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Accepted Epidemic of Hate and Violence Against Women |
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Posted 4/27/2010 at 2:27 PM by Jen C |
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I am mad and angry right now. This morning alone I learned about three different acts of violence against women in three different countries and was told by a male friend the story of a woman "that was raped and whatever", but was supposedly not affected by it.
As a woman I am constantly shown that I am part of a group that is targeted all over the world through violence. A group that is individually, cross-culturally and systematically picked apart to enforce larger archaic ideas of power and to make political points, and I'm mad.
I am pissed about repeatedly seeing the complete cross-cultural disregard for this violence against women. I am pissed about the hundreds of women that have been raped, killed, mutilated and forgotten in Mexican border cities. About the thousands of women's bodies that have violated to carry out ordered military strategy in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Darfur, and the Congo (just to name a few). I am pissed about the countless women that have been assaulted in their own homes, most often by men they knew and trust. I am pissed about the young baby girls that have been killed at birth because our culture believes men are of more value. I am pissed about the women all over the world that are withheld education and opportunity because of their ability to bring life. I am pissed that I am expected to be thankful for the fact that I live in country where my husband can no longer legally rape me(this law was only passed in the U.S. in 1986) when that same basic rule does not apply with the majority of women across the world. I am pissed that I am lucky to live in a country where only 1 in 6 women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime and where a whopping 6% of rapist will spend at least a day in jail. I am pissed that I am told that the way to prevent sexual violence is by changing MY behavior and learning how to protect myself. I am pissed that when I point out the role men play as the primary perpetrators; I am accused blaming all men for rape. I am pissed that I am expected to expect it and go along with it.
I AM PISSED, but also... I am sad.
Because this means that my most obvious connection to women all over the world is a shared experience of violence that is pushed onto us for simply being women that live in a world with men.
How is it that something that is so completely wrong and huge is so readily accepted? We as a world cannot agree on anything, yet somehow, we all agree that this is okay through our inaction and disregard. That what is happening to women everywhere is okay. This leads to my biggest issue. How do you change a world that does not see a problem? |
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