Vicki is a news junky. Because she is a news junky I hear all sorts of stories that are good, bad, funny, and tragic. The three articles I talk about in here have provoked me.
India has had at least two severe gang rapes in the last month. Both women were taken hostage on a bus. The first woman it happened to was a month ago and she died from the damage they did. She lost 90% of her intestines because one of her murders thought it was great fun to shove a pipe up into her and pull them out. The second woman was held hostage by six men and returned to her home the next day.
There are other stories like the 15 year old girl in Pakistan (I think) who was “married” to an older man (50s I think). She ran away from her alleged husband and back to her family because he abused her.
I’m sure if I were to look there would be more stories like this and not just in foreign countries. Our global society has put women into a precarious situation. We are supposed to be virginal unless we are married. Then we are supposed to be a sex kitten. We are supposed to be perfect housekeepers, mothers, and career oriented. No matter how good we are though, society deems us second class citizens.
I’m not male bashing here. I love real men. You know they guys who can clean up after their sick kids, love you when you look like shit, cry with you, laugh with you – real men. Real men are as offended and outraged by these acts as women are.
Somehow in our global society men (not all and certainly not the real ones I talk about above) have devalued women. If a woman is raped – well it is her fault in some way – she had to be wearing something to provoke the attack or she was drunk or she just was. In no other crime is the victim blamed for what happened.
All of these excuses that are put out there by the uninformed people should offend men. Essentially society is saying men can’t control themselves. All it takes is the sight of a woman to provoke him into uncontrollable violence.
In the case in India where the rape occurred a month ago, the men were complaining about the abuse they got from the police. The reasonable person in me says two wrongs don’t make a right and their abuse of him doesn’t help the case go through the courts. The outraged woman in me says Karma is a bitch.
Somehow we have to put a stop to the devaluing of women. I’ve asked before but write your representatives on the state and federal level. Ask them how they are supporting women’s rights. Stand up with other women to show we can be a united force and that we won’t accept this type of behavior from anyone. Speak out against criticism of the way a woman is dressed, behaving, and so on. Respect yourself and teach your children to respect people. Our boys need to learn this just as much as our girls do.