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On pregnancy and...Trump


So here I am, patiently awaiting the arrival of my daughter, keeping myself amused (ish) by reading about Trump’s inauguration fallout and his ‘alternative facts’ campaign. In another tab I have been scrolling through a New York Times picture piece about all the women’s marches that took place around the world on Saturday, alongside a Zoe Williams comment examining Piers Morgan’s recent tweet about “rabid feminists” and the need for a ‘Men’s March’ to redress the balance.
Considering the current tone of Western journalism, and the many and varied faces of our ugly politics, is easy to become pretty jaded, pretty quickly, when considering the future my daughter will face. Alongside the general guilt I feel about adding to the world’s population crisis, and ignoring the advice of David Attenborough not to add to the disaster, there are many more gender-specific reasons to be fearful. It can seem that we are moving backwards in so many ways, whether it be in the realm of reproductive rights, career prospects, sexual violence and the law, social and behavioural expectations, or even issues of basic respect and treatment…the list goes on. And that’s before you add the looming threat of the elitist, isolationist Tory agenda to the equation.
And yet I’m not sitting here desperately keeping my legs crossed for a brighter future, and the reason is largely represented in the photos of the marches. There are so many women and men in this world who strive for equality and fairness, and who reject bigotry and hatred in creative, joyful, effective and meaningful ways. And part of me cannot shake the core belief that hope really will triumph over hate, in the long run at least. My mum bought me into the world convinced the atom bomb was going to fall on our heads at any moment, but she did it anyway. A triumph of selfish sentimentality over common sense, you may argue, but I think it is more than that. I didn’t march this time because at 40 weeks I didn’t want to go into labour in Trafalgar Square, but I’ll be taking my daughter along next time, and adding a new voice to the conversation.

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