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Congratulations! Awesome you got it out there. It is bizarre that anyone is so threatened by the idea that others might deserve a chance too. There’s a lot of insanity in our culture.

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Thanks, Karen! Yes, I guess there's some real fragility there which I think about a lot. If people have to spend so much time and energy going after other people's ideas and way of living, they must not feel very confident in their own? I don't know. It's a puzzle to me.

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Jul 21, 2023Liked by Robyn Ryle

How great on so many levels! Congratulations!

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Thanks so much, Ruth!

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Anyone who doubts the power of a woman hasn’t heard of the “Brutal Blonde.” I wouldn’t want to get on her bad side.

https://youtu.be/OstbbWLZXm8

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Wowsa. Yeah, that's intense.

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If I could have two wishes:

1. I would wish for a battalion of pink Abrams tanks, fuel, ammo, and mechanics for the heroic Yazidi Women's Brigades who organized themselves, trained, and took the fight to ISIS after they were forced to endure unspeakable horrors at the hands of ISIS. Why pink? Because men of the ISIS faith community believe if they are killed by women, they won't go to Paradise, and pink tanks would leave them with no doubts.

2. I would wish for every young woman in Iran who yearns to be free from the mullahs' oppression to get a pitchfork, a Glock, ammo, and training so they could follow members of the religious police home, attach them to the ground with the pitchforks, have a short, meaningful discussion about oppressing women, then do a quick double tap to end their misery. It might need to happen a dozen times, or a thousand times, but eventually real communication would take place. If not, see Wish #1.

This may sound a little harsh, but not nearly as harsh as what these women have endured.

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I do love the idea of a pink tank.

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In one of my stories, I mention seeing a female Russian security guard dressed in combat fatigues, carrying a Kalashnikov, and wearing high heals. Who says women can’t have it all! I know I want my wife and daughter to do whatever they want in life.

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Nice.

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Jul 21, 2023Liked by Robyn Ryle

First, congratulations on your essay being published! And it’s a great essay, too. How kids are conditioned to play according to their gender is spot-on. When I was about 9 or 10, one of my friends decided to do a cartwheel in the gym. The boys went crazy because she was wearing a dress and so they could see her underwear. I remember thinking it was odd because her plain white panties weren’t any more revealing than a bathing suit, but she was still treated as if she broke some rule. I’m not surprised you got some negative feedback. Too many people (especially men) feel threatened by any change in the status quo. We have straight white men who feel they are a dying breed, hence their antipathy toward people of color and women. To me, the transgenders in sports controversy would be ridiculous if it weren’t so dangerous for transgendered people. We could solve that by doing away with gender in sports altogether, but then what would the “culture warriors” have to complain about.

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100% agree, Marie. People use sports to patrol the hell out of gender. And the skirt/dress thing--it never occurred to me until I read the study I'm citing that, yeah, it's easier to move around in a skirt, except you have to be deathly afraid of someone seeing your underwear? Girls learn that so young and it becomes this huge part of how we patrol our bodies and how our bodies are patrolled by others.

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