Finally: A Solution to Your Outrage About the State of Women’s Rights

This post by Morra Aarons-Mele originally appeared on Huffington Post. You can read the piece in its entirety here.

Here’s a test, in three YouTube-friendly steps. Watch these videos and consider how you feel about the state of women’s rights in our country:

1) In the aftermath of the release of horrifying footage of football player Ray Rice beating his fiancee unconscious, we’ve seen the shockingly inappropriate response of the NFL and its commissioner unfold. Watch this video of longtime sports anchor Hannah Storm demand accountability from the NFL on behalf of her daughters, and on behalf of fans. Storm’s daughter asked her of Rice, “Mom, why didn’t he get fired”? And we have no good answer, in Rice’s case and in too many other cases of domestic and sexual violence.

2) Watch this video of possible presidential contender Senator Rand Paul as he discusses his “Life at Conception Act,” a so-called “personhood” bill, which would grant legal rights to zygotes at fertilization. Say goodbye to your IUD ladies. What’s even worse is the fact that in Texas, more than half of all abortion clinics were forced to shut down last week following a US Fifth Circuit federal appeals court ruling. There are only 7 clinics left in the largest state. Which state is next?

3) Nationwide, American women make on average 77 cents for every dollar a man makes, adding up to nearly $500,000 in lost wages over a woman’s career. African American women can expect to make only 66 cents compared to all other men, and Latinas only 58 cents. However, as John Oliver points out, many of our nation’s leaders and pundits actually try to defend the pay gap or minimize it, rather than trying to fix things.

Angry yet?