"Women's Rights are Just Propaganda in Washington"

[bloom]

by Martha Burk

Last week was quite something for women in the Middle East. Those living under oppressive regimes got a cheerleading visit from Laura Bush, who touted women’s rights all over the region. Those fighting in the U.S. military in Iraq got a kick in the pants from conservatives in the Republican Congress, who sought to limit the jobs female soldiers can perform and make them second-class military citizens.

Mrs. Bush declared at the World Economic Forum that new freedoms granted to women in Kuwait (where women recently got the vote), and Afghanistan (where women have nominal rights but still wear the burqua out of fear for their lives) prove that equal rights are compatible with Islam and Arab culture. Too bad her husband can’t make the same statement about American culture and his fundamentalist Christian base. The Republican Party was the first to put the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in its party platform, in 1940, and the first to take it out -- in 1980. The amendment fell three states short of ratification, largely due to the efforts of Jerry Falwell and Phyllis Schlafly, who now stand staunchly at Bush’s side. As he seeks to dismantle Title IX and further restrict reproductive freedom, the president is well aware that without constitutional protection, laws protecting women from discrimination are only as good as the will of Congress, which seems bent on pushing women back to the 1950s.

Laura B. also told the world that “Human rights require the rights of women.” She should tell her husband. The United States of America is the only developed country on earth that has not ratified the worldwide women’s human rights treaty known as CEDAW. The treaty not only guarantees political rights, but equal education for girls and economic opportunity for women. With the Senate firmly in Republican hands, a word from the president would be all that’s needed to bring it to the floor for a vote. But Bush allies say CEDAW amounts to an international Equal Rights Amendment. So in the administration’s logic, what’s good enough for indigenous women in the Middle East is not good enough for U.S. women in the Middle East, who are there fighting for those democratic ideals that get served up every day along with the body counts.

The bid to limit female participation in our military was ultimately scuttled by an unlikely advocate for women -- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. He admitted we couldn’t fight Bush’s war without women soldiers alongside the men in Iraq. Maybe if we ever get a guarantee of rights for women in the U.S. constitution, we will also get a guarantee that presidents – and their wives – quit practicing hypocrisy in the name of women’s equality. 

Martha Burk is the author of “Cult of Power: Sex Discrimination in Corporate America and What Can Be Done About It,” released last month by Scribner.

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0601-30.htm
© 2005 Minuteman Media

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And then this afternoon Christina Sommers was on Cspan (Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute Conservative Seminar) saying that the idea that there is a patriarchy is a conspiracy theory.

Meanwhile - on the other channel - Cspan2, Kim Gandy (NOW) gave a great speech.

[Ripley]

1. Damn those feminazi lying conspiratorial witch-brewing Man Haters!

Ahhh. I feel better now. I channeled Phyllis Schlafly for a moment, then my vitamins kicked in and eradicated that virus.

Nothing seems to budge on these issues. I recall doing a performance art piece for an art class in the late 1980's. I dressed in pearls, dress, heels, frilly apron and gave a cooking lesson for women. My set was a table with a blender. I poured into the machine a Tab, Crisco, White sugar, White flour, bologna and only the gods can remember what else. When the machine started blowing up, I turned to my backdrop of a frilly 1950's kitchen and said "What the hell are those god damned union workers doing back there? Smoking dope instead of working?"

At that point there was a tremendous roar and applause but only by the females in the class, including the TA. The men just looked on.

Needless to say, I went on to other things in life, but that performance piece I gave, where I also quoted Phyllis' speeches at the time (yes, she has been around a long time) showed me how divided men and women were at that time. Now it's much worse. Most young women probably don't know or care who people like Phyllis are.

Sad, those little rich girls that report all the positive things about Phyllis' diatribes, are lying through their bleached teeth just to make a buck isn't it? That women have to hate themselves in order to get ahead in the Republican world is sickening.

Why are they that way?

[beam me up scottie]

2. Just a wild guess

but I believe it's because it's easier for them. They're not stupid, they see how hard it is to fight for equality and they prefer to be Stepford Wives.
Remember the girls in school who would "dumb down" to attract boyfriends? Well it seems they grew up and married Republicans.

[Ripley]

4. How can people be so fake?

I get grief for being "too honest" but you know what?....THAT'S LIFE. Being honest should be a virtue. It ain't in America. Just the opposite.

Hypocricy is Queen and King.

[beam me up scottie]

7. Shallow.

That's the best way to describe them.
They have no idea what life is all about.
And by the time they're pushing 45 and the wrinkles and extra pounds that come with aging become harder to camouflage and their hubby is leaving them for the babysitter, it will be too late.
That sounds stereotypical and maybe it is, but I do see women like that every day.

I have friends from high school who settled for someone they didn't love because they were afraid to be alone. I think they feared the stigma more than actual loneliness.

I believe if you live with someone you don't love, you're more lonely than I'll ever be.

[femrap]

15. Lots of women have what I call...

'the women's disease.' That irrational fear of not having a man on one's arm at all times. It can be a very debilitating disease for some. Some of these women fear being alone but it's more than that...their self-esteem seems to be tied to having a boyfriend of husband.

This woman can be very accomplished in life as well, but if she loses the man in her life, she is lost. How good is our society at brainwashing girls/women into thinking they are 'less?'

[bloom]

3. One of my simplest art pieces in college

(also around 1980) was I took a pink frilly prom dress and arranged it just so and it looked just like a vulva. Imagine that.

Which reminds me that the Sommers lady also went on quite a rant about Eve Ensler and her Vagina monologues.

[beam me up scottie]

5. You man hater!

I live in a red state and was commuting one morning when I heard an advertisement on NPR.
It took me a while to figure out what the hell they were talking about, they kept referring to "The V. Monologues".
They couldn't even say "The Vagina Monologues"!

I live in a fucking state where you cannot say vagina on the radio.

[Ripley]

6. Imagine that, women making ART!

I must admit I have only read about the Vagina monologues, haven't seen it. But why would someone object to a show that had that name or content?

Let's ban the words Vagina, Orgasm, and Breast. But let's allow dick, hummer, wanker, and etc. to be used by all.

[beam me up scottie]

8. Did you see the nipple thread in GD?

There is no limit to the misogyny in this country and it always comes packaged as morality.

[Ripley]

9. No.

But you got that right about the morality play.

Too many people male and female, defend abusers.

[beam me up scottie]

10. Oh, it's funny, you should check it out.

The amazingly funny people on DU keep me from crying some days.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3778550

[bammertheblue]

13. Vagina Monologues

My college almost banned the Vagina Monologues. It was a Catholic college and they wouldn't let tickets be sold so the public could attend. They said it conflicted with "Catholic values", whatever that meant. I was FURIOUS because most of the actors were my friends and they worked hard to get the show off the ground and now the school is basically saying that it's dirty.
I was actually in the paper saying that it was crap and nothing in the play went against any worthwhile values I knew of. Anyway! The whole production was student planned, acted, directed, etc...on the last night the school allowed relatives of the actors to come see the show. So needless to say that night every performer got about sixteen new "cousins".
The whole thing was such a perfect example of hypocrisy and just plain old ignorance. If something has the word "Vagina" in it, it must be obscene! Ridiculous.

[femrap]

14. After the Clinton scandal and the word, 'penis,'

was said on the evening news, I thought 'Vagina' would be accepted.

The word I want to hit the mainstream is 'Clitoris.' Then maybe men will learn that it requires attention! Guess I'll have to write a play with Clitoris in the title...something like...'The Poor, Neglected Clitoris' or maybe 'Rinse Your Mouth with Clitoris.' LOL. It does rather sound like a mouthwash...

hope I am not offending...I, too, am honest...but have an active sense of humor.

[Ripley]

11. Oh, I forgot the SPAM.

Yes, I added Spam. I had to dry-clean the frilly apron I borrowed from a co-worker. She didn't get it then (her favorite movie was "Pretty Woman" at a later date), but she got it eventually.

Just out of curiosity, how many female profs did you have in art?

[bloom]

12. Seems like

there were about 3 out of 10 - at the most - but thats teacher/instructor?

Trouble was - the woman painting teacher? who was up for tenure was denied when I was a Junior - so she left - and that was rather discouraging - because she was quite a mentor for me.

They brought in some conservative man and I was totally bummed.

As far as I know - only men have gotten tenured professorships there in the art department. So it's quite pathetic.