TODAY is the UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
How is it that in the 21st century one in three women will be beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime, according to the United Nations? And also, according to the UN, women between the ages of 15 and 44 are at greater risk from rape and domestic violence than from cancer, traffic accidents, war and malaria?
Why do close-minded, religious zealots feel the need to throw acid in schoolgirls' faces? Why do the men who are "leaders" in a church establishment want to excommunicate a brave member for his open-minded respect for women? WHY are women STILL thought so little of today?
What are we women worth?
Everything! As good as any male on earth...equal as human beings, I'd say. We are all priceless. :-)
It hurts my heart every time I hear about a woman, or group of women, being violated. Abused. Harassed. Exploited. All of the above. I freeze whenever I hear the this sort of news or see it. As if I am held captive.
Either I have become more sensitive to these issues, or the ocurrence of violence has increased over the years. Certainly in war torn regions like Iraq, Afghanistan, and countries in Africa like the Democratic Republic of Congo--women have suffered acts of violence and abuse more than those living in non-conflict areas of the world.
Today, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon called on the world (leaders) to do more to address the abuse of women and girls. Abuse of half of humanity affects all of humanity. What's the point? Power control? Threatened loss of power? What does that power mean if a leader is incapable of respecting the women and girls he OR she leads? Many women are guilty, too, of being silent. Silently accepting that women deserve to be treated like second-class citizens. I am not innocent of this.
Last month, our US President Bush declared October as National Domestic Violence Month. It looks very good what he has on paper. But I wonder how much he truly believes it, considering that he doesn't have a record of supporting women's reproductive health rights. Does he know all the facts about domestic abuse? Do YOU know? I'm still learning!
I wonder who it is who patronizes underage girls in the brothels of third world countries? No, I don't reeaaally want to know who, but those people are as guilty as the ones who deceive young women and their families with the promises of a "decent" job. It's evil what they're doing. The end of slavery never arrived. It just continues in a different form.
If people can overcome their prejudices and vote for the first African American president in history, vote in several states to allow gay marriages, and in other countries which are historically MUCH more patriarchial than ours to elect a woman to the highest office in their land, then surely, everyone can learn that violence, abuse, sexual exploitation and all that it encompasses--IS UNACCEPTABLE. Inexusable. Can't they? Can't we? Punish the wrongdoers with a zero tolerance policy. That's how I feel about it.
I hope we'll have more enlightened leaders in my lifetime. Those who could help to educate those who might have outdated ideas about women.
We are human beings, too, worthy of respect!
"Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead."
-- Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888), American novelist
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Friday, November 7, 2008
One Small Step Forward for Women
This election convinced me more than ever that I will never vote for anyone, female or male, who does not represent what I value. What I believe in, and what I am willing to spend the rest of my life making a stand for.
It sounds simple enough, doesn't it? Vote your values.
I have too much self-respect and respect for the women in my family--both those who came before me, those who come after me (nieces, cousins), as well as my friends, and for the feminine half of humanity, to ever insult them with a vote for those who would so blatantly disrespect women.
If you know me or have been reading my posts in the last year, you know that I am impassioned about women's rights. Senator McCain and Governor Palin forced a lot of women to wake up and speak out. That's always a good thing! ;-)
It wouldn't have mattered if everything else they had on their platform was agreeable to me: I still could never stomach having a president who has a long record voting against women's health regarding family planning and reproductive rights for women both in the USA and abroad, has voted against funding the VAWA, the Violence Against Women Act. Furthermore, how could I have voted for someone who thinks so little of women--that he ultimately decided to put a anti-woman woman on his ticket, thinking that women would fall for it?
It's insulting, to say the least.
Women's rights: that's my number one priority. The measure I use to evaluate each candidate whom I am asked to consider to represent me for public office. Everything else is secondary. We make up more than half of humanity. We help create life and bring life into the world. Mothers are the glue of most families. But we still experience rampant sexism. And many women around the world are still being treated like second-class citizens at best, regarded as commodities to be exploited in sexual slave trafficking or in inhumane working conditions conveniently overlooked by governments and multi-national corporations.
I don't know who scares me more: him or her? The governor. Yes, definitely.
Thank goodness for blogs like Women Against Sarah Palin, for thinking women (which included women of her own party) to express their deepest fears about what might be if such a ticket of anti-women leaders were to govern our country.
She has given me every reason to dislike her. And continues to do so. You'd think she had committed a personal grievance against me the way I rant on about her, even post-election. But as I mentioned above, when I think about women's issues, I think about the women in my family, what my elders have suffered in the past, and what I don't want my nieces to have to endure in the future. Misogyny. Sexism. All the attendant harmful attitudes and actions that come along with them. I start with my family, my friends, and then I think of ALL the women around the world.
First, she dissed our president-elect (whom I didn't vote for) by mocking his background as community organizer. Those are the people who do the thankless job of trying to get everyone together, educate participants to better their community. I'm all for community improvements and social justice. Community organizers get the shit done! Even from my extremely limited experience of having to organize board members of a city orchestra to come together at a meeting (getting them to agree on the date, and sometimes, agenda) and organizing volunteers for various activities gave me a taste of what it takes to organize so many people for a common purpose.
What does the governor have to say about community organizing now that her running mate's rival will be in the White House, thanks due in part to the skills and lessons he learned so many years ago as a community organizer?
The fact that she would force rape victims to pay for their own rape kits is unimaginable to me. Is it because she is so religious and opposed to abortion and that there is (I assume) contraceptives in the kit that she doesn't want taxpayers to pay for it? And she wants the victim to go through with an unwanted pregancy from someone who violently violated her? No exception for rape or incest? How in the world can she call herself a feminist, as she answered that, yes she is, when asked by a reporter shortly before elections (she didn't seem very convincing in her tone to me!)?
The library incident was the last straw for me. That she even wanted to remove books from the PUBLIC LIBRARY that were offensive to her personal, religious beliefs was a big, red flag to me. THAT was, and is, totally unacceptable to me. I'll read whatever I please! I actually did write to reporter at the Anchorage Daily News to ask about a detail re: the letters--it seemed so high schoolish to me, and she wrote me back, saying that apparently it had been done before: sending letters of threatened termination, asking the recipient to reapply, and answer WHY they should have the job.
I don't trust anyone who would dare to censor books. It assumes people are so stupid that they can't think for themselves, especially when presented with material that offends the person or people who wish to ban the books in question. I really despise that to the marrow of my bones.
And this morning my blood was boiling! :-( On the radio news show "Democracy Now", songwriter Gretchen Peters expressed her disappointment with the governor from Alaska who used her song "Independence Day", which was recorded by singer Martina McBride in 1994, for her own campaign rally. That song is about an abused woman. A very powerful song, I might add. How ironic that the governor used it (out of context), and is for women paying for their own rape kits. Ms. Peters did the right thing: she decided to donate the royalties from that that song to Planned Parenthood during election time--in the governor's name, to help women in need. ;-b (though I wrote in a past post that I have a few issues with PP. :-()
What's next with her? Why should I care? I don't even know her, personally! However, I do think she can be very mean-spirited when she wants to be.
It is women like the governor of Alaska who scare me. Women who would set women's rights back decades. To my mind: centuries! %-( I'm keeping an eye on her, and women like her. Men, too. They shouldn't be allowed to be in public office for that reason alone...that's my personal bias. Leave your misogyny and religious beliefs at home at let people live freely!
I want to live in a progressive world, not a regressive police state. I will remain on guard until my last breath.
It sounds simple enough, doesn't it? Vote your values.
I have too much self-respect and respect for the women in my family--both those who came before me, those who come after me (nieces, cousins), as well as my friends, and for the feminine half of humanity, to ever insult them with a vote for those who would so blatantly disrespect women.
If you know me or have been reading my posts in the last year, you know that I am impassioned about women's rights. Senator McCain and Governor Palin forced a lot of women to wake up and speak out. That's always a good thing! ;-)
It wouldn't have mattered if everything else they had on their platform was agreeable to me: I still could never stomach having a president who has a long record voting against women's health regarding family planning and reproductive rights for women both in the USA and abroad, has voted against funding the VAWA, the Violence Against Women Act. Furthermore, how could I have voted for someone who thinks so little of women--that he ultimately decided to put a anti-woman woman on his ticket, thinking that women would fall for it?
It's insulting, to say the least.
Women's rights: that's my number one priority. The measure I use to evaluate each candidate whom I am asked to consider to represent me for public office. Everything else is secondary. We make up more than half of humanity. We help create life and bring life into the world. Mothers are the glue of most families. But we still experience rampant sexism. And many women around the world are still being treated like second-class citizens at best, regarded as commodities to be exploited in sexual slave trafficking or in inhumane working conditions conveniently overlooked by governments and multi-national corporations.
I don't know who scares me more: him or her? The governor. Yes, definitely.
Thank goodness for blogs like Women Against Sarah Palin, for thinking women (which included women of her own party) to express their deepest fears about what might be if such a ticket of anti-women leaders were to govern our country.
She has given me every reason to dislike her. And continues to do so. You'd think she had committed a personal grievance against me the way I rant on about her, even post-election. But as I mentioned above, when I think about women's issues, I think about the women in my family, what my elders have suffered in the past, and what I don't want my nieces to have to endure in the future. Misogyny. Sexism. All the attendant harmful attitudes and actions that come along with them. I start with my family, my friends, and then I think of ALL the women around the world.
First, she dissed our president-elect (whom I didn't vote for) by mocking his background as community organizer. Those are the people who do the thankless job of trying to get everyone together, educate participants to better their community. I'm all for community improvements and social justice. Community organizers get the shit done! Even from my extremely limited experience of having to organize board members of a city orchestra to come together at a meeting (getting them to agree on the date, and sometimes, agenda) and organizing volunteers for various activities gave me a taste of what it takes to organize so many people for a common purpose.
What does the governor have to say about community organizing now that her running mate's rival will be in the White House, thanks due in part to the skills and lessons he learned so many years ago as a community organizer?
The fact that she would force rape victims to pay for their own rape kits is unimaginable to me. Is it because she is so religious and opposed to abortion and that there is (I assume) contraceptives in the kit that she doesn't want taxpayers to pay for it? And she wants the victim to go through with an unwanted pregancy from someone who violently violated her? No exception for rape or incest? How in the world can she call herself a feminist, as she answered that, yes she is, when asked by a reporter shortly before elections (she didn't seem very convincing in her tone to me!)?
The library incident was the last straw for me. That she even wanted to remove books from the PUBLIC LIBRARY that were offensive to her personal, religious beliefs was a big, red flag to me. THAT was, and is, totally unacceptable to me. I'll read whatever I please! I actually did write to reporter at the Anchorage Daily News to ask about a detail re: the letters--it seemed so high schoolish to me, and she wrote me back, saying that apparently it had been done before: sending letters of threatened termination, asking the recipient to reapply, and answer WHY they should have the job.
I don't trust anyone who would dare to censor books. It assumes people are so stupid that they can't think for themselves, especially when presented with material that offends the person or people who wish to ban the books in question. I really despise that to the marrow of my bones.
And this morning my blood was boiling! :-( On the radio news show "Democracy Now", songwriter Gretchen Peters expressed her disappointment with the governor from Alaska who used her song "Independence Day", which was recorded by singer Martina McBride in 1994, for her own campaign rally. That song is about an abused woman. A very powerful song, I might add. How ironic that the governor used it (out of context), and is for women paying for their own rape kits. Ms. Peters did the right thing: she decided to donate the royalties from that that song to Planned Parenthood during election time--in the governor's name, to help women in need. ;-b (though I wrote in a past post that I have a few issues with PP. :-()
What's next with her? Why should I care? I don't even know her, personally! However, I do think she can be very mean-spirited when she wants to be.
It is women like the governor of Alaska who scare me. Women who would set women's rights back decades. To my mind: centuries! %-( I'm keeping an eye on her, and women like her. Men, too. They shouldn't be allowed to be in public office for that reason alone...that's my personal bias. Leave your misogyny and religious beliefs at home at let people live freely!
I want to live in a progressive world, not a regressive police state. I will remain on guard until my last breath.
| Warning |
| When I am an old woman I shall wear purple With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me. And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter. I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells And run my stick along the public railings And make up for the sobriety of my youth. I shall go out in my slippers in the rain And pick flowers in other people's gardens And learn to spit. You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat And eat three pounds of sausages at a go Or only bread and pickle for a week And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes. But now we must have clothes that keep us dry And pay our rent and not swear in the street And set a good example for the children. We must have friends to dinner and read the papers. But maybe I ought to practice a little now? So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple. Jenny Joseph, English poet (b. 1932) |
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Day After Witches Brew
At first cock-crow the ghosts must go/Back to their quiet graves below.
-Theodosia Garrison, American poet (1874-1944)
If you look out one of my bedroom windows, you can clearly see about six or seven graves across the way, beyond a little creek running in front of it. They are the final resting places of the original owner's family who lived on the property that we now live on; most of them died circa 1830.
In the spirit of Halloween (and I meant to post yesterday, but baked cookies instead), I was kind of hoping I could meet their ghosts. That they'd tap on our bedroom window to say hello. ;-0 Just to see what they looked liked. Is that morbid? Maybe I watched too many scary movies this past week? I'm just curious that's all! %-)
One night, hubby and I stayed up and watched "Halloween", and then the 4th and 5th sequels! I had no idea it had so many sequels. Eight or nine, including a remake of the original one. It was good for laughs, at best. Scary as always!
I still think psychological horror movies are the scariest movies, like "Psycho", "Raising Caine", and "Texas Chainsaw Massacre". I don't like watching too much blood and gore, especially those that have disembodied head scenes. That would make me puke in a flash.
My little Halloween decorations are still on my windowsill and fridge. I haven't taken them down yet because I think they're awfully cute. Mice can be super cute in cartoon version. But not in real life. Well, maybe momentarily, but they no longer become cute when they've caused damage and/or pooped your property. The last three nights in a row, three mice have got caught in mil's kitchen. And the same trap in the same place. The second one let out a squeal and startled us! His back broke and it took longer for him to perish. The other two died instantly.
I prefer Tom and Jerry! :-)
No tricksters came by our home yesterday. We didn't have any candy to distribute anyway. There's NO light on these country roads! %-0 It is kind of fun to give candy out. The last time we did that was when we still lived in our house in DE. During the last couple of years we were there, door to door trick-or-treating seemed to be out of fashion, in favor of parties for kids, in the name of safety. That seems to be a reasonable thing to do, but if I were a kid, I'd still rather go door to door: there's more spookiness and fun there, in contrast to being herded into a party. I'm not a party person--that's not my style, so that's my personal bias. I like to go exploring on my own, or with a couple of close friends. ;-)
No fantastic, technicolor dreams last night, which is strange, considering all the horror movies I've watched each night in the last week. I dreamed I was scheduled to take a FRENCH class, for this morning! Why? I don't know! Are there secret travel agendas lurking in my mind? Was my five years of French not sufficient for whatever reason? Hey, if someone told me I had to be in class right now, I wouldn't mind--I love learning languages!
This year, I didn't don any of my Halloween earrings. I just didn't think of it until too late. I'll try to do better to get in the spirit next year!
-Theodosia Garrison, American poet (1874-1944)
If you look out one of my bedroom windows, you can clearly see about six or seven graves across the way, beyond a little creek running in front of it. They are the final resting places of the original owner's family who lived on the property that we now live on; most of them died circa 1830.
In the spirit of Halloween (and I meant to post yesterday, but baked cookies instead), I was kind of hoping I could meet their ghosts. That they'd tap on our bedroom window to say hello. ;-0 Just to see what they looked liked. Is that morbid? Maybe I watched too many scary movies this past week? I'm just curious that's all! %-)
One night, hubby and I stayed up and watched "Halloween", and then the 4th and 5th sequels! I had no idea it had so many sequels. Eight or nine, including a remake of the original one. It was good for laughs, at best. Scary as always!
I still think psychological horror movies are the scariest movies, like "Psycho", "Raising Caine", and "Texas Chainsaw Massacre". I don't like watching too much blood and gore, especially those that have disembodied head scenes. That would make me puke in a flash.
My little Halloween decorations are still on my windowsill and fridge. I haven't taken them down yet because I think they're awfully cute. Mice can be super cute in cartoon version. But not in real life. Well, maybe momentarily, but they no longer become cute when they've caused damage and/or pooped your property. The last three nights in a row, three mice have got caught in mil's kitchen. And the same trap in the same place. The second one let out a squeal and startled us! His back broke and it took longer for him to perish. The other two died instantly.
I prefer Tom and Jerry! :-)
No tricksters came by our home yesterday. We didn't have any candy to distribute anyway. There's NO light on these country roads! %-0 It is kind of fun to give candy out. The last time we did that was when we still lived in our house in DE. During the last couple of years we were there, door to door trick-or-treating seemed to be out of fashion, in favor of parties for kids, in the name of safety. That seems to be a reasonable thing to do, but if I were a kid, I'd still rather go door to door: there's more spookiness and fun there, in contrast to being herded into a party. I'm not a party person--that's not my style, so that's my personal bias. I like to go exploring on my own, or with a couple of close friends. ;-)
No fantastic, technicolor dreams last night, which is strange, considering all the horror movies I've watched each night in the last week. I dreamed I was scheduled to take a FRENCH class, for this morning! Why? I don't know! Are there secret travel agendas lurking in my mind? Was my five years of French not sufficient for whatever reason? Hey, if someone told me I had to be in class right now, I wouldn't mind--I love learning languages!
This year, I didn't don any of my Halloween earrings. I just didn't think of it until too late. I'll try to do better to get in the spirit next year!
Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.
-Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven
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