My little Queen, I have left the Council Chamber to remind you of your secret superpower: sisterhood.
The Girls. Your Bitches. Your Coven. Your Sisters. Women have been gathering together in friendship and solidarity for forever. We connect in a way that men don’t seem able to. I used to wonder why, but now, after waking up each day to new atrocities committed by men against women every day for over a year, I now know.
Women join together in bonds of oppression.
That sounds dark. It is.
Empathy is a powerful uniter of people. Look at the great movements of the world. The movement to end slavery. The movement to give women the vote. The multiple movements to free various nations from authoritarian rule. Movements to end wars. They were built on empathy for others and empathy for ourselves. We see suffering and want to end it. At least, this is true of the average woman I encounter. Lately, I wonder if this innate empathy carries in men. Because it is the women who are reacting most viscerally to the news of trafficked children, devoured young, and the brutalization of the innocent taken by ICE. It is the women I hear crying sobs of desperation, screaming with rage, and feeling as though they are going crazy with each news story that hits their feed. Our empathy is being sucked dry, mocked even.
Women feel for each other, for children, for the earth and all its inhabitants differently than men do. I believe this extra empathy and appreciation for life is because as women, we posses the power to create life. Therefore, we respect it more. That just makes sense. We know the effort it takes to create life from nothing, whether in our womb, the earth’s, or an animal’s. Life is sacred. So each woman waking up and hearing of more abuse of her sisters in the Middle East, in Africa, in the States and beyond and seeing that absolutely nothing is being done about it, is simply torture. She is forced to read the Epstein files, knowing that no one has been charged, while over 400 women who have already suffered the catastrophic loss and pain of an uncontrollable miscarriage, are being held in custody, their lives on the line.
Men simply do not feel this pain the way women do. We know this because they keep telling their wives and girlfriends to calm down, to put their phone down, to not be so dramatic, to stop caring about all these people they don’t know. The average man thinks we are being dramatic. Meanwhile the average woman is losing faith in humanity as a whole.
As I said: Women join together in bonds of oppression.
We see another woman and feel her pain, know her story, and wish to support her because we see ourselves in her. We know her experiences because we have shared them or similar, or we know sisters, friends, neighbors, family who have shared them. This is why women who share the same culture will bond even more tighter than women cross-culturally: because they share more similar oppression which means they know each other’s stories. They are one. A woman who suffers rape will feel a bond with another woman who has suffered the same fate. A woman who has lost a child will bond more easily with another woman who has also lost a child. There is something to our shared oppression. This is why sisterhood is so much stronger than brotherhood. Women stand together, ready to defend our sisters, eager to lift them up because when we do so, we are doing it for ourselves in return. We see ourselves in every woman.
This is what the Patriarchy has severely underestimated. The bonds of women. Worse, the bonds of women who are experiencing profound oppression and suffering. Those in power have no idea that the more they oppress women, the more they are bringing us together.
Look around ladies. Have you ever felt closer to the women around you? To women you’ve never met? To women across oceans, cultures, races, and religions? I know I haven’t. The more I hear of women suffering that I didn’t know before, the stronger my resolve becomes to do something. I feel connected to women around the globe simply because I am a woman. I know their oppression, their rage, their grief even if I haven’t experienced everything they have. I feel it in my bones. My blood boils on their behalf. Because I know if it can happen to her, it can happen to me.
Female oppression isn’t anything new. In fact, women have been oppressed for a very, VERY long time. In different ways, in every culture, in every country, in every religion, in every workplace, and truthfully, in every home. This means we’ve had a long time to strengthen the sisterhood.
So now, it’s time we use it to our advantage.
Patriarchy is designed to pit man against man, with all men on top of women. And this is to their folly. Because it leaves all women in the same spot, with only each other to turn to. Which means women turn to other women to support, empower, protect, and connect with. We no longer turn to men. Women are relying on their sisters for support, just as we did in grade school. So while the men fight with each other over who gets to be King of the Mountain, the women are conspiring together; bandaging each other’s wounds, sharing our wisdom, uplifting each other’s hearts, bolstering each other’s courage, and drying each other’s tears. And now it’s time we start lighting each other’s torches.
The day is coming where our unity will be what sets us free. Because it is easy for one man to hold down one woman. It’s even easy for a small group of men to hold down a small group of women. But when these women unite and become one, there is no stopping us. Because men are not united, no matter what they claim. There is no real brotherhood. They will turn on each other like jackals the moment they think they can get ahead. Look at Epstein. He was a God among pedophiles, an honored friend of Prince’s, Presidents, and Celebrities alike. They killed him so he wouldn’t blab. And that’s what they’ll do to each other. Just as men once fought for who should be Kings of nations, never satisfied with whatever ass was on the throne. There was never true lasting support. Always, ALWAYS, there were men who wanted more power and continued to play the game, hoping to put someone else on the throne to advance their personal status. It’s always a selfish game. But women don’t operate like that. Women operate collaboratively, not competitively. Women want everyone to thrive, not just themselves. So while the men turn on each other, it will be women who unite to change the world for the better. Patriarchy’s fall is inevitable, just as Matriarchy’s rise is inevitable. (Note: Matriarchy is NOT reverse Patriarchy, fyi. It is a circle as opposed to a pyramid, where the most vulnerable i.e. children, elderly, disabled, and sick are in the center. Everyone has a part to play and everyone gets what they need.)
Women think, “That could be me,” when we see another woman suffering. We don’t constantly think of power or prestige. We are thinking of children, of the vulnerable, of the wellness of all. We are thinking about our families, our communities, our friends. We ask how can we be safer, healthier, happier? Women think collectively. And it is because of our collective suffering that we do so. We carry our mothers pain and rage and trauma. As well as our grandmothers, and I’m sure even beyond. Rage, grief, and oppression live in our bones. This is what unites women at our core. Both our shared oppression and our shared respect for life.
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This is our superpower.
This is how we will build the new world and how we will resist the fall of this one.
Sisters. We may feel hopeless, but do not despair. Look to what unites us. Do not go numb, do not turn away either. Your empathy and appreciation for life is what will sustain us. It is our shared suffering that will lead to our shared revolution. We will not continue down this same road forever. Action can be taken today. In a text to a friend to check in; in the bringing of food to an elderly, sick, or grief-stricken neighbor; in sending a girls-night-out invite. Extend a hand to your sisters in need, for in helping her, you will help yourself. I promise you.
We must use our sisterhood to our advantage. No more lines between us. Forget the Pick-Me girls and focus on the real enemy: the Patriarchy and the men who uphold it. Focus on who is keeping us down. Focus on the systems. This is where we remember our true power.
I wholeheartedly believe that when women finally come together on a global scale, there will no stopping us. The power of sisterhood must never be underestimated by women. Let men underestimate us, because they cannot fathom this kind of connection. And while they underestimate us, we get to work. We forge connections. We listen to stories. We share in our sisters pain. We let them fill us with the rage we need to take action. It is this collective rage that will be what burns down these oppressive systems once and for all. This is where our power roils. Our rage tells us where injustice is being committed. We know it, regardless of religious or political affiliation, regardless of race or culture, injustice is felt in our bones. No one knows injustice like women do. Which is why it will be women who save women, who save the world.
Don’t wait. Get involved now. Join a book club, a sister circle, any women’s group at all. If you really want to take my words to heart, join The Obsidian Serpents, a global sisterhood dedicated to the empowerment, protection, and support of women. We are taking real-world action and collaborating to create a world women deserve. A local chapter in every city, in every region, in every country. A web of women’s groups. Imagine what kind of collaborating we could do when we don’t just feel connected to all women, and we actually are?
Integrate This Transmission
Reach out to the women in your community. Make time for each other. Attend protests together, sit in circle together, or just veg and watch a fun feminist flick together. Strengthen your sisterhoods in every realm of your life. You will strengthen yourself as you strengthen them.
With a bow,
Your Inner Queen
