25 November, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Violence against women and girls is a universal problem of epidemic proportions. Perhaps the most pervasive human rights violation that we know today, it devastates lives, fractures communities, and stalls development. - UN report

Today is International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. This is a UN-sponsored event and their website contains a wealth of links and information on this topic.

Violence against women is indeed a universal epidemic, from the lenient rape laws in Britain, where according to Tory leader David Cameron, “at least 75 per cent of all rapes are never reported to the police, which…is partly due to a lack of support for female victims during the legal process,” to a country like Saudi Arabia, where a young woman who was recently gang-raped was sentenced to suffer 200 lashes, prompting even the United States government to criticize their great pals the Saudis. And then of course there’s the ultimate example of violence against women, the “honour killing” of Du’a Khalil Aswad, which I wrote about so much earlier this year.

From my own experience, I think one of the biggest obstacles feminists face in the fight for justice for women is the widespread belief that feminism is no longer needed, that it has achieved all of its aims… [This content edited by Anglofille 2/01/08] … This level of ignorance even among very highly educated people just shows how much feminism is needed now more than ever, as is the repeated reminder that women in this world suffer gender-based violence every single minute of every single day.

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1. Daniela Says:

   November 25th, 2007 at 8:29 pm

   I do agree with you. I guess most women have been lured into this “girl power” fantasy (so much for the Spice Girls’ slogan) where the fact that they are “allowed” in modern society to work and do things such as dress-to-kill means that they have achieved some sort of ultimate empowerment. Whereas, for example, anyone knows that nearly no woman can go out there dressed-to-kill without being at risk of being raped or harrassed; or that most of them still earn less than men, and have to do the triple threat: work/mother/housekeep on their own.
   Of course there have been lots of achievements if we compare our times to not so long ago in the very XXth century. But for instance, in the place where I come from I guess women are in complete denial, they amount their achievement to having the same sexual assertiveness than men’s. They get fake boobs and botox injections and they think that is all that is needed for them to be seen as empowered female beings - well, at the end of the day they turn more attractive to MEN. And all I can see is emptiness because women do not only face the gender issue - they face the age issue as well. I wonder what will be of these class-priviledged women when they grow old. What will they have of theirs? What will they treasure when looks fails them completely? And here I am talking about priviledged women.
   To say that the others, the ones who are so oppressed that they barely have a choice, enjoy being oppressed is too much of a simplification. What happens is that lots of these women internalize the oppression, or are simply in denial of it (as a means to cope with helplessness).
   I am not a radical feminist, I am more what Atwood brilliantly called a “womanist”, as I can’t radically commit myself to this or that line of thought.
   But it is clear, so clear, that there are lots of things still to be addressed. And that doing so will stir lots of fake truths that have been taken for granted - (who does really want to touch this beehive?) As the one that feminism is over and should be seen as old-fashioned or some sort of threat that some crazy hairy women want to inflict in the others who are happy with their plastic surgery or new boobs. There is lot of discrimination coming from women themselves (you could see by the comments on your other post).
   It is very frustrating after all.

2. ERS Says:

   November 25th, 2007 at 9:30 pm

   As one who’s been working on “honor” killings for years, I can assure people that there is a heck of a lot of work to be done.

   And, Daniela, I agree with you. . .sometimes women are part of the problem (and I am not referring here to the victims of “honor” killings). And that is just very distressing to see and experience.

   Ellen R. Sheeley, Author
   “Reclaiming Honor in Jordan”

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