Do you ever just get tired? I do. When I reflect on subjects we (and by we, I mean the constipated elements who seem to have missed the first go around) hash and then re-hash, I just get tired. We're really still talking about contraception? At least in the U.S., we decided to make them legal in the 60s, so why are we still even talking about them and whether or not women deserve to have them covered by insurance? And why, in 2012, do we still need a Black History Month—why haven't we thoroughly incorporated the black race into our history books already?
Same goes for Women In History Month, which we're in the middle of as I write. And specifically, today is International Women's Day. Why, for the love of all that is right, do we still need a day to remind the world that millions of women on this planet are just barely hanging on by a thread because the society they happened to have been born in thinks they are of little value and heaps suffering down upon their heads. I'm not talking about equal pay for equal work, although that's still a critical issue. I'm talking about women who are denied the right to buy land, the opportunity to borrow money for small businesses, the right to an education, to drive, to vote or even to leave the house without a male escort. I'm talking about women and girls who are raped as a war tactic, doused with acid for minor infractions (or no infractions at all), sold to husbands and to traffickers and who are murdered for bringing dishonor to the family.
I'm not just tired, I'm tired of it, as my now favorite saying goes. I was naive to think we would have advanced as a species, I suppose, but that's my fault for being hopeful.
Well, as I sigh and wonder if I should adjust my expectations, here is today's column for Small Town Newspaper. The last time I wrote about the state of womanhood in the world, a local gentleman (and by gentleman, I mean jackass) wrote an online comment saying, "Make me a sandwich." I wonder if I should start my expectation adjusting by not bothering to check for comments today.
Same goes for Women In History Month, which we're in the middle of as I write. And specifically, today is International Women's Day. Why, for the love of all that is right, do we still need a day to remind the world that millions of women on this planet are just barely hanging on by a thread because the society they happened to have been born in thinks they are of little value and heaps suffering down upon their heads. I'm not talking about equal pay for equal work, although that's still a critical issue. I'm talking about women who are denied the right to buy land, the opportunity to borrow money for small businesses, the right to an education, to drive, to vote or even to leave the house without a male escort. I'm talking about women and girls who are raped as a war tactic, doused with acid for minor infractions (or no infractions at all), sold to husbands and to traffickers and who are murdered for bringing dishonor to the family.
I'm not just tired, I'm tired of it, as my now favorite saying goes. I was naive to think we would have advanced as a species, I suppose, but that's my fault for being hopeful.
Well, as I sigh and wonder if I should adjust my expectations, here is today's column for Small Town Newspaper. The last time I wrote about the state of womanhood in the world, a local gentleman (and by gentleman, I mean jackass) wrote an online comment saying, "Make me a sandwich." I wonder if I should start my expectation adjusting by not bothering to check for comments today.
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