As one who lived during  the beginning of the women’s liberation movement and civil rights movement, I have been complacent in thinking,  ” well that’s done.” Thinking that these changes were made permanent and all is right in the world.

Like with our American Bill of Rights, I now realize we must be ready to fight these battles over and over.

I have thought younger women who minimize the contributions of the feminist movement have been naïve and ignorant in their comprehension of what actually happened back then. That much of the freedom and opportunities that women enjoy today can be attributed to that time. As women’s right to vote can be credited to the efforts of the suffragettes.

We need to be aware of and appreciate our own history.

In recent years, I have become more and more aware that the enemies of women’s freedom were not truly vanquished but retreated for a time to their dens or in some places never retreated at all.

Smoke has been seen rising from Mount Doom. The forces of evil are awake in the world.

When I read their poisonous rantings and comments degrading women for daring to speak out and have an opinion or hear about the horrid oppression of women and girls in other places in the world I am sickened.

I realize that I can not be complacent. The creature is still out there lurking and leaving a slimy trail.

I was inspired to write this post in response to an article in the New Yorker about Mary Beard, entitled “The Troll Slayer.” And because I have become aware more and more of all the misogyny and ageism in the world.