That’s the phrase of the hour. Day. Week. Month. Year.

There have been two news reports this week regarding feminism and that phrase. One has been incredibly positive and one that has been incredibly negative.

The second one terrifies me and makes me a bit ill. Mostly because of the school’s response. It should have been ‘Find out who those boys are and get them to stop and give them some sort of sanction’. It should not have been ‘Take your pictures down. You’re getting what you deserve.’

Victim blaming, in other words. From a girls school. To girls who are trying to make the world a bit better for themselves and everyone else.

So tired of the apologists. The victim blamers. The ignorant.

It’s like we’ve gone back in time to the early 1900s. I just checked. It’s still 2013.

A black man is President of the United States. A gay man just became the Mayor of a town here in Northern Ireland.

But women are still blamed for wearing short skirts and having a drink if they are raped.

Women are still fighting for control of their own bodies.

Women are still second class citizens in first world countries. Or less than second class.

Women are still paid less for the same work, called bitches when men would be called strong, expected to never age and not speak up. Ever.

Is this the world to raise our children in?

Is the world my own mother fought to create?

No.

So what are we doing about it?

Personally I am blogging and Tweeting and reading. I’m thinking and speaking.

I will not be quiet.

I will not be silenced.

Power to the women…