Feminism or Barbarism: The Patriarchy Papers 2010
As always, Kathy Miriam gives us a reality check.
The year of 2010 ended with two international rape cases against public male figures. The conviction of former President of Israel, Moishe Katsav, on several charges of rape, sexual assault, and harassment flitted through the air waves during the same period that the liberal-left was focused on rape allegations against Julian Assange. Assange, current it-boy of the left, is figurehead for the decentralized hacker-organization Wikki-leaks. The organization and Assange, its spokesperson, hit the news this past summer for its release to the press of over 250,000 government-classified documents concerning military operations and other nefarious government-activities.
Already targeted for his role in the leaks, Assange made even more news with another sort of “leaky” report– two Swedish women had reported him to the police for rape. The reaction of the male liberal-left was transparent–they reached for their dicks. The phrase “honey trap” went viral, insinuating a CIA plot. One of the women had been “wearing a revealing pink sweater,” Assange whined, adding that he had fallen into a “hornet’s nest of revolutionary feminists.” (Between honey-trap and hive, the species Vespa held the day). If only.
askod:
Great piece.
Had to nitpick on domestic violence being a greater cause of death and injury then “cancer, malaria, traffic accidents and war combined”. In a game of chinese whispers, this appears to originate as domestic violence and rape being a greater cause of death and injury then cancer, malaria, traffic accidents or war from a 1994 World Bank paper. Not the worst misrepresentation of that result I have seen however.
Maybe the fact that a 1994 paper is still apparently the freshest we have got should tell us something.
2 February 2011, 4:25 pmMichael Anderson:
I noticed “Congress” (sic) has the support of 173 of its members to narrow the definition of “rape”. Welcome to 1925. What’s next—approval of “corrective rape” as a medical treatment??
http://lezgetreal.com/2011/02/gillibrand-wasserman-schultz-fight-back-agaisnt-republicans-anti-woman-legislation/
“The Republicans are pushing to redefine the meaning of “rape” to mean, specifically, a violent sexual act instigated against someone’s will. This redefinition means that the days when ‘no’ meant ‘no’ would be over. If a woman did not fight back, then she would not have been raped, according to this Republican definition of rape. The purpose behind it is simple. The Republicans want to make abortion as inaccessible as possible. It is an attempt to cater to those who want women to go back to being subservient to men, and to those who want to see women stripped of every right that they have fought for over the last fifty years.
Today, both Representatives Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand fought back against this horrific intrusion by the Republicans into women’s lives. It is government intrusion into women’s lives at its worst. Not only does this redefine rape, but it also redefines what government spending is by stripping away the ability of women to rely on any funding to get an abortion.”
And the Dems watch the circus and do nothing—of course.
3 February 2011, 2:51 pmCharles:
Wasserman is a Dem
4 February 2011, 5:05 pmMichael Anderson:
My mistake—-I realized this after I wrote it. But I believe they are the exception…
5 February 2011, 3:29 amCharles:
If the new rightwing , Rep majority House passes this, most Dems will vote against this Rep measure, and Obama will veto it, if the Dem majority Senate doesn’t vote it down. The Dem’s Congress will uphold the veto if necessary.
7 February 2011, 4:19 pmCharles:
^^^^^^^^^
http://www.peoplesworld.org/republicans-drop-forcible-rape-but-war-on-women-continues/
Republicans drop “forcible rape” but war on women continues
by: Susan Webb
10 February 2011, 12:34 pmCharles:
^^^^^^^^
Women call time on Berlusconi in mass protests
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/italyjusticepoliticsberlusconiwomen
The women’s protests were organised by sisters Francesca and Cristina Comencini, both actresses, who argue that Berlusconi’s playboy antics and his sexist comments are only a reflection of the misogynism in Italian society.
14 February 2011, 9:27 amMichael Anderson:
I have my differences with Mr. O’s governance and WaPo (to put it mildly), but it’s about time….I am unapologetic in my admiration of Ms. Esperanza Spalding.
She’s a woman
She’s African-American
She’s NOT part of the goddamn American Idol media culture—she has real talent.
and…
She’s a BASS PLAYER (bass players unite!)
and…
She’s a JAZZ UPRIGHT bass player…who can sing!
A small victory for those of us who dare to speak the “J” word, like women as people, and try to live outside the goddamn Matrix.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/blog-post/2011/02/esperanza_spalding_gets_wikipe.html
14 February 2011, 1:17 pmCharles:
^^^^^^^
http://pol.moveon.org/waronwomen/?rc=fb
Top 10 Shocking Attacks from the GOP’s War on Women
21 February 2011, 4:53 pmCharles:
Bravest Woman in Mexico’: 21-Year-Old Police Chief Takes Aim at Cartels | PBS NewsHour | Feb. 17, 2
http://www.pbs.org
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/world/jan-june11/mexico_02-17.html
Bill Neely of Independent Television News continues his series on Mexico’s war against violent drug cartels with a profile of a 21-year old, whose first job is serving as one town’s chief of police.
Beverly Last fall I met two female journalists from Ciudad Juarez. They told me that the majority of journalists are covering the drug trafficking and violence there are women, young women with children. I don’t know if you read Spanish :http://www.diario.com.mx/notas.php?f=2011%2F02%2F17&id=e6e6d2439068b7e479f4d30faa3e5764
22 February 2011, 11:59 amHenry:
She is brave, of course, but she is also not stupid. She has made it clear that the job of confronting the cartels pertains to the federal government, while her job is protecting the citizenry from local crime–usual police concerns.
23 February 2011, 3:30 pmMichael Anderson:
An interesting article on Motherhood (gender), racism, and the Am-er-EEK-an way:
http://www.alternet.org/story/151414/americans_seem_to_love_huge_families%2C_but_only_if_they%27re_white?page=entire
Americans Seem To Love Huge Families, But Only If They’re White
We love women who pump out litters of babies — at least, some women.
June 23, 2011
A quick click through evening television reveals America’s obsession with the huge white family. A short list would include oldies like “The Brady Bunch,” “The Partridge Family,” “7th Heaven” and “The Waltons,” as well newer entries in the scripted and reality show genres (“Big Love,” “Sister Wives,” “19 Kids and Counting,” “Kate Plus Eight”). If television programming is a cultural bellwether, we are really into white women having lots of kids.
What about women of color with huge families? How are they represented in our deep interest in fecundity? For the most part — big shocker — they’re not in the frame.
30 June 2011, 11:50 pmMichael Anderson:
I found this interesting (and revolting)…a bit of depth on the Akin Rape commentary. Fascism. Speculative Pseudo-science in the service of power. I’m glad the connection was made, so we can see…the DE-volvement of America continues.
http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/item/11691-gop-looks-to-nazi-death-camp-experiments-for-forcing-rape-victims-to-bear-childre
“…A St. Louis Post-Dispatch article details how an assistant University of Missouri medical professor appears to be the source for GOP Senate Candidate Todd Akin’s grotesque statements about rape victims stopping impregnation due to trauma:
In supporting his claim about trauma and ovulation, Mecklenburg cited experiments conducted in Nazi death camps.
The Nazis tested this hypothesis “by selecting women who were about to ovulate and sending them to the gas chambers, only to bring them back after their realistic mock-killing, to see what the effect this had on their ovulatory patterns. An extremely high percentage of these women did not ovulate.”
Finally, Mecklenburg said it was likely that the rapists — because of “frequent masturbation” — were unlikely to be fertile themselves…”
26 August 2012, 12:31 pm