Truth to Power - Part III

You cannot deny me...

“There's not enough rope to tie me down. There's not enough tape to shut this mouth.” - Pink

Writing about Steven Biko reminded me of another song and topic that means a lot to me. The song is “Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken” by Pink, who originally wrote it for the 2015 film Suffragette. Here are Pink’s thoughts:

“The movie is about the suffragette movement which is women’s right to vote,” Pink said. “You have to fight for what’s rightly yours which is rights and respect and love and kindness and compassion and you have to be willing to die for it. These women were.” - Pink

I came to feminism and women’s studies late in my college career. At first I assumed that I had never been affected by misogyny. Then, as we began to study the many and mixed messages women are given in the media, I began to understand how much I had absorbed without my knowledge. My issues with body image, what men thought of me, how I responded to sexual advances and the expectations of male authority figures all came into sharp and painful focus. And I confess that for a while I wasn’t really sure who I was if I wasn’t seeing and defining myself through those old lenses.

Two additional pieces of the feminist puzzle were provided by history and literature. Slowly and painfully I was educated, both by my instructors (who kept my reading list full) and by personal experience. Misogyny and violence against women were alive and well on campus and in my community. Volunteering at the battered women’s shelter and campus rape crisis line taught me how women buy into their own oppression. Those experiences also helped explain - and helped me forgive - the behavior of women in my family who stayed with abusive husbands.

I’d like to think that one day it won’t be necessary to fight and insist and speak truth to power. But until then, I’m grateful to Pink and songwriters like her who are serving as role models for the next generation of young women. Thank you Pink.

Let’s have a listen:

So tell me:

1. Does this song have any personal meaning for you?

2. What does a “wild heart’ mean to you?

3. Who are your own feminist heroines?

Hugs!
Jena

Copyright 2021 by Jena Ball. All Rights Reserved.

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