No Compromise.

Happy March betches. It’s Women’s History Month! 
I’ve never typed a more sarcastic exclamation.
It seems the months have been bundled as tributes and distributed like birthday goodie bags with white men as the exalted birthday boy. Every day is your day when you’re the status quo. Traditionally everything from our laws to our medicines have been modeled with white men as the default. Everyone else is reduced to a day, a week or a month when the lens of awareness focuses on them. May is particularly competitive. As a Heritage Month, it pays simultaneous tribute to the Asian American & Pacific Islander, Haitian, Indian, Jewish-American and South Asian communities. It is also Mental Health month. There are so many things I could say but I’m just going to leave that there. Not all low-hanging fruit needs to be picked.

I recently saw a film clip from the documentary All By Myself: The Earth Kitt Story that sets the tone for the month. The unseen, male interviewer seems to be implying she may be impossible to live with; he asks if she is willing to compromise. She immediately retorts, “Compromising for what reason? To compromise? For what?” He presses on in a viscous drawl, “If a man comes into your life, wouldn’t you want to compromise?” Her response is swift and iconic Eartha, she’s cackles to the heavens, spits out the word “stupid” before another throaty laugh. When she finally looks back at the interviewer, she queries, “A man comes into my life and I have to compromise? You must think about that one again.” Dismissed.

By definition compromise means the settlement of differences by mutual concessions. When the concession benefits one side over the other that is a mockery of the word. The very question posed to Ms Kitt is an affront. The interviewer doesn’t even give imaginary circumstances that would require negotiation, he simply presumes it is she who must bend. Apparently a man need only present himself to warrant a woman compromising herself. Thirty days is not nearly enough to set this shit straight.

For the record, I am a very co-operative person. I’ve lived and worked in co-operative communities and environments most of my life. Artistic collaboration is rooted in cooperation. But I have to agree with Earth Kitt, compromise for the sake of compromise is a bullshit proposition. The deck is inevitably stacked.
And so for Women’s History Month I’m celebrating with no compromises.
I’m claiming my month. I’m having my say. I’ll ask for what I want and speak up for what I need.
No compromise.

If there isn’t a day dedicated to Ms Kitt, there should be. Because she is the only one to do her words justice, here’s the link. Enjoy.