feminism

Not all pregnancies are alike

07/16/2007 by Debra

This is the version of pregnancy anti-choicers see. Even if they themselves do not experience the soft focus joy the picture alludes to, they would never admit to it. They certainly do not want to hear that for many the experience of pregnancy is a horror.

Anyone who could still adhere to the idea that all pregnancies are gifts and all abortions are wrong after reading the following story has no sense of decency or humanity.

An 11-year-old primary school pupil who was raped last year but kept her ordeal a secret until a month ago, has given birth to a baby boy.
The baby was born in Tygerberg Hospital on Thursday.
The family of the the girl, who lives in Bishop Lavis, have decided to give up the boy for adoption.

Approached for comment, a prominent medical doctor, Yusuf Noor, said it was “very traumatic. It will stay with her for the rest of her life”.
“Depending on the size of her pelvis, womb and other parts of her body, she may not be able to give birth normally again and she may have complications.
“However, it depends on the treatment given to her before the birth by a gynaecologist.
“The greatest problem will be a psychological one. It is very traumatic to give birth at that age,” Noor said.
Her grandmother said: “I hope the counselling programme and sessions are completed before she is summoned to testify in court.”
The 48-year-old security officer who will appear in court today is a former neighbour and a family friend

full story

“Having a girl is to plant a seed in someone else’s garden.”

07/14/2007 by Debra

cross posted at Bread and Roses: Front Page

India is proposing to register all women who are pregnant. This ostensibly is being done in order to curb the number of female fetuses being aborted and to help stop the number of female child infanticides.

Currently up to 500,000 female fetuses are being aborted yearly. The preference for boys has “[…]reduced the number of girls per 1,000 boys from 945 in 1991 to 927 in 2001.” ((http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/07/14/ap3914376.html))

Boys tend to be preferred because they carry on the family name. But families here also fear the financial burden of girls – when it comes time to pay huge traditional dowries to their daughters’ future husbands upon marriage. ((http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2007-03/2007-03-05-voa17.cfm))

Until there is a change in the way females are viewed societally, the attempt to limit abortions will only result in more female children suffering. As they are more likely to be killed at birth and less likely to receive the same care in feeding and medical attention and less likely to receive education.

There are many mitigating circumstances in the law that permit a woman to have an abortion. Rape is one, the inability of an unmarried woman to care for a child is another. Any pregnancy that causes mental anguish to a woman can be legally terminated even against medical advice. The minister ought to be looking at the root cause of female foeticide, not try to enter a personal domain. ((http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=db8deabe-930d-40d9-8f91-c02f151bc8ff&&Headline=Getting+up+close+and+far+too+personal))

Friends don’t let friends get married

07/13/2007 by Debra

A 13 year old Bangladeshi was saved from a forced marriage by her schoolmates.

BBC News~
Around 50 pupils in the town of Satkhira took to the streets to demand that Habiba Sultana’s wedding be called off, they say.
Pupils even submitted a petition to police urging them to take action.
Police summoned Habiba’s father and ordered him to stop the girl’s marriage, which they said was illegal.
Her father was told to sign a bond in which he promised not marry off his daughter while she is still a child, the Bangladesh Daily Star reported.

The BBC story doesn’t mention all the pupils were girls.
What a beautiful thing to see these girls claiming their power and helping each other.

VIVE MARC LEPINE

07/13/2007 by Debra

This was the subject line of an email I received on my YouTube account today.

Now normally I’m not one to shine the spotlight on slimy creatures. I generally believe that most of these idiots are in it for the shock value and I imagine them to be semi pubescent boys jostling each other in front of the computer daring each other to go even further.

Every so often though I think it is important to show just what sort of people the right would have us support.

This is how Mr Happy Tube describes himself [actually considering the Happy Tube and John Long maybe he is an overcompensating prepubescent!]
[Read more…] about VIVE MARC LEPINE

“Working Girls” and the Media

07/12/2007 by Debra

One might have hoped that after the Ipswich murders the media would have learned a thing or two about treating sex workers as different, disposable, and authors of their own misfortune.

Sadly reading the CTV report on the death of an Edmonton sex worker it would seem no lesson has been learned at all.

We begin by reading;

Police have identified a missing woman as a dead Edmonton sex trade worker and have launched a homicide investigation.

Really?! So if we were all to get together and purchase a head stone it should say dead Edmonton sex trade worker?

At least in the next paragraph they deign to identify Leanne Lori Benwell, by name. [Read more…] about “Working Girls” and the Media

Happy Independence Day

07/04/2007 by Debra

On this day in 1776 America declared it’s independence from Britain. No doubt great things were imagined. Indeed some grand things have been done.

On this fourth of July, I wish for my friends and neighbours to the south another Independence Day. One that sees them declare their independence from their current government.

A government that is finding all manner of means to corrupt the very institution’s and regulations put in place to ensure a government for and by the people.

To be a woman in America today must be frightening, as rights and freedoms thought to be “self evident” are rolled back at an appalling rate. Daily we hear stories of reproductive freedoms being attacked. From attacks on abortion rights to refusal to fill or cover birth control prescriptions to refusal to allow suit on unfair and unequal payment practises. The war on women in America proceeds apace even as the government pretends to be fighting for the rights of women in the middle east.
[Read more…] about Happy Independence Day