http://www.feministpeacenetwork.org/2009/08/08/misogynist-hatred-and-violence-are-womens-lives-the-canary-in-the-political-coal-mine/Misogynist Hatred and Violence–Are Women’s LIves The Canary In The Political Coal Mine
In her four volume “From Eve To Dawn: A History of Women in the World” Marilyn French talks about the origins of the restrictions of women’s freedom at the beginning of patriarchal culture when men had figured out that they played a role in the creation of children but had not yet figured out how long a pregnancy lasted. In order to be sure of who the father of a child was, they restricted women’s movements so that they could be sure she didn’t come in contact with other men.
While we now know how long a pregnancy lasts, the controlling and restricting of women’s lives is unfortunately a form of male domination that continues today. And when those restrictions are challenged, the men who depend on them to feel empowered become angry.
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Lastly, as the health care debate rages, I find it interesting that for lack of legitimate argument against reform, opponents have attempted to use the abortion issue to derail passage of meaningful legislation. The anti-abortion frame has always been code for controlling women’s bodies (remember that first paragraph above) and healthcare for women under the current system is extremely lucrative. Women are routinely charged more for health insurance and huge profits are made off of drugs such as those used for Hormone Replacement Therapy despite the risk to women’s lives and cesarean sections are performed far too often in this country with no medical justification. Truth seems to be completely irrelevant in their hysteria laden charges about abortion, as Planned Parenthood’s Cecile Rogers points out:
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In a column in the New York Times, Bob Herbert rightly observes that even though we as a nation express outrage at killings like the ones in Pennsylvania, it doesn’t last for long because, “the rape, murder and humiliation of females is not only a staple of the news, but an important cornerstone of the nation’s entertainment”.
That is true, but not the complete truth. And here we go back to Marilyn French’s examination of the original reasons that men felt it necessary to control women’s lives in order to create their own sense of empowerment. Violence and the misogynistic debasement and trivialization of women’s lives is not only a mainstay of what we are told is entertaining but it is the most effective tool that there is to control women and that control is crucially necessary to maintain a patriarchal culture. In a time of economic disenfranchisement and military quagmires that challenge the empowerment of patriarchy, these acts of misogynist hatred are, I fear ominous indicators of the great instability that we are facing.
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there are more women in the world then men
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