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I try and start my Saturdays on a positive note. I look at the CBC, a few Science Blogs usually something upbeat is going on. Not today though.
With a hat-tap to Shakesville, I excerpt from the linked article:
“Acid attacks and wife burnings are common in parts of Asia because the victims are the most voiceless in these societies: They are poor and female. The first step is simply for the world to take note, to give voice to these women.” Since 1994, a Pakistani activist who founded the Progressive Women’s Association (www.pwaisbd.org) to help such women “has documented 7,800 cases of women who were deliberately burned, scalded or subjected to acid attacks, just in the Islamabad area. In only 2 percent of those cases was anyone convicted.”
I post one of 12 pictures representative of thousands of women who have been permanently disfigured by acid attacks by men. When women are not people, when they cannot speak or be heard, when they have no rights…
Saira Liaqat, 26, poses for the camera as she holds a portrait of herself before being burned, at her home in Lahore, Pakistan, Wednesday, July 9, 2008. When she was fifteen, Saira was married to a relative who would later attack her with acid after insistently demanding her to live with him, although the families had agreed she wouldn't join him until she finished school. Saira has undergone plastic surgery 9 times to try to recover from her scars.
They get male centric justice.
I possess a small amount of musical talent. I can carry a tune if I get a big enough bucket. Taking music lessons early in life only left me with a distaste for practicing. And that folks is at the crux of the problem. Talk about a major case of the coulda-woulda-shoulda’s.
If I had kept up with the music and actually dedicated myself to it, I could be well, above average by now. But I left it, went to school and did other things. Sure getting a degree is important, but the other recreational time, filled mostly with video games, seems like such a waste now.
It is only now that I see how much time and effort is required to get good at playing piano and singing. (I’m partaking in both and am fully cognoscente of the amount of diligence, willpower and effort required to effectively play the piano and sing with confidence.
I have been blessed with the opportunity to learn with tremendously gifted piano instructor. It is at her piano I am exposed to exactly how much more still have to learn. It isa daunting, depressing, exhilarating challenging experience that it seems I cannot get enough of right now.
I mentioned earlier of my involvement in a Choir. My vocal chops are raw and undisciplined, but with the excellent vocal coaching our choir director I have made significant progress on the Choral side of things. Another steep hill, but the learning is so challenging and rewarding.
So, neophyte pianist, neophyte tenor; where does composing fit into all of this? Rather poorly, in my initial appraisal, as composing takes all the aspects of musicianship and wads them up so it lands like a cinder-block on your head as you’re trying to write down that elusive melody that is infesting your mind.
Composing is an art unto itself, and I am yet again having another Titanic moment as I’ve seen only the tip if the musical iceberg as I have recently tackled the notion that I should be able to write a traditional round for my choir to sing.
Well, I have a finished product of sorts, but no way of accurately judging the quality or internal musical structure inherent to all good music pieces. Fortunately my piano instructor teaches composition as well and is helping me with turning a raw product into something that is not only singable, but beautiful.
The moral of the story: Hate the piano lessons, but take the idea that often if it requires hard work it is often ultimately worth it in the end.
**Update: You know what absolutely tickles me frakking pink? This post is getting hits from people searching for rape pictures and pictures of pornography depicting rape. If you’re here that reason, welcome to exactly what you do not what to see. Women being treated as people instead of objects for your distortedly pervtacular fantasy world. I savour the sweet irony of you being directed to a feminist blog while looking for rape pictures. Your kind is pathetic.
But, hey if you are not here looking to reinforce mindless observance to patriarchal norms, be welcome and read on!
Andrea Dworkin was a brilliant feminist theorist, activist and writer. The question you should be asking yourself is why does this sound radical? Dworkin makes many brilliant points in her speech entitled “I Want A Twenty-Four-Hour Truce During Which There is No Rape”.
Dworkin pulls no punches:
“We are very close to death. All women are. And we are very close to rape and we are very close to beating. And we are inside a system of humiliation from which there is no escape for us. We use statistics not to try to quantify the injuries, but to convince the world that those injuries even exist. Those statistics are not abstractions. It is easy to say, “Ah, the statistics, somebody writes them up one way and somebody writes them up another way.” That’s true. But I hear about the rapes one by one by one by one by one, which is also how they happen. Those statistics are not abstract to me. Every three minutes a woman is being raped. Every eighteen seconds a woman is being beaten. There is nothing abstract about it. It is happening right now as I am speaking.”
On the Patriarchy:
“The power exercised by men day to day in life is power that is institutionalized. It is protected by law. It is protected by religion and religious practice. It is protected by universities, which are strongholds of male supremacy. It is protected by a police force. It is protected by those whom Shelley called “the unacknowledged legislators of the world”: the poets, the artists. Against that power, we have silence.”
On Male Privilege:
“That is the way the power of men is manifest in real life. That is what theory about male supremacy means. It means you can rape. It means you can hit. It means you can hurt. It means you can buy and sell women. It means that there is a class of people there to provide you with what you need. You stay richer than they are, so that they have to sell you sex. Not just on street corners, but in the workplace. That’s another right that you can presume to have: sexual access to any woman in your environment, when you want. Now, the men’s movement suggests that men don’t want the kind of power I have just described. I’ve actually heard explicit whole sentences to that effect. And yet, everything is a reason not to do something about changing the fact that you do have that power.”
On the Politics of the Right Wing:
“Some of you are very concerned about the rise of the Right in this country, as if that is something separate from the issues of feminism or the men’s movement. There is a cartoon I saw that brought it all together nicely. It was a big picture of Ronald Reagan as a cowboy with a big hat and a gun. And it said: “A gun in every holster; a pregnant woman in every home. Make America a man again.” Those are the politics of the Right.
If you are afraid of the ascendancy of fascism in this country–and you would be very foolish not to be right now–then you had better understand that the root issue here has to do with male supremacy and the control of women; sexual access to women; women as reproductive slaves; private ownership of women. That is the program of the Right. That is the morality they talk about. That is what they mean. That is what they want. And the only opposition to them that matters is an opposition to men owning women.”
Why if Freedom is to be had, Rape must stop:
“And on that day, that day of truce, that day when not one woman is raped, we will begin the real practice of equality,
because we can’t begin it before that day. Before that day it means nothing because it is nothing: it is not real; it is not true. But on that day it becomes real. And then, instead of rape we will for the first time in our lives–both men and women–begin to experience freedom. If you have a conception of freedom that includes the existence of rape, you are wrong. You cannot change what you say you want to change. For myself, I want to experience just one day of real freedom before I die. I leave you here to do that for me and for the women whom you say you love.”
You want to know where to start to fight the Rape Culture? Start here. One teaspoon, one hour, one woman at a time.
Archbishop John Onaiyekan and Anne Widdencombe MP speaking for the motion and speaking against the motion, Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Fry.
Psst…America look! a civil debate. Try it sometime.
Update: Watch the edited 46 minute version at the Intelligence Squared site.
Update #2 – They went and moved stuff around – The debate in chapter format can be found at the intelligence squared site here.
Update #3 – They went pay site. – Go to ytube from the link and find it there.
Richard Dawkin’s latest book the Greatest Show on Earth (GSOE) is a great primer on Evolution and the important contributions Charles Darwin made to the field of biology.
I’m currently listening to the GSOE in my car, and I have the print copy fairly high up in my reading pile.
Some reviews are getting annoyed at Dawkins for taking shots at creationists, but others think that it really is not so bad.
I’m inclined to agree with Mr.Dawkins when he takes the odd jab at the rotten edifices of religion, no surprise there, but it is necessary to show exactly how wrong the religiously deluded are.
It has been great listen so far, and I would highly recommend reading the GSOE if you want to work on your evolutionary fundamentals or polish your arguments in defense of evolution.
Let’s rewind a little to get the background of what has transpired in this rape/unrape situation.
” On the evening of July 29, 2004, then[a female private in the Canadian Armed Forces Reserve] says she was celebrating the end of a military training course with her fellow reservists, including her mom, and instructors at Debney Armoury on Roper Road when her life took a shocking turn.
It was during those celebrations that she says she was raped.”
(Trigger Warning) – This story is fairly repugnant from beginning to end.
The title of this newspaper article, from the SUN, one of my favorite newspaper chains to hate for their artless casuistry is patriarchal gold – “Career dream shattered“. Not “brutal rape in bathroom stall” or “Female Recruit Assaulted and Raped” … no no nothing like that. That might actually place the focus on the victim, and that clearly, is unacceptable (and worth a post all on its own).
“Officers in the course really need to have their training down because no one knew what to do,” she said.
Let me go out on a limb here and speculate that “no one knew what to do” really meant that is ‘how are we going get out of this situation with Savage’s reputation intact’. The Armed Forces are not exactly known to be a bastion of liberal ideals and progressive thought.
“I was told to seek medical attention before I went to the police. Then, at the base, the nurses explained they didn’t do rape kits, so I had to wait until they were all done for the day before they would take me to the Royal Alex.
“The site nurses didn’t have a kit and said the police had to bring it.”
Some 17 hours after the alleged attack, Santonne says she was finally assessed by a doctor.
Hmm…raped, shuffled around for 17 hours – we certainly do not live in a patriarchal society here.
Her comments:
Now, [she] claims she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and has no intentions of pursuing a career with the military, adding she initially entered the reserves because she was anxious to serve her country and see the world.
“For me, it’s now a lost cause,” she said.
The results of the first trial on January 8th, 2008 (note the time of the rape, was 4 years ago) was a conviction, but watch the defense comments for the set-up…
“An Edmonton soldier was sentenced Monday to three years in prison for raping a young female recruit. Orman Savage, 38, was convicted in August of sexually assaulting the woman during a party following basic training three years ago.
Provincial court Judge Albert Chrumka agreed with Crown prosecutor Avril Herron, who argued that a prison term is the only just sentence for Savage.“
Right on forces of justice! A sorely won victory…?
“Savage and his supporters have steadfastly maintained his innocence throughout the trial. Defence lawyer Brian Beresh said Monday his client will immediately launch an appeal.
“The appeal will be based on what we consider to be procedural unfairness at the trial,” Beresh said.”
I am curious about what procedural unfairness (you will see this material again) really means in the context of this case. As the judge says the defense managed to shoot itself in the foot several times during the trial –
“In his ruling last summer,[Judge] Chrumka called Savage’s testimony at trial “ludicrous” and “concocted.”
“You seem to be your own worst witness,” he said, adding the testimony was “so fanciful it is unbelievable.
“Chrumka said he believed the testimony of the woman, who was 21 when she was attacked.”
The case was appealed and brought before a different court. The previous ruling was overturned and a woman was ‘unraped’.
“A former Edmonton soldier said he feels as if he’s been released from a nightmare after being acquitted Friday on sexual assault charges following an earlier conviction.”
— “All I can say is that I am glad to see that this nightmare is over after five and a half years and to finally see justice actually be done,” Savage said outside court.”
You should not say anything. You found a judge and jury willing to listen to the archetypal anti-woman, rape culture approved, victim-blaming that is so perversely common in our society. Watch and weep…
1. “Savage claimed it was the woman who made sexual advances.”
And therefore got what she deserved because one alleged “yes” cancels out the sobbing, pleading, resisting “no’s” that come after. This is bull-cookies of first fracking order, the legal notion of consent needs to be changed NOW.
2. “The young recruit fell backwards while she was hunched over the toilet, vomiting, Savage told the jury. As he helped her up, she threw her arms around his neck and said, “I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time.” Then she tried to kiss him, Savage said.”
Because it is so obvious that she wants it, oh damn, for sure with all the vomiting retching and other pleasantness that goes along with expunging your stomach contents. It just screams ‘sexy time’.
3. […] defence lawyer Brian Beresh challenged the credibility of the female recruit.
“I would suggest much of her story is like a Hollywood script,” Beresh told jurors. “But she’s written the scenes to be all in her favour.”
Ah yes, here we have the procedural unfairness rearing its ugly head. The last time around we did not actually properly attack the female victim and her integrity; instead we made ourselves look stupid – recall Judge Chrumka’s previous comments: Savage’s testimony at trial [was] “ludicrous” and “concocted.”
How one gets from essentially incriminating oneself to suggesting that the female private’s story is like Hollywood script is really quite beyond me.
The immoral of the story if she’s puking drunk and mumbles something vaguely coherent toward you, its a fracking green light for the frak-fest to begin. Don’t consider the physical context (vomiting in a bathroom stall), her state (drunk enough to lose consciousness and void her stomach), or her rights (not to be used as a piece of meat for your momentary pleasure).
When do we start treating women as fully sentient, autonomous beings – ya know, the default setting for men?
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