I was emailed a joke by a sister-in-law a while back:
Although this joke did illicit a chuckle from me it also has made me think. Why do we feel the need to put down one gender to elevate the other? I think I am even appalled at myself for the giggle. I know when I read it to my husband he was a bit puzzled at what I found humorous. I think it was just the unexpectedness of the ending. I think.
Today is the UN's International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. From now until Dec 10, Human Rights Day, is a 16 day campaign to call attention to the violence happening to females, worldwide. According to its website:
I do not know whether to be frightened or encouraged by this campaign. Encouraged that the violence is being acknowledged and a demand is being made to do something about it. Frightened that, in this day and age, this type of violence is still ongoing.
The statistics compiled show that violence is a major cause of death in women aged 16-44! Then this:
I am stunned by this. How could we allow this to happen, today? If we don't care about ourselves, how could we allow this to happen to our daughters? How do we raise sons that beat our daughters? For these types of numbers to be actuated it means we have, some how, created an "environment" that encourages this kind of violence! Isn't that terrifying? I want to weep. When we waste so many resources fighting a "war" on terrorism and such precious few on the terrorism of half our population. What is it that we are doing as a society that creates the impression that beating our daughters is okay? If we don't care about the women themselves then you would think the insurance industry would care about the dollars being spent from their coffers. You'd think industries would be howling at the loss of $1.8 billion in income. You'd think Internal Revenue Services would alert the appropriate state departments, letting them know the revenue missing on $1.8 billion of taxable income which is now totally lost! Where are our economists to howl over this lost income to our overall economy?
Could it be that our medical community wants $4.1 billion in income that they can't otherwise obtain? Is it that desperate for a steady source of income? What would the hospitals' incomes be if that were taken out of their grasps?
Too far of a reach? Too outlandish of a conspiracy theory? Then what is it, why are we allowing this violence to be perpetuated, generation after generation?
The joke forwarded by my sister-in-law gives the impression that women have the strong, upperhand in dealing with the imbalances in the gender issue. The numbers don't bear that out. Who is going to save our daughters while our government is off saving countries that don't want to be saved, "in the name of democracy"?
In the name of democracy why don't we work on the terrorism between our own borders? It is enough to make me weep in despair. What kind of violent tomorrow are we asking our daughters to step into? What kind of man are we making of our sons?
Maybe we are stomping too hard, too often at too early of an age? Maybe he is just being taught to stomp back, harder?
Women are like apples on trees. The best ones are at the top of the tree.
Most men don't want to reach for the good ones because they are afraid of falling and getting hurt.
Instead, they sometimes take the apples from the ground that aren't as good, but easy. The apples at the top think something is wrong with them, when in reality, they're amazing. They just have to wait for the right person to come along, the one who is brave enough to climb all the way to the top of the tree.
Now men.... Men are like a fine wine.
They begin as grapes, and it's up to women to stomp the shit out of them until they turn into something acceptable to have dinner with!
Although this joke did illicit a chuckle from me it also has made me think. Why do we feel the need to put down one gender to elevate the other? I think I am even appalled at myself for the giggle. I know when I read it to my husband he was a bit puzzled at what I found humorous. I think it was just the unexpectedness of the ending. I think.
Today is the UN's International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. From now until Dec 10, Human Rights Day, is a 16 day campaign to call attention to the violence happening to females, worldwide. According to its website:
The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is an international campaign originating from the first Women's Global Leadership Institute in 1991. Participants chose the dates, November 25, International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and December 10, International Human Rights Day, in order to symbolically link violence against women and human rights and to emphasize that such violence is a violation of human rights. The 16 Days Campaign has been adopted as an organizing strategy by individuals and groups around the world to call for the elimination of all forms of violence against women.
I do not know whether to be frightened or encouraged by this campaign. Encouraged that the violence is being acknowledged and a demand is being made to do something about it. Frightened that, in this day and age, this type of violence is still ongoing.
The statistics compiled show that violence is a major cause of death in women aged 16-44! Then this:
The economic cost of violence against women is considerable — a 2003 report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that the costs of intimate partner violence in the United States alone exceed US$5.8 billion per year: US$4.1 billion are for direct medical and health care services, while productivity losses account for nearly US$1.8 billion.
I am stunned by this. How could we allow this to happen, today? If we don't care about ourselves, how could we allow this to happen to our daughters? How do we raise sons that beat our daughters? For these types of numbers to be actuated it means we have, some how, created an "environment" that encourages this kind of violence! Isn't that terrifying? I want to weep. When we waste so many resources fighting a "war" on terrorism and such precious few on the terrorism of half our population. What is it that we are doing as a society that creates the impression that beating our daughters is okay? If we don't care about the women themselves then you would think the insurance industry would care about the dollars being spent from their coffers. You'd think industries would be howling at the loss of $1.8 billion in income. You'd think Internal Revenue Services would alert the appropriate state departments, letting them know the revenue missing on $1.8 billion of taxable income which is now totally lost! Where are our economists to howl over this lost income to our overall economy?
Could it be that our medical community wants $4.1 billion in income that they can't otherwise obtain? Is it that desperate for a steady source of income? What would the hospitals' incomes be if that were taken out of their grasps?
Too far of a reach? Too outlandish of a conspiracy theory? Then what is it, why are we allowing this violence to be perpetuated, generation after generation?
The joke forwarded by my sister-in-law gives the impression that women have the strong, upperhand in dealing with the imbalances in the gender issue. The numbers don't bear that out. Who is going to save our daughters while our government is off saving countries that don't want to be saved, "in the name of democracy"?
In the name of democracy why don't we work on the terrorism between our own borders? It is enough to make me weep in despair. What kind of violent tomorrow are we asking our daughters to step into? What kind of man are we making of our sons?
Maybe we are stomping too hard, too often at too early of an age? Maybe he is just being taught to stomp back, harder?
1 comment:
I have theories, but no answers. Nice post, though.
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