Last year, a campaign in which women shared the reasons they "don't need feminism" went viral.
Back in March, blogger Libby Anne Bruce wrote an essay in response to the phenomenon. And now Mark Ruffalo has reposted the blog, showing his support for the essay – which has now gone viral again.
In the post, Bruce outlines the struggles women have faced throughout history, telling supporters of the campaign that they are “insulting and degrading” these women:
You're insulting every woman who was forcibly restrained in a jail cell with a feeding tube down her throat for the right to vote, less than 100 years ago. You're spitting on the legacy of every woman who fought for women to be allowed to own property (1848). For the abolition of slavery and the rise of the labor union. For the right to divorce. For women to be allowed to have access to birth control.
She also highlights the laws put in place as a result of the feminist movement to protect women from sexual and physical abuse:
You're degrading every woman who has accessed a rape crisis center, which wouldn't exist without the feminist movement. You're undermining every woman who fought to make marital rape a crime (it was legal until 1993). To make domestic violence a crime in the US (it is still very much legal in many parts of the world). To make workplace sexual harassment a crime.
And concludes by saying anti-feminists are “biting the hand that has fed you freedom, safety and a voice”:
In short, you know not what you speak of. You reap the rewards of these women's sacrifices every day of your life. When you grin with your cutsey sign about how you're not a feminist, you ignorantly spit on the sacred struggle of the past 200 years. You bite the hand that has fed you freedom, safety and a voice.
And she signs the whole thing off in the most perfect way, saying: "In short, kiss my ass, you ignorant little jerks.”
And the fact Mark has shared it is just perfection. YAAASS MARK. 🙏 👏
The full post can be read here.