To the editor:

I wasn't going to write a letter. Well, I was...and then I wasn't. Because it seemed the response to Alan Sorrentino's original "Letter to the Editor" was strong enough, and loud enough, that my words would likely add nothing to the discussion, and possibly get lost in a sea of sameness.

But, I am a writer. And a social activist. And a (loudly) self-proclaimed feminist. And a mother. So when my supporters didn't hear from me, or in this case, see my words boldly plastered across their newsfeed, they questioned me. And then they implored me. Not because my message will be all that different from anyone else's, not because my words will be better, but because my strength is *in* my words. It lies in my ability to share my own story as I champion the rights and lives of others. My supporters know this. They know this because these are my women. My core group. And, they happen to be yoga pant wearing mamas from Barrington.

In the midst of one of the most divisive presidential elections modern America has known, when an actual candidate for the most powerful position in the free world can stand from the mountain top and degrade women on every level, and can do so without repercussion, our words matter. Alan’s letter matters. 

It matters because there is a movement to repeal the 19th amendment. In 2016. It matters because we’re looking at the possibility of our *first* female president. In 2016. It matters because so many of us have spent a lifetime overcoming abuses at the hands of men. It matters because it took 30 years for me to find my voice, and some women never do. It matters because Susan B. Anthony, Rosa Parks, Gloria Steinem, Hillary Clinton have fought for our value—the value of women.

It matters, because in countries where it doesn’t, young women like Malala Yousafzai are shot for attending school. In a country where women once walked burka-less, with the freedoms of their male counterparts. It matters, because if we give up our rights, our voices, the work of so many women before us, we welcome a reversal of fortune on a scale unimaginable to 21st century American women.

So, much to the chagrin of some of our husbands, neighbors, and friends, we speak up. We speak out. And we react. In my case I will write this letter and make a donation to Sojourner House at the request of the parade organizer. And I will support the women who walk tomorrow. But, I will also caution that the torch and pitchfork response seen on many threads is a danger to us all. The mob mentality that takes over every time one of us makes a human error, is as harmful to modern America as a man presuming to tell women what to wear in this post-industrial age. 

Tinsley Kampmier-Williamson 

Barrington