Just a reminder of why this election is so important, and why what the DNC has done is so disastrous...We need a president who really DOES care, who is aware of what our nation is facing, who has the right policies, and who has the commitment to do what needs to be done...
We need Hillary Clinton. We need the person who is best suited to help turn this nation around. Hounds be damned (and I am a dog lover, btw - just not the DNC dogs), what we need now are PUMAs and JUST SAY NO DEAL!
I am out of town for a brief overnight, and will be back home tomorrow night. So, this will be my post until then...
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Dear Mr. President by Pink and the Indigo Girls
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Hey, saw your post over at NoQ and for some reason I can't post there, so wanted to stop by (again) and say hey, and comment on your post on the treatment of women.
First the details as mentioned in that article you reference, sadly I knew of all those examples already. I'm surprised she didn't mention the most despicable attack on females that is done in African nations, this is something mentioned on Oprah years ago (I haven't watched her in at least 10 yrs, not once!) but even when she mentioned it, I already knew about it, and that's the removal of girl's clitoris when they are very young, by family members with no painkillers, anesthetic, nothing.. just a bunch of people holding the girl down before she reaches puberty and taking a knife and whacking it off. This happens in African nations (and elsewhere I assume..) I remember a couple yrs ago a man did it to his daughter in this country, he was a transplant from a country where this is common.. I don't recall the punishment he received but (if I recall) they were somewhat lenient on him because it was his culture and he didn't understand how illegal it is here.
It is common culture to burn women alive, as in India.. although they claim they are trying to put a stop to it, it's still down regularly and goes unpunished. Women are married off with a dowry. The men marry them simply to receive this dowry and often end up killing the woman with his families help. I remember reading more than a few articles of woman being wrapped in blankets and kerosene being poured on them and being set ablaze. The dowry can be money, possessions, often land.. and the girls family puts together as wealthy a dowry they can afford to marry the girl off into a good family.. the men for their part simply marry the girls in order to gain this wealth, then they kill them and of course keep the dowry.
Look at the countries to this day who kill baby girls because a male is much preferred..
The women who support Obama have no freaking clue what they've done, and what they blocked (in making history).. Even Nancy Pelosi who I am totally disappointed in (now), in the beginning she was attacked for her age and looks.. it was ruthless and everywhere when she became speaker of the house.
I'm around your age and have been repulsed by the sexism in this country all my life. When I was a young single mother working several jobs and going to college, I was sexually harassed (and touched) on the job. I complained about it and got fired. I was very young but it was mostly since then I've been aware and stayed aware of the inequalities dealt to women, here and around the world. I worked my ass off at a job, only to find a male counterpart was paid more than me (because he was male) when I out performed him in every area. I brought this up to the headquarters and showed that I out-performed him and was even sent to help him out since he was slow to learn.. I got the equal pay and then a month later was fired for NO reason. (If we made a certain amount of profit for our location, as manager, I had a right to a bonus of a % of that profit.. they had a habit of firing the WOMEN right before that bonus was paid out).. and this was in the early 80's not that long ago!
Young women today have no clue the sexism women face and will continue to face.. they have no clue what awaits them.
ANYWAY! I wanted to stop by and show you a post I made awhile back on my blog. It's a post about Salon.com that STUNNED me.
My post regarding a page I found on Salon
Not only is it stunning this was allowed on a site like Salon, but it was a page done by a woman!
I just don't know what to say. I've been ashamed of my country ever since Bush took office.. am I now supposed to be ashamed of being a woman too? I'm certainly ashamed of many women in this country during this election..
Thank goodness there are some of us around who keep bitching, who keep speaking our mind, and who keep calling them out on this behavior and demanding acknowledgment, if not respect, from those who keep perpetuating this kind of behavior.
BJ -
Thank you SO much for your comments regarding misogyny throughout the world - and absilutely, no doubt there is ALL KINDS I did not mention, primarily because I was using Victoria's article. One quote she did have in there was from Alice Walker who said that it is a very small step from being forced to straighten your hair because men want it that way to being forced to have your clitoris removed because men want it that way (p35). Amen to that - it is SO true.
So yes - the dowries, the clitorectomies, the burnings...All ways in which women are subjugated and treated as objects. Add to that the fear that women walk with on a daily basis. I don't think men have a CLUE what that feels like, to carry your keys a certain way in your hand, listening to every footfall, the fear if a man looks at you a certain way...They just don't get it because they have never had to live with the fear of rape, or sexual assault - not like we do.
I really appreciate hearing some of your story, too. Thank you so much, BJ!! I hope you keep coming around!
Post a Comment