HOW WORDS DIED IN OUR THROATS
In a summarized quote from the wonderful activist and writer Rebecca Solnit, she described what it was like to be a woman, with men telling her what to do and say--"mansplaining." One even told her about the book she had written, not knowing who she was. She spoke of how the breath stuck in her throat, and "words died in my mouth" when men tried to quiet her. Her words were so powerful they felt like a punch to my gut. My 80 year-old gut that is. And it made me go back in my own history to look at the ways in which mansplaining has been a part of my life. Here is a disclaimer however: as an independent writer of children's books, working from home, I have not often had the experiences of being silenced that other women have had in their work places. Although there are a few... --I was a High School debater, a good one in fact, in the early 1960s. Our debating team had gone to NY City to debate, "Should There Be Fede...
