The Personal is political

The Personal is political

I have given a little bit of thought to this phrase made popular by unshaven feminists. Isn’t it funny how the lack of shaving is the first mental association that one makes with feminists? Why think of all the wonderful ways that the women’s rights movement has improved the lives of people around the world, they didn’t shave their legs! EWWW GROSSS!!! DYKES!!! LOL!!11

Anyway, the phrase “the personal is political” originated with the idea that politics greatly shape our personal lives. When women did not have the vote they had no political power and they had no way to protest their living conditions. If hubby beat you, too bad. In those bad old days a woman was basically property and not considered a person in her own right.

Fast forward a few decades and we have various oppressed groups that give us examples of how the personal is political. I think of Rosa Parks refusing to sit at the back of the bus. That personal choice ended up being very political.

I think of how the phrase “the personal is political” effects my own personal life. As a parent and an educator there are certain expectations that I have to live up to. I have to be an exemplary example. There are certain unspoken expectations. I should be polite and instruct kids how to be respectful as well as how to color in the lines or how to add.

And of course, I should never, ever break the law.

Ah there’s the rub! I am a bad old law-breaker. Every single time that I light up a joint in my garage I am breaking the law. The fact that I go to the garage also makes a powerful statement. I need to do my evil, illegal activity where nobody will ever see me. I would never dream of going to the garage to drink a beer or smoke a cigarette. But when it comes to pot, I better make sure that nobody will ever see me do my dirty law-breaking. Especially not kids. You can not ever let children see you doing a disgusting thing like that.

It doesn’t matter that I am an autonomous adult and that the consequences of ingesting a substance are mine to accept. It doesn’t matter that smoking marijuana is far safer than smoking cigarettes or eating sugar or drinking alcohol or driving a car. I am a law-breaker and if I was seen smoking pot in public, the consequences could be devastating. I would no longer be merely an opinionated school marm mom I would be a law-breaker and a bad example to children. The only thing worse for a woman to be in this society than a bad example to children is a prostitute.

I am not free to make a choice to enjoy a relatively safe substance. That is a wrong choice because the law says it is wrong and the law is a reflection of society and its’ prejudices. If you smoke pot you belong to a group of free-loving munchy-snacking strung-out stupid hippies. It matters not that many intelligent people choose to use cannabis. You broke the law.

If I ever got into any legal trouble due to my political activism or my choice to smoke pot and be fairly public about it, I could quite easily lose my job. Making the choice to start this blog and do it publicly and put my picture up is a political statement.

But I am so very tired. Tired of being made to feel guilty about a personal choice. Tired of hiding in the garage. Tired of the way the law forces people to hide their dirty pot-smoking ways.

Every single time I hide in the garage to smoke a joint I am helping the drug war. I am enforcing a stereotype and I am proving the government right: I have something to hide.

Every single stoner that refuses to buy a membership to the SKMP because of fear is helping the drug war.

I am tired of knowing that there are thousands of people that are afraid to support this cause because of the possible repercussions.

So here it is, my political statement:

I smoke pot.