Alexandra Rucinski: “Calling a woman a ‘man hater’ contributes to a violent culture that is killing women.” -promoted by Laura Belin

At the very beginning of this year, a man lined up five women on the floor in a bank in Florida and shot each of them in the head, killing all of them within minutes. It barely made national headlines.

Every day, at least three women are killed by their intimate partners.

A woman is raped in America every two minutes.

It goes without saying that women have every reason to be afraid of the men they encounter.

What does that fear look like, and what is really being said when a woman who is honest about those fears is labeled a “man hater”?

Alexandra Rucinski mocks efforts to take down presidential candidates who aren’t good enough for “brogressives.” -promoted by Laura Belin

Thank you for taking the time to read our letter posted by the Gaslight Gazette. Our movement, we feel, is deeply misunderstood.

We have been slandered for trying to warn this nation about the very great threat of representative politics.

Alexandra Rucinski is a proud Democratic activist in southeast Iowa, a mother, and a feminist writer. -promoted by Laura Belin

There’s an image I vividly remember seeing shared on Facebook in 2016: a drawing of Bernie Sanders cheerfully leading his revolution down a path. On the side, Hillary Clinton is hoisted up on a golden throne with a crown on her head. Her arms are crossed; she’s annoyed they are in the way of what is clearly her coronation, the anointed one.

At the time, I didn’t see the offensive, sexist nature of the image. But times have changed, and I’m a much different woman than I was then.

Alexandra Rucinski is a patient advocate for Planned Parenthood and an activist for sex education and reproductive rights. -promoted by desmoinesdem

I was talking to my now fiance; we’d been together for a bit at this point, and we were talking about sex. Out of the blue, I asked him if he was beginning to have sex with someone, and then they changed their mind and asked him to stop, would he stop?

He very quickly responded that yes, he would immediately stop and that if he didn’t stop, that was rape.

That was the moment it clicked inside my head that what happened to me that summer day wasn’t ok. I couldn’t bring myself to call it rape yet, but that was the first time someone told me that not stopping was wrong, that not stopping was a violation. No one had ever said anything like that to me before.

Alexandra Rucinski is a patient advocate for Planned Parenthood and an activist for sex education and reproductive rights. Iowa’s near-total abortion ban inspired her to write this commentary. -promoted by desmoinesdem

I vividly remember the only sex-ed class I ever took in high school. A woman who worked for Planned Parenthood came to teach our class. I remember eyeing her with distrust as she talked about things absolutely forbidden to me. I didn’t listen because I felt like I wasn’t supposed to listen.