I dissent in 2022

I knew it was coming, ever since the opinion was leaked, but it still knocked the wind out of me when the news broke yesterday. I was looking forward to a relaxing weekend, but instead I felt the darkness creeping in. There was a good chance I might not have gotten out of bed at all, except for a few friends who enticed me.

My friend J1 doesn’t work on Fridays, so we had a boozy brunch and griped about the patriarchy. That lifted my spirits a little bit.

Then my friend J2, who’s part of a group chat where I was threatening to get RBG’s dissent collar tattooed on my neck, messaged me that our favorite tattoo artist had an opening at 5pm and was willing to tattoo us if we really wanted. I was thinking of getting the collar on my middle finger, but the artist talked to me about how finger tattoos are difficult to maintain, so I got it on my ankle instead. (So did J2.) The three of us bitched about what bullshit this is and how every bio male should just be forced to get a damn vasectomy if they’re so “concerned” about pregnancy, and also about how that’s never going to happen especially with southern culture where men don’t even like to get their goddamn dogs neutered. (Insert eyeroll here.)

People suck. I’m scared for the future. But at least I have new ink. And I will dissent, loudly, for the rest of my damn life.