OKAY SO as I’m sure you all know, I’ve been working hard on writing my first policy, regarding mental health and birth control. I’m not really ‘into’ politics, I don’t know what I’m doing, I don’t know every rule inside out and I don’t want a career in politics. BUT, what» https://twitter.com/scrunchyshack/status/1309560950559830018

«I do want is for young girls to not have to go through the same thing I did. I’m really open about how birth control messed up my mental health, so I’m writing this policy to help people.

It’s been really hard, I’m not going to lie. I’ve spoken before about how hard»

«I’ve found being a young woman in the Lib Dem’s, especially one trying to achieve something. I’ve been ignored in meetings and told not to bother. However, I submitted the policy.

About two weeks ago, I get an email from an older, male colleague. To me, and everyone else in»

«the policy committee. It was my policy, but with every sentence marked in blue text. Every spelling mistake corrected, any statement about women’s experience disputed. I wrote that ‘women feel as though they have to sacrifice being of sound mind in order to prevent pregnancy’»

«(an actual quote I took from research I did myself before writing the policy). This colleague wrote back ‘actually, most women are probably just grateful’. I was also told that ‘not enough women suffer’ and that my policy is too ‘controversial’.»

«I was then told that my policy ‘seeks to set back feminism centuries’. A policy, which seeks to do nothing but help women’s mental health (not creating a single barrier for access to contraception).

In the P.S, I was told to not react emotionally to this email. (Because of»

«course, I’m a woman and would obviously react emotionally!!!)

This colleague has done nothing but try to belittle and embarrass me. By publicly trying to shame me, he is showing how little he values new voices. As I said, I’m 20 and know little about politics. I wrote this»

«without help, and instead of helping me kindly, he tried to tear my policy apart and discourage me. The Lib Dem’s are apparently proud to share new and young voices, and yet one of their senior members has shown exactly how he treats these voices.

I will not be told»

«that I’m ‘setting feminism back’ by trying to help. This policy is important, but it’s also so much more than a policy now. It represents the young voices that the old guard are clearly trying to silence.

So this is me giving back to the feminist movement I’m so obviously»

«setting back. With donations to a contraceptive and abortion charity. Any and all support is really appreciated, and I want to thank everyone who has helped me with this policy and in hand has encouraged a young liberal to get involved