Apologies for late post -- had some technical difficulties here...
Things have been pretty hectic this week, so didn't have much chance to link-farm. So I'm taking a slightly different tack on the subject -- one that involves a bit more of a long-term strategy.
The War On Women goes far beyond Congressional or state house idiocy. It starts with attitudes. Attitudes that lead and contribute to said Congressional and state house idiocy. If you're brought up believing that women have little worth, it's easy to see why it's okay to tell them what they can do with their bodies and they don't deserve fair wage treatment.
More below the twisted Cheeto...
I admit to being a bit of a social media addict. Not that much into Facebook (I do have a page; I keep it private though because I mainly use it for sites that require Facebook login for comments), but I've been on Twitter before Twitter was "cool". Especially with the rise of smartphone apps, it's become a source of news and entertainment. It's a good way to get out news in a short amount of space; a brief description, a link or a photo, and you're good to go all in 140 characters or less. And unlike Facebook, you don't have to use a real name -- a nickname and associated handle is all you need.
Unfortunately, the ability to be anonymous has lead to some problems, especially those who think that women are being a bit, well, "uppity" if you'll pardon the term.
First we look across The Pond to the United Kingdom. Since 2001 the 5-pound banknote had carried the image of Elizabeth Fry, a noted activist and reformer of her era (early 19th century). Then, recently, the Bank of England proposed replacing her image with Winston Churchill. Certainly a worthy choice…except for the small fact that Churchill opposed women's suffrage in England:
"The women's suffrage movement is only the small edge of the wedge, if we allow women to vote it will mean the loss of social structure and the rise of every liberal cause under the sun. Women are well represented by their fathers, brothers, and husbands."
So a group of women dressed up as famous (and infamous) historical figures and held a
demonstration on the steps of the Bank of England. The response was favorable; the Bank decided that they would go ahead with putting Churchill on the 5-pound note, but would place Jane Austen on the 10-pound note. Well, Jane Austen isn't quite as remarkable as Elizabeth Fry, but is probably a bit more renowned so it's a fair exchange.
However, several men who were insulted by the change decided to respond -- not by their own clever demonstration but by Anita Sarkeesian (who writes on the issue of female images in video games) have come under attack by men who see a challenge to their power structure, and recently girl geeks have been derided by some of the male persuasion as not "true" geeks.
But there's some good news -- women (and some enlightened men) are fighting back.
The UK government is taking this situation very seriously, calling Twitter executives to testify in front of Parliament, and has agreed to install a Report Abuse button on its Web site (the feature is already available in some iPhone Twitter clients and will be rolled out for Android soon).
As for the girl geeks, they're also responding:
Only by combating the attitudes that women are less worthy of equal treatment in the workforce and in society, and less worthy of equal respect as human beings, will we actually begin to make progress in the larger war taking place in government chambers around the world.