The language in this column will not be entirely ladylike. Hell, it might even be a little impolite and *gasp* arrogant.
I almost could not function this week because I am still so angry about KavanaUGH that I can hardly see straight. Let alone sound cool and measured.
It seemed to me that, with that appointment, our nation passed some kind of a watershed: not only in the war on women, but in the endless war to keep progressing, ever so slightly, towards a system where everyone is valued and everyone’s basic rights are recognized, including the right to self-determination.
This came coincidentally along with the news that we may be too late to prevent global warming from destroying most, if not all, of everything we hold dear.
I’ve been dealing with all the typical symptoms of simple, reactive depression including immense sadness, inertia, and a continual sense of irritation, making me act rude to perfectly innocent friends, especially those who are not quite as alarmed as I am.
In this moment of discouragement, one diarist here was moved to suggest that American women should force men to vote Democratic by going on a sex strike. Nemmind my venomous, depression-inspired reaction; the core was succinctly stated by another:
Thanks, grubber.
However, in the same discussion, wilderness voice posted a link to Wikipedia concerning the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace, started in 2003 by women in Monrovia, Liberia, which worked to end the Second Liberian Civil War (and apparently included some kind of sex strike, although Wikipedia did not give details).
I am ashamed to have known nothing about this movement. For those who did know, I hope the reminder will be welcome.
Thing were much worse than we are dealing with here and now. (Although in common with our present situation, Liberia’s leader was also a sociopath--an individual with zero conscience , lacking normal human capacity for caring about others.)
Read!
Liberian women "had to endure the pain of watching their young sons be forcibly recruited into the army. A few days later these young men would come back into the same village, drugged up, and were made to execute their own family members. Women had to bear the pain of seeing their young daughters…be used as sex slaves at night and as fighters during the day…women had to sit by and watch their husbands, their fathers be taken away. In most instances these men were hacked to pieces.
Unable to tolerate any more fighting or killing, a small group of Liberian women made a decision that would eventually change the country. These women released a campaign that called for non-violence and peace. Their leader, Leymah Gbowee, stated that they would "take the destiny of Liberia into their own hands," declaring that "in the past they were silent, but after being killed, raped, dehumanized, and infected with diseases, war has taught them that the future lies in saying no to violence and yes to peace…."
Thousands of Muslim and Christian women from various classes mobilized their efforts, staged silent nonviolent protests that included a sex strike and the threat of a curse...Thousands of local women prayed and sang in a fish market daily for months...
Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace forced a meeting with President Charles Taylor and extracted a promise from him to attend peace talks....A delegation of Liberian women went to Ghana to continue to apply pressure on the warring factions during the peace process.
Two hundred women surrounded the room, dressed in white, dominating the conversation. Any time the negotiators tried to leave, the women threatened to take off all of their clothes. Enclosed in the room with the women, the men would try to jump out of the windows to escape their talk. But the women persisted, staging a sit-in outside of the Presidential Palace. They blocked all the doors and windows and prevented anyone from leaving the peace talks without a resolution…
So, General Kelly, you asshole, you have not yet begun to see what a bunch of impolite arrogant women can and will do if you push us far enough.
Hell, we might even threaten to take off all our clothes in front of famously gynophobic Vice President Mike Pence.
UNPRINTABLE EXPLETIVE PHRASE
RANT OFF
Closer to home and up-to date: indigenous women are in the forefront of the campaign to protect Mother Earth.
Eagle Woman, alternate name Kandi (Mosset) White lives in North Dakota. She contracted cancer at age 20 and later found “clear patterns of serious health issues in low-income and minority communities, especially ones located near major pollution sources including coal-fired power plants, coal, oil, gas, and uranium extraction sites, and nuclear power plants.”
It has often been said that the rape of Mother Earth is connected to the rape of women. When fracking came to our little communities in rural North Dakota and violence against women increased exponentially, we fully understood what that meant...
Since the inception of our resistance movement, we’ve observed our grassroots leaders are predominately women...
Women have a deep and abiding tie to the land that we Indigenous people call “blood memory.” It’s what ties all women to our Mother Earth and gives us the instinct to care for our families and communities, just as our Mother Earth cares for and provides for all living beings. It’s because of this blood memory that we can’t stand our earth being ripped apart, blown up, dug up, and desecrated.
“...[W]e are not just pushing to stop fossil fuel projects or uranium mining projects or big dam projects or deforestation, we are also working towards that next step — towards something called a “just transition” — that would move our society, slowly, but surely, towards a decarbonized economy.
Once again women of color remind us, women’s issues in fact are far more expansive than what are glibly categorized as “women’s issues,” as if half the population were some special-interest lobby.
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Hotel housekeeping workers in Chicago and some other cities now have legally-mandated protection against sexual assault in the form of key-fob “panic buttons” to alert hotel security in the event of a problem, as well of protection against being fired if they complain. A small survey of such workers in Chicago found about 60% had experienced sexual harrassment or assault on the job. A large number of these workers, BTW, are immigrants.
It’s a start.
Some big international hotel chains announced in a September press conference that they're committed to something called a "Five Star Promise," which includes safety devices, but just for hotels in the US and Canada….
Sexual assault in the hotel industry is a global issue. So, what are some of these larger chains doing to keep their workers safe in other major cities — say, Paris or Dubai?
The World contacted Marriott International, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, InterContinental Hotels and Resorts, Hyatt and Hilton Hotels and Resorts asking if personal security devices would be made available anytime soon in their properties overseas. Marriott said it currently has no plans to provide safety devices to housekeepers in their 6,700 properties abroad. And in an email to The World, Hilton Hotels and Resorts said they have anti-harassment and anti-trafficking training in place. It's not clear whether that training is offered to their employees here in the US or worldwide. Hilton also didn't elaborate what the training is or who it's for. No other hotel group responded.
An escapee from Warren Jeffs' polygamous cult has joined with other women to turn Jeffs’ erstwhile mansion into a place of refuge. Incredibly inspiring story. Also history on how what was originally a socially close-knit and voluntary splinter group from the Mormon church metamorphosed into an abusive, absolutist, authoritarian kingdom. (Aside: forced marriage is not only sexual abuse; it is a form of slavery.)
Nadia Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot has a new book out.
Saudi Arabia is getting its first woman bank chairman. www.bbc.com/...
Lubna Al Olayan will chair a new bank being formed out of a merger between the Saudi British Bank (SABB) and Alawwal Bank...British multinational bank HSBC will own part of the new entity.
However, Saudi women still need permission from a male “guardian" to open a bank account, among other legal disabilities.
Not So Good
I shared a stray thought this week via email about whether women might conduct a strike by going offline at certain hours.
Reaction: not a good idea.
Worse: the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) thought it would be a good idea to order its women members offline for a 10-day “media fast” on Oct. 6. (Which happened to be the day of the confirmation vote on Brett KavanaUGH.)
www.theguardian.com/…
“I invite you to participate in a 10-day fast from social media and from any other media that bring negative and impure thoughts to your mind,” said Nelson, 94, who became the church’s 17th president in January. “The effect of your 10-day fast might surprise you.”
The order has been awkward for church members, including some who are running businesses, using social media to communicate with family, and even conducting political campaigns.
Crystal Young-Otterstrom, a Mormon who has been active in Utah’s Democratic party for more than 15 years, said many women are talking about the conflict and deciding to do what’s best for their own lives, even if they agree in principle with the fast. That includes opting in on a limiting basis or deciding to put off their fast to a late date, as Nelson didn’t specifically say fasts should immediately begin…
Young-Otterstrom also hopes that Nelson, who issued a similar call for a fast by church youths in June, will eventually extend the request to Latter-day Saint men.
WTF Pope Francis? The Conversation has a thorough, well thought-out, logical piece on why abortion is not “like hiring a hit man." And we need to explain this why?
Amazon had to scrap its resume-reading AI tool. The program learned gender bias from the programmers. GIGO. https://www.bbc.com/...
Human Rights Watch has campaigns going concerning women in Bulgaria, Kenya and Germany: https://www.hrw.org/…
Thirty-six schoolgirls in India, ages 10 to 14, were beaten by a mob of boys and parents, badly enough to require hospital treatment, after complaining of sexual harassment. The slightly better outcome was that six boys and one adult (woman!) were arrested. https://www.theguardian.com/…
Beyond the Moment
ramara pointed out an in-depth piece "...looking at our political parties as defined by ideas of masculine and feminine and looking at the Kavanaugh hearings with this in mind.”
slate.com/...
Sample:
The problem with misogyny in this country goes beyond the oppression of women—although that alone should be a reason to shatter the patriarchy where it stands. It’s also the oppression of anything seen as feminine: those who show “weakness,” which is defined in our patriarchal system as anything outside the two acceptable masculine modes of brutish violence and cold indifference. Even cisgender men suffer when they are not able to convincingly perform this twisted vision of manliness. One of the automatic black marks on your masculinity performance grade is caring too much about anyone outside the male/straight/white/able ideal (i.e., the people allowed into our toxic masculine vision of strength).
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Everyday discrimination literally raises women’s blood pressure: A new study adds to the evidence that routine moments of “disdain, distance, and disrespect” have health consequences. https://www.theatlantic.com/…
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Some thoughts on what it means when TV/movies/books/etc relentlessly push the assumption that the white man is always the protagonist, and everyone else (especially women) has to fit around his point of view.
https://www.vox.com/...
A Spoonful of Sugar...
Angmar took a look at the first episode of the new “Doctor Who” series, with the first ever woman Doctor, Jodie Whittaker: "The Woman Who Fell to Earth" https://www.dailykos.com/…
Contrary to masculist predictions, the world did not come to an end. At least not last week. :-)
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Speaking of women doctors...Interesting find by BMScott:
Photo taken Oct. 10, 1885: Drs. Anandibai Joshi of India, Keiko Okami of Japan, and Sabat Islambouli of Syria; according to the accompanying text, each of them became the first licensed female doctor in her country. They were students at the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, one of the only places in the world where women could then study medicine.
A Mighty Girl, on Facebook has more.
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So in all, a fairly intersectional week.
Contributors include Tara the Antisocial Social Worker, SandraLLAP, ramara, officebss, elenacarlena, BMScott, Besame and Angmar.
Thanks all, and stay strong!