Did I wake up in the correct century this morning?
I yawned, found caffiene, injected it and sat reading the headlines and Twitter to see what was happening in the world. It's lucky I was doing this on my smartphone or I'd have convinced myself I was travelling back in time to an entirely different century.
Firstly, I follow very few celebrities on Twitter but there is an actor I've always found interesting in both his talent and his interest in public debate and opinion. This morning he retweeted something to the effect that re-examining women's rights was brave. I always hear alarm bells at this point. It is a right wing tendency to mock the 'soft left' for not being brave enough to make cuts, doom mongerish to not value austerity or too liberal to enter into tough talks about families/ women's rights.
I beg to differ. It is not brave to say a woman does not have the right to choose her sexual partner or take reproductive control over her body. It is outdated and dangerous to not only women but to families, the economy and society. I can argue all 3 but I don't need to smack 'I'm being brave' in front of a statement because I'm about to say something controversial. I simply standby my opinion and reason it out.
So please think about why you need to put brave in front of a statement. It's the equivalent of saying 'I'm sorry but...' no you're not sorry, so don't say it.
Then I picked up on a headline that George Galloway, MP, has offered the sage opinion that Assange is not guilty of rape because 'not every insertion needs permission'. By that logic, all my exes have access to my body George as once upon a time I made a decision to have sex with them. I would ask you to search your soul George but we already know you don't have one.
Then I saw the 'legitimised rape' quote from Todd Akin and I just sat down, hard, in shock.
Did someone set the clock to neanderthal this morning? I simply cannot believe these debates are even considered let alone offered in a public domain.
Normal playful service will resume over here in the next few days but I couldn't get over what I read this morning within 15 minutes of each other so I wrote a blog post as I also noted that it seems to be men discussing women's rights bravely. I applaud any man entering debate and taking interest in issues that affect over 50% of the world's population directly (and the rest indirectly). I just don't think these are brave so much as moronic.
(sigh)
ETA: in response to this 'throwing-up-hands-in-the-air' style post, a very lovely man brought this marvellous article to my attention. Rebecca Solnit has summarised my feelings entirely on why such offhand comments in the media should be concerning to men and women alike. I am entirely glad the man who pinged this to me is in my life because the more of those I have, the more reassured I am that silence is not expected nor accepted where women are concerned.
ETA: in response to this 'throwing-up-hands-in-the-air' style post, a very lovely man brought this marvellous article to my attention. Rebecca Solnit has summarised my feelings entirely on why such offhand comments in the media should be concerning to men and women alike. I am entirely glad the man who pinged this to me is in my life because the more of those I have, the more reassured I am that silence is not expected nor accepted where women are concerned.
7 comments:
Nicely said
Although, on the bright side, the Republican Party collectively is working together to run Akin out of the race, even though he is their candidate and they were banking on him beating out the incumbent. At least there's that. But I completely agree- it seems as if half of the world has decided that they need to be re-convinced that women deserve rights! Argh!
It scares the heck out of me that there are people in public office making such stupid statements, because each one of them represents a certain number of people by definition of their post. Please let it not be true. Please let it be true that only crazy people run for public office. /afraid it is not true/
As the YarnHarlot says, get out there and VOTE!
You are so right. I find it increasingly infuriating that the white privileged men in the world seem to be encouraged to voice such asinine opinions. I can't believe such seriously inappropriate comments are being made so flippantly. The reproductive health care debate in the U.S. is partially laughable (because how can anyone not agree with reproductive rights for women?) but partially very scary. Sometimes it's hard to avoid thinking it's the endtimes and we should just go hole up in a compound in the woods somewhere.
Well said sister. I had no option but to flail my arms in the air wildly and resolve to blank out the whole issue for fear of actually exploding with rage.
I do wonder if the people in these positions making such stupid comments sanity check themselves. I am pleased they have scored such epic own goals that they will hopefully be voted into obscurity. If this is the type of stuff they are willing to say in public, what in the name of merry hell do they say behind closed doors?
'I would ask you to search your soul George, but we already know you don't have one'. Yes. Yes. Yes.
By the logic used by Galloway, I wouldn't need permission to insert my foot up his ass then, right? Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Did the Douche signal go out across the world this week? Is there a code phrase used to alert privileged white men that their way of life is under threat of extinction? Is that why this stuff is happening?
Sorry to be crude, but the sheer stupidity of these shenanigans makes me head want to explode.
Amen to everything you said and all the comments above! I was infuriated that there are still men who think like this. It is MY choice as to what goes on with my body and no one else's. This has been a sad year for women starting with the Michigan woman legislator being censored because she said the word "gasp" vagina a debate over anti-abortion legislation.
When it's time to vote, maybe we women should show these moronic cavemen exactly where we stand on this issue.
Sharon
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