These things matter because it is important that we listen.

That we do not dismiss a girl as “irrelevant”.

That we do not side with a man because “she was asking for it”.

If America is really a country of equality in all aspects, we cannot automatically assume she is lying. That she is a whore. That she deserved it.

Discrimination in the form of dismissal, of disbelief, is the plank in our own eye, the downfall of our irrevocable quest for equality.

That’s what this irrelevant dismissal is – discrimination.

Because he is famous, has accumulated wealth and power and money to be flawless in the entertainment industry, he cannot have fault.

Especially not a fault of rape.

Of domestic violence. Of abuse.

Especially not, because a blemish like that belongs on a low-life depraved hoodlum, not a powerful industry-topping star.

Even if the evidence is insurmountable.

Even then.

She is still a “whore”. She still “deserved it”. She still “asked for it”.

It’s still “her fault”.

To be a feminist is to believe that women are held to the same prestige as men. To believe that women can hold the same value. That what we say matters. That we matter.

That when we finally come forward with crimes done against us to make us less than a woman, less than a person, it will be taken seriously. It will be heard. It will be dealt with. It will not be written off as “hormonal” or “over-emotional”  because she is “an attention-whore”.

To be a feminist is to believe that writing off a victim’s accusation because “there isn’t enough evidence” to prosecute a big-named star only re-victimizes everyone.

Everyone, in the sense that it hinders our ability to actually achieve equality. To achieve greatness, to be everything this country, this society, has the potential to be.

Why do we sacrifice justice for the sake of a superstar? Are we still trapped in a middle-school mentality where we’ll do whatever it takes to be popular?

Yes.

To be a feminist is to believe in yourself. To believe that you as a person have worth. To believe you matter. To respect yourself enough to refuse to be treated less than you deserve. Less than a person. Less than a woman. Less than a human.

There are countless directors, pop stars, rappers, and actors who have been accused of taking away a person’s dignity; their right to matter.

Worse, they’ve gotten away with it.

Why?

Because “no one can be sure what happened”. Because it’s a cliché case of “he said, she said”. Because “there isn’t enough concrete evidence” to prosecute.

This isn’t a slam on that one actor or those rap artists or athletes at parties in either high school or college.

It’s a slam at society.

A wake-up call.

To realize that we are allowing atrocities to be done without consequence. Without any sort of retribution. To realize that we are persecuting the victims who have been silently suffering. Who still silently suffer. Society tells them it is their fault they were raped or beaten or assaulted.

We persecute them when they finally say something because we are afraid to admit that we are broken people. All of us, collectively are full of faults. Of mistakes. Of flaws. We are afraid to admit that there is a problem. That everything isn’t perfect. That everything isn’t always okay.

We are afraid to admit our humanity.

In admitting our humanity, we see past the Photoshopped images, the gold-glinted mirrors. We see ourselves for who we really are.

Flawed.

This does not in any way excuse the rapes, the assaults, the beatings, the violence.

This holds us accountable for ourselves. Holds us accountable to justice. To believing other people. To upholding the belief that a person matters.

Founder of non-profit To Write Love on Her Arms‘ Jamie Tworkowski wrote that people need other people.

We were never meant to do this life on our own.

On our own, isolated in our societal quest for ultimate perfection, flawlessness. For superhuman-ness.

But together?

We take the blindfolds from our eyes and behold the existence of irreplaceable people.

Of humans.

We behold that our stories matter. Our words matter.

That we matter.