Too Legit to Quit

A SYTYCB entry

Legitimate.

I really fucking hate that word sometimes. As a young person, as a woman, as the daughter of a teenaged-mother, and as a supporter of equality, I’m tired of having people judge whether my life, my choices, and my words are good and true enough to be recognized.

It’s hard for our generation to find a job when we’re told that our volunteering, our online and computer skills, our community and campus organizing aren’t “legitimate experience.”

It’s hard for women to walk down the street without being harassed and hard for survivors of sexual assault and rape to come forward when told that their words and experiences don’t constitute “legitimate rape” or a “legitimate complaint.” Surely, they were asking for the unwanted attention, the assault.

It’s hard to listen to conservative rants about “family values” and the havoc that single mothers and marriage equality would bring to the American family unit. My parents were 17 and not yet married when I was born; I was – as they say – an “illegitimate child.” Fuck that; my parents have been married for 24 years and my family is incredibly close. And my LGBTQ friends aren’t leading legitimate lives? Bullshit. They’re people and they love who they love so get the hell over it.

And these internet trolls complaining about “emotional outbursts” in regards to attacks on young people, on women, on the LGBTQ community? You’re damn right that we’re having emotional outbursts; these attacks are personal. I can find statistics and studies to back up my opinions, but you’re not going to listen to me anyway, so whatever. Also, we’re fucking human beings. We have emotions. Reacting emotionally shouldn’t carry the stigma that it does; I guess since emotion is so typically associate with the feminine, it’s way too much for your patriarchy-loving minds to take.

Do you want to get pissed when I incessantly post articles about and reactions to Rep. Akin’s heinous comments? Do you want to keep bitching that my generation is whiny and entitled and why don’t we all just get jobs and stop complaining about student loans (but you won’t hire us)? Do you want to keep supporting candidates and companies that promote intolerance and hatred and deny your fellow human beings their basic rights? Do you want to tell me that my parents—an Army vet and loving, supportive mother and military wife—screwed up the American family by having me a bit earlier than planned?

You want to tell us — all of us — that we’re not legitimate. Our relationships aren’t legitimate, our jobs aren’t legitimate, our concerns are not legitimate.

You want to? Go right ahead. But we’re sick and tired of it. When you’re done spewing your hate, we’re going to have emotional reactions. And you want to know what’s great about having an emotional reaction to something that touches you deeply because you’re a decent human being? It’s fucking legitimate.

This post was published August 21, 2012 on Mislabeled and can be found here.