Cracks in the Mirror

This is very disturbing, no actually it is horrific and immoral.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jun/10/afghan-parliament-upholds-right-marry-children/

This story highlights the terrible conditions some women in the world still live under. The repressive ideas that women are just men’s property.  They can be raped, and yet will then be found guilty of adultery or fornication,and often the men just walk away.

Young girls can be married off to old men,  to be their property, to be used and hidden away from the world. Where is the care and protection of these children?What kind of society does this? And why are we not protesting strongly that this is NOT right.

Culture is not an excuse to harm people,  Culture is no excuse to subjugate people, to cause women, children to live lives of bondage, pain and suffering.  Culture that punishes a victim does not deserve a free pass.  Religion that harms does not deserve a free pass either.

Any society’s first call is to protect its young and its vulnerable, not exploit them.

There are two many of these crimes against women.

Where does a 21 one year old learn this crap, that it is somehow honorable to murder his sister for being pregnant …. let alone after he is to blame for it … the ultimate outcome of victim blaming.  Rape your sister then blame her for dishonoring the family and use this to justify her murder ..

We can not be tolerant of this behavior, we need to speak out against it, no matter where it is, American, the middle east, England, New Zealand, Australia, it is NOT honorable anywhere to murder another human being, to rape,  to destroy another life for an idea, a philosophy , a religion …

We need to find ways to change the world. to stop the injustices that see women raped and murdered, to change the how women are treated in many countries, as objects by and for the males of the family …

Now let me start of by saying… there is nothing wrong with getting married and having babies ..IF thats what you want to do..but

This is so wrong  – this advice is designed to put women back in the box.

We have choices.. that’s what being a 21centuray women is about. You get to have  say in your future, you get to  make your own decisions. There are many options open to women, but what it is all about is … ..your choice.

We have rights that we must not lose, the right to vote, to control our bodies and to choose our futures…

Any of your ideas, wants and needs will change during your life time, whats right for you today may differ 5, 10 years down the track, but no one has the right to say that motherhood is the ‘better’ path for women, that having many children will be a better choice for you.

Women .. your future is yours to choose. U turns, detours and  unexpected stops are allowed.

People like Mitt Romney try to put you back under the control of men, of religion. Our voices need to be heard, to stand up and say, No I choose my own path…..

Two stories, one old one new

In both these stories the lives of women were put danger due to religious beliefs on the sanctity of life. A El Salvadorian woman may face jail time if she goes forward with a lifesaving and medically recommended abortion. Abortion is illegal under all circumstances in El Salvador.

The second story is the young Indian women who died in Ireland  after being refused an abortion even though the fetus was no longer viable.

Both stories highlight the terribly position women are put into when faced with the bigotry of the religious, where the  life of a fetus overrides their wishes and life saving choices.  While there are deeply held moral beliefs on the issue of abortion, none of these should ever override the choice and the life of the mother. How many women every year are denied life saving abortions, how many children  are denied mothers due to religions fanaticism.

This is a issue about the rights of women, the right of a women to control her own body,  to be free to choose. Margaret Sanger wrote: “No woman can call herself free until she can choose consciously whether she will or will not be a mother.”   Denying the rights of a women to choose is to deny them the right to control their own body.

In many cases its denying women the right to live.

I know this has been all over the blogshere and the news, but it needs to be repeated  over and over until the world understands that it is NOT ok to rape, ever .

The Steubenville case highlights how far the world needs to go to understand how wrong this is.

In this case the rapists are being seen as the ‘victims’ as they were popular  young footballers who lives are now ‘ruined’. This isnt unusual, but in what universe,  is it ok to take a drunk unconscious girl and publicly rape her, pass her around and film it all.

The real victim has had little public concern shown her, has had death threats and violence threaten against her.

We have to stop blaming victims, and place the blame squarely where it belongs, on the person who did the crime.

We did these boys, and all those who watched, get the idea that this was ok? Why did no one step in and stop this, instead of whipping out their cell phones to take photos, did it not occur to anyone to call the police?

Every human voice needs to be against this behavior,  raping as well as the acceptance of it, and the blaming the victim culture.