Electric Venom has an excellent (although depressing) post compiling reasons pissed-off feminists are needed worldwide. What follows is a sample, but you should go read the whole thing.
Why?
When Iran’s vice-president, Massoumeh Ebtekar, plans to travel to an international conference on climate change, she has to get a written note from her husband granting her legal permission to leave the country.
Why?
The Saudi government and the Taliban share many traits when it comes to the treatment of women, who make up 57 % of Saudis, but are considered minors by Saudi law. Women have the legal status of a car, where they are transferred from their father’s custody to their husbands’ or sons’. They are unable to buy a mobile phone, register in college, travel, and accept marriage proposal among other things, without male approval. — Ali Ah-Ahmed, Executive Director of the Saudi Institute in testimony to the U.S. Congress, June 4, 2002
Meanwhile, Brian Flemming – author of a play I linked to yesterday, Fair & Balanced – reports on the evidence that the Republican choice for leading California simply hates women. Again, I’m reproducing a sample, but read the whole thing.
“During the production of the 1991 mega-blockbuster Terminator 2: Judgment Day, a producer on that film recalls Arnold’s emerging from his trailer one day and noticing a fortyish female crew member, who was wearing a silk blouse. Arnold went up to the woman, put his hands inside her blouse, and proceeded to pull her breasts out of her bra. Another observer says, “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. This woman’s nipples were exposed, and here’s Arnold and a few of his clones laughing. I went after the woman, who had run to the shelter of a nearby trailer. She was hysterical but refused to press charges for fear of losing her job. It was disgusting.” “Arnold the Barbarian”: Premiere Magazine March 2001
Finally, read this MEMRI report on how some Islamic intellectuals are trying to defend wife-beating as a valid cultural tradition. The article also includes some information about female Muslim activists resisting and demanding change.
This demand for a new interpretation regarding women in Islam, as produced by the Aisha school of thought – if one can call it that – must gain special importance in the Islamic world and must get the attention of clerics. These cannot be dismissed as a [Western] plot to destroy the morals and values of Muslim women. When five veiled Muslim women stand up at an international conference – the first Canadian of Lebanese origin, the second Afro-American, the third a businesswoman from Malaysia, the fourth a Tunisian Frenchwoman, and the fifth an Egyptian student – and demand reform in religious law regarding women in Islam, it is impossible, in my opinion, to ignore this demand or to assume it is an anti-Muslim act… The traditional Islamic institutions have forsaken them, and they have been forced to turn to international conferences on religious law to express their ideas.
Many people don’t believe that a candidate’s personal life and their behavior therein are legitimate complaints against their political qualifications. And, for the most part, I agree.
But if you can’t even keep your (consent-less) hands off another person’s body–i.e., if you engage in what is clearly sexual harassment–you have no business being their governor, regardless of your political stance.
Everything I’ve read about Arnold has indicated to me that he has no respect for women. If I lived in California, I sure as hell wouldn’t vote for him.
Just women? I’ve read a thing or two that convince me that Arnold is just an asshole in general when he thinks he can get away with it.
Q: How many porn spammers/porn spam customers does it take to screw in a lightbulb ?
A: None. Who needs light when your head’s that far up your ass ?
*grin*
Amy, that rocks.
—JRC
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