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By Abigail Gibson • 11 years ago

Election Aftermath: Victim Blaming and Why It’s Still Not Our Fault

Trigger Warning

I don’t think a single one of us made it through the election without having scoffed at Aiken’s incompetence, fumed over Murdock’s malevolence, and pillow-screamed over Romney/Ryan’s tyranny. There was a seemingly omnipresent weight suffocating our efforts and pushing us, decades back, into an even higher state of gender imbalance. But through awe-inspiring determination and impeccable organization, we defeated them.

We shut them down with our voices, and with our votes.

But what now? How do we manage the relief efforts of a post-douchebag democracy? Because while they might have been kicked out of office, their ideas and values have been left behind, spread throughout a nation of impressionable youth, without nearly enough designated effort to halt their potential destruction.

This is where we must, without hesitation and without surrender, jump in and continue our work.

During this past semester in college, we had a campus police officer come to our classrooms and preach to us girls the safety measures we were to take in order to avoid becoming victims of rape or sexual assault. It had all the essentials of a misogynistic, slut shaming sermon: ensure modest skirt lengths, don’t drink from open containers, just met him – don’t trust him, the whole package. In my class evaluation of the presentation, I left nothing short of a novel detailing my disgust at the lack of root cause acknowledgement. Because, as usual, not one word was used to chastise the act of assault itself, not one ...
By Abigail Gibson • 11 years ago

Thoughts from an Obama re-election campaign intern

I’ve had the honor of working as an intern for President Obama’s re-election campaign these past few months. I have made more phone calls in one day then I do in an average year. I have engaged in more political conversations with strangers than I would ever dream of having with my friends. But all of the canvassing and late nights at the office have brought along with them the privilege of stories. Volunteers, staff, interns, and voters all coming together, all bringing their own stories, their lives, their struggles, their values. And I get to envelop myself in this beautiful, unified mashup of humanity on a daily basis. I get to learn about people – myself included – about ...

I’ve had the honor of working as an intern for President Obama’s re-election campaign these past few months. I have made more phone calls in one day then I do in an average year. I have engaged ...
By Abigail Gibson • 11 years ago

Will it be worth it?

I’ve had the honor of working as an intern for President Obama’s re-election campaign these past few months. I have made more phone calls in one day then I do in an average year. I have engaged in more political conversations with strangers, then I would dream of having with friends. But all of the canvassing and late nights at the office have brought along with them the privilage of stories. Volunteers, staff, interns, and voters all coming together, all bringing their own stories, their lives, their struggles, their values. And I get to envelop myself in this beautiful, unified mash-up of humanity on a daily basis. I get to learn about people, mysef included, about where we’ve been, about where we ...

I’ve had the honor of working as an intern for President Obama’s re-election campaign these past few months. I have made more phone calls in one day then I do in an average year. I have engaged ...