I Am Karen, Hear Me Roar: In Which I Am Not Allowed To Speak At 'Let Women Speak'

A Tacoma free speech event

Patch by Jess De Wahls

I wasn’t going to go. I’d been sick all week with a painful gut issue. But I woke up feeling much better and with a title for a piece of writing in my head. “I Am Karen, Hear Me Roar.” The day before was Helen Reddy’s birthday, so maybe she had something to do with it in the dream terrain. I got up and wrote it with Morning Brain, and then I realized I had to go, and that I wanted to read my piece. I put on my “Adult Human Female” definition of Woman t-shirt and zipped up my coat with the "Heretic" patch on the front. Took a deep breath, put on my shades and walked with my friends into the plaza, noting a row of antifa-looking men in black on the steps above us, waiting for us.

There were only 30 of us, so I was glad to be another body lending strength, bearing witness. One powerful speaker was a young and disabled bisexual woman who spoke through tears and with shaking hands of the damage the gender cult had done to her. Another woman who spoke was lunge…