I am Pro-Woman...

And I am pro-man.

I am pro-child, pro-elderly, pro-disabled.

I am pro-human.

But right now I am thinking of all my sisters out there who are floundering around in a world that seems impossible to understand.  I'm thinking of my sisters who see one another as threats, who feel the need to show themselves "better than HER", even if that means putting aside their own values and beliefs, in order to attract and keep a man.

I see so many of you, my dear sisters, sabotaging yourselves and women all around you by buying into the popular belief that being "feminist" is something akin to being a Nazi, a man hater or a lesbian.

You only have to read a few Facebook memes posted by women to see how the thinking of some men in our society has brainwashed us into fighting against one another, instead of creating a united front that demands respect and equality for all of us.

Are all of us created equally?  Really?  I believe we are.  We are all equally capable of impacting the world in positive ways, varied, intricate and sometimes simple ways, but we all have what it takes,no matter what our gender.

You can be pro-woman.  You can be pro-woman without hanging a "feminist" tag around your neck or raging in the streets about the injustices of unequal wages, or absent fathers or abusive men.  You can take pride in the wonderful creation you are and your God given abilities to nurture, give life, and sustain life.  Your very body is a miraculous creation that should be awed and respected for all it can do.  You give life!  You sustain life!  You, by your very nature are able to tune in to what lies deep beneath the surface of a person's outward shell and see inside the hearts of those you love, and you are BRAVE enough to feel your way through life!

You are smart enough to listen to your inner voice, intelligent enough to solve some of the world's toughest problems, strong enough to take on the most daunting challenges life throws at you.

Many of you are doing it all by yourselves.  You are raising children with  no help from their fathers. You have surrendered your social life for the social life and activities of your hildren.  On a Saturday night when you know your friends (and your ex) are all out partying, you sit at home with your kid, watching movies on the couch, cuddled up in a blanket, reminding that little boy or that little girl that you will always be the constant in their world.  You are strong, even on your own.

You would cringe if you heard someone call a child a "retard" but you don't flinch when someone routinely refers to all women as Bitches or Hoes.  You even do it sometimes yourself.  You get angry at the other woman when your man cheats, but really, isn't he cheating you AND the other woman.  Both should be angry with him, instead we take our wrath out on each other and the man remains unscathed.

We are taught to give numerous chances.  We hear things like "boys will be boys" when a man strays.  But when a woman strays, we are referred to as whores, skanks, bitches or worse.  The worst part of that?  Other women say these things about each other.

You don't know another woman's story or what your man told her to convince her to sleep with him.  You don't know what she has been through, and she doesn't know your pain because she has her own to deal with.  Unite with your sisters, don't tear them down because you both got involved with a man who is unfaithful.

And to those men out there who do love and respect us, I say thank you.  I ask you to make your presence known.  It is your responsibility to teach other men how to treat us like fellow, worthy, intelligent and valuable human beings.  That's all we want to be, and we want you to be the same.  We do not need to feel superior.  We just want to feel we have the same worth in your eyes as any other man would have.  We don't need you to be underrated.  We just need you to be real, caring, unabashedly proud of who we are so we can be unabashedly proud of having you in our lives.

I have no qualms about being a feminist.  I don't care what arrows get flung at me or what insults get hurled my way by thoughtless, ignorant people.  I am proud and honored to be a woman.  I love being a woman.  I know I am an amazing creation of my Holy Father, and I know that to Him, I am worth everything.

If we seek to love as God loves, there will be no line of demarcation where one person becomes of more value than another.  Men, you are important and endowed with God given traits that make you special.  So are women.  It is time we all learn to honor who we are in the grand scheme of society and lift one another up.

So my sisters, please don't tear one another down.  Be kind to one another, forgive, encourage, edify and love.  Give one another strength, because we might not ever get those things from men unless we show them we are worth it.