Motley Moose – Archive

To start with, let me be clear: The oppression and general subjugation of women is not an exclusively Republican issue. Measures proposed, adopted, or supported by some Democrats, such as the Stupak-Pitts amendment and the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, make that clear. Nor is the oppression and subjugation of women even an exclusively male issue. The fact is, a lot of conservative women adhere and/or contribute to the doctrine of male domination, perhaps because it is politically useful (see Palin, who is no feminist), or perhaps because they have simply been indoctrinated to do so. Despite all the calls for equality and the efforts of feminists throughout the country and around the world, everyone who has grown up in the United States has been influenced, in one way or another, by the pervasive and prevailing mindset of masculine domination. Some of us are more resistant to indoctrination than others, but few are entirely immune. We are all subject to the influences of gender stereotyping, no matter how careful our parents may have been to prevent it. Every day, we are inundated with indoctrinating images and ideas, through television, literature, music, and innumerable other mediums.

What is most important isn’t that we are completely free of assumptions about the opposite sex, or even our own, but that we strive to understand the causes and effects of sexism and rail against it when we perceive it.

Note: This is an update to a diary I did a loooooooong time ago. It’s got plenty of new articles, new stats, new pics, etc, so hopefully the updates will be of interest to some. Cross-posted at GOS.

Exhausted, actually.

It’s used against Democratic politicians by their opponents during elections, and now it’s being used against all of us in the health care debate. What’s worse, it is Democratic Senators and Representatives who are holding health care for ransom, their votes for reform contingent upon greater restrictions on my body and my rights. A few weeks ago, I watched the House vote to limit my reproductive freedom in such ways as were legally possible, and now I am watching the Senate haggle over my options as well. Why is this acceptable in our society? Why do I have to limit my choices and see my autonomy over my own body compromised because of the wishes of a bunch of stuffy old men? Why are my rights subject to their whims?

Two short weeks ago, in a speech on International Women’s Day, President Hamid Karzai gave a rousing speech on the need to fight the specter of the institutionalized marginalization, violence, and rape that Afghani women faced during the reign of the Taliban.

In a speech commemorating International Women’s Day on Sunday, President Hamid Karzai challenged Afghan religious leaders to denounce violence against women and reject traditional practices that treat women as property.

“The forced marriages, the selling of women these are against Islam,” Karzai told some 600 women gathered in a high school auditorium in the capital, Kabul.

How quickly things change. Seems Mr. Karzai’s not so sure he’s got the coalition build to support him in the upcoming Presidential election. So, what’s the answer, here? Why, some very disgusting electioneering- by signing the Shiite Personal Status Law.

There’s been a lot of noise this cycle about Senator Barack Obama’s purported “problem with women,” a talking point which gained popularity during his historic battle for the nomination against Senator Hillary Clinton. Though Obama’s numbers dipped slightly after the GOP convention, polls indicate he is trending upward again. Conventional wisdom among the talking heads and doomsday prophets is that Senator John McCain’s vice presidential pick Sarah Palin might prove capable of pulling Clinton’s female supporters away from Obama, but unfortunately for the McCain campaign, his choice of an unvetted, little-known woman governor for vice president was woefully transparent.