and his minions promised to overturn Roe vs. Wade, the right to choose that was granted to women in 1973, and outlaw abortions. During the Town Hall debate, Romney continuously disrespected the female moderator, and objectified women by shoving them in his proverbial binder, but thankfully he was kind enough to allow those binder dwellers to be home from work in time to cook barefoot in the kitchen.

Is this 2012?

I can continue to delve into the specifics of legitimate rape, babies born by rape being God’s plan, and so on and so forth. I can continue to point out the problematic references to women by the Republican Party, by privileged men with inflated annual incomes and deflated taxes, for days, weeks, hell, maybe even months, but there are just too many. This election has me fearing the fate of my personal choice, fearing for my stance in America as a woman.

Strike Two.

Fear of Mitt Romney and his radical Mormon ideologies aside, I was beside myself with complete disgust this morning when I came across a video of Chicago rapper Lil Reese beating the life out of a young lady after she confronted him at a house party.

He punched her.

He stomped on her head.

He could have killed her.

And the other “men” in that room? They stood by and laughed as this monster beat the shit out of a woman. Not one of them stepped in to help. NOT ONE.

Lil Reese? The poor excuse for a human didn’t feel remorse, instead he took to Twitter to mock the video, calling it “old” and claiming that the release was with intention to tarnish his newfound “fame.”

That blatant disrespect was the social norm for these men. Not one of them flinched. What does it say about the way that they observed women being treated while growing up?

Women are under attack. We are under siege, and those are the simplest terms I can translate this to.

From our mainstream media, to our politicians, right back around to Chris Brown and Rihanna. We are in a rapid retrograde and are barely respected as equals in the work place (we sure aren’t paid as equals, but that is an issue for a whole different blog) and it scares me. And I hope other women are taking note.

I just want to close with this: For every single person, man, woman, Republican or politically unaffiliated person who wants to undermine the power of a woman, challenge her mentally or physically or restrain her rights, please keep in mind that this very glory hole that you have deemed a curse of sorts, is the key to the life of every single human being roaming this earth.

So treat us like it.

As for Lil Reese, there is a hell-ridden torture chamber reserved in the after life for him, of that I am sure. 

-Rachel Hislop

Rachel is the Associate Editor and Senior Style Writer for GlobalGrind.com, proud graduate of a SUNY school, and as sarcastic as they come. Follow her on Twitter for random daily ramblings @MiissHislop

Read more of her blogs here, and here.  

Photo Credit: BBC