Thursday, June 19, 2008

the more things change- the more they don't: part 120

i am a woman. yep. you will have to take my word for it. growing up the way i did- american, christian, strong maternal figure, misogynistic drunk for a paternal figure- absolutely made me who i am today. i also came of age in the reagan era of 'trickle down' theories that never seemed to trickle down to us. odd that. jobs were scarce then for my blue collar parents and my mom cleaned houses for the 'haves' who, for the most part, were middle class. i helped her so i look back now and see that they were middle class- but at the time, we thought that they were rich. anyhoo, that's neither here nor there. the point of this post is (yeah, i know you are waiting with bated breath)

women's rights haven't continued to move forward (fyi gloria steinham) the are going in reverse in 'civilized, western countries.' so, while the feminist movement in this country was busy having their white suburban 'vote hillary' coffee klatches- women's rights have inched back to the medieval times. we have much to say about muslim folks and how horribly they treat women- the whole honor killing or acid in the face thing- or even stoning- for crimes that they didn't commit. but if you take a peek into the american lifestyle- we are headed that way.

these are three articles i have run across in the past 2 days- and no doubt there are others but you tell me- why is it so very necessary for men to dominate women? it doesn't make sense to me.

the hymen controversy

'pro-life' drugstores market beliefs- they even have a website that i won't link to- but do google

shaky economic times are shakier for women- always have been

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Why do men have a need to dominate, period?????

Anonymous said...

Having lived in both worlds, I have a very different take on this. While I wish we in the West had true equality, we have it so much better than the women in some other countries. So much better.

Ellen R. Sheeley, Author
"Reclaiming Honor in Jordan"
http://www.redroom.com/author/ellen-r-sheeley

billie said...

ellen, i don't dispute that we do. we most certainly do. but it is sliding backwards at a rate that alarms me. whether it be an influx of primarily christian groups seeking an end to contraceptives and/or abortions or the rise in misogyny (which was fairly blatent during the democratic party's primaries) women in this country are taking for granted that which has been hard won by previous generations. i just think women should know that things here in america are changing rapidly and women are usually the first to feel the hardships.