The Women’s March Is Not “A Mass Hissy Fit” — & Here’s Why

Since the cancellation of his CNN show in 2014, Piers Morgan is mostly known to Americans as the man who likes to troll Kim Kardashian. On Saturday, he decided to expand his targets and took aim at the hundreds of thousands of men and women participating in the Women's March. What his Twitter feed suggests to us is that he doesn't get it. "Imagine if there were a load of men-only marches today? The feminists would go crackers," he wrote early Saturday morning. He later declared, "I'm planning a 'Men's March' to protest at the creeping global emasculation of my gender by rabid feminists. Who's with me?"

He followed that with more tweets about how marching for women's rights is sexist against men, including one calling it "a mass hissy fit [sic]." Okay, then, let us review what feminism is: It is about making sure that women have equal rights, not more rights than men. That includes rights over their bodies, equal pay, social opportunities, and political representation. Although Morgan begs to differ, there is no difference between feminists, so-called "rabid" feminists (not a thing, bro), LGBTQ feminists, men who identify as feminists, Black feminists, or different waves of feminists. This rhetoric won't get between us.

"The Women’s March on Washington will send a bold message to our new government on their first day in office, and to the world that women's rights are human rights," reads the march's mission statement. "We support the advocacy and resistance movements that reflect our multiple and intersecting identities. We call on all defenders of human rights to join us. This march is the first step towards unifying our communities, grounded in new relationships, to create change from the grassroots level up. We will not rest until women have parity and equity at all levels of leadership in society. We work peacefully while recognising there is no true peace without justice and equity for all." No one wants to emasculate men. Rather, they're taking to the streets to voice opposition to the notion that men can grab women "by the pussy," as Trump put it.

"We are here and around the world for a deep democracy that says we will not be quiet, we will not be controlled, we will work for a world in which all countries are connected," Gloria Steinem said in her speech in Washington today. "God may be in the details, but the goddess is in connections. We are at one with each other, we are looking at each other, not up. No more asking daddy. We are linked. We are not ranked. And this is a day that will change us forever because we are together. Each of us individually and collectively will never be the same again." Reading the words of a 19-year-old woman from Tennessee, Ashley Judd reminded everyone of how to reclaim the positive power of the word pussy: "Our pussies are for our pleasure. They are for birthing new generations of filthy, vulgar, nasty, proud, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh, you name it, for new generations of nasty women." Or, here's how Janelle Monae put it: "It was woman that gave you Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It was woman that gave you Malcolm X. And according to the Bible, it was a woman that gave you Jesus. Don’t you ever forget it." We're marching against a government that has vowed to defund Planned Parenthood, thus making smaller our options for health care. We're marching in solidarity with all Americans who feel marginalised, traumatised, and unheard. By showing up in large numbers, they are asking our democratically elected officials to notice the will of the people before they make decisions. We are demonstrating that we contain multitudes and can turn out in numbers too large to ignore. Piers Morgan, please just watch our manifesto on why we march and maybe you'll understand once and for all. This isn't a march against someone or something. It's for women, and as the organisers have emphasised frequently, that means all women.