Pussy

It’s garbage day and I’m sending away pussy. 

Most of the time, this word, used as an insult, is used incorrectly, anyway. 

I was just reading a story about how nice Patton Oswalt is when it ended in him calling the recipient of his kindness a “pussy” for crying. 

Here’s the thing. Pussies are actually very strong. They are muscle, they are flexible, and they are powerful. There is nothing weak about a pussy. The pelvic floor muscles stretch to three times their normal amount during childbirth. They create life and some men, women and non-binary people will do almost anything just to touch one, or be inside it. Powerful indeed. 

So we need to rethink this insult. How can the very thing that we all must pass through in order to be granted our first breath, our first day of life, really, be considered weak? 

I honestly believe that the word “pussy” that is brandished so lavishly around locker rooms and all places that reek of toxic masculinity as a crude evaluation of one's weakness has been truly misunderstood. 

We have a couple of choices. Either we reclaim this word as a symbol of strength, love, and life, (which it truly is), or we throw it out altogether. Be done with calling people the “P word”.  

It’s garbage day, and I’m sorry, Patton, but I’m calling you out on your terrible mistake. Pussy doesn’t mean weak or emotional. No. It’s actually the thing that takes your virginity, the thing that gives you life, the thing that wars are fought for, the thing most people work their entire lives to make happy, the thing that inspires music and art,  and the most important, powerful thing on earth, really. Let’s send this misused word out with the trash. I never want to hear it again, and you don’t even know what it really means.