"The New York Times blames the patriarchy"

[bloom]

I wish I could post the whole thing here - but you can go to this link - http://www.reclusiveleftist.com/?p=418 - and read it.

....Ten girls were shot and five killed at the Amish school. One girl was killed and a number of others were molested in the Colorado attack. In the widespread coverage that followed these crimes, very little was made of the fact that only girls were targeted. Imagine if a gunman had gone into a school, separated the kids up on the basis of race or religion, and then shot only the black kids. Or only the white kids. Or only the Jews.

There would have been thunderous outrage. The country would have first recoiled in horror, and then mobilized in an effort to eradicate that kind of murderous bigotry. There would have been calls for action and reflection. And the attack would have been seen for what it really was: a hate crime.

None of that occurred because these were just girls, and we have become so accustomed to living in a society saturated with misogyny that violence against females is more or less to be expected. Stories about the rape, murder and mutilation of women and girls are staples of the news, as familiar to us as weather forecasts. The startling aspect of the Pennsylvania attack was that this terrible thing happened at a school in Amish country, not that it happened to girls. <snip>

....“Once you dehumanize somebody, everything is possible,” said Taina Bien-Aimé, executive director of the women’s advocacy group Equality Now. That was never clearer than in some of the extreme forms of pornography that have spread like nuclear waste across mainstream America. Forget the embarrassed, inhibited raincoat crowd of the old days. Now Mr. Solid Citizen can come home, log on to this $7 billion mega-industry and get his kicks watching real women being beaten and sexually assaulted on Web sites with names like “Ravished Bride” and “Rough Sex — Where Whores Get Owned.” <more>

[ThomCat]

1. We've been talking about this a little bit

over on the Feminism list. This is an amazing editorial. It doesn't say anything we don't know, but it says it in the New York Times! Maybe, just maybe, people will this seriously. There is a serious visceral hatred of women and girls brewing in our culture and it's about time this was discussed in the mainstream media.

I hope the NY Times gives this more coverage.

[bloom]

2. Ok - I posted the link over there, too.

It would have been a good article for the Times to have put where everyone had access.

Thanks to Violet Socks - we do.

[donsu]

3. thanking the Times for publishing this

nt

[sinkingfeeling]

4. Aah, makes me sad to think we've gained so little ground since the

70's.

[FiveGoodMen]

9. Lost a lot, I'd say.

The public doesn't even support equal rights in principle any more.

[elehhhhna]

13. ...'tlil the draft. They'll be all for equal rights then.

[Greyhound]

16. Yes, we've been backsliding for 25 years, or more.

Bigotry in all its forms has made a big comeback, and when I think of how close we were, it just makes me sick. :banghead::cry:

[niyad]

5. and when I post about this, I get told by the misogynists that I am

of course, just spewing feminist rantings, and, after all, how can I ignore all the men being killed.

[ThomCat]

10. It's amazing how many people consider

clear, obvious stuff to be flame-bate just because it recognizes that women have inherent worth as human beings equal to men.

[Control-Z]

6. I hope this makes it to the Greatest Page

I've tried to address this attitude for what it is but I usually stand alone. Even other women and family members disagree with me and I can't help but wonder what is in it for them.

'We’re all implicated in this carnage because the relentless violence against women and girls is linked at its core to the wider society’s casual willingness to dehumanize women and girls, to see them first and foremost as sexual vessels — objects — and never, ever as the equals of men.'

'“Once you dehumanize somebody, everything is possible,” '

This pretty much says it all.

[lukasahero]

7. Onlly needs one more vote.

I did my part. :)

[mopinko]

8. will we ever

evolve out of this crap? i wonder.

[ThomCat]

11. I would like to be optimistic and think so.

But I'm a cynic, so I'm not so sure.

There will never be a shortage of people willing to embrace and teach any kind of prejudice that benefits themselves. x(

[mopinko]

12. that's why i say evolve

my take on evolutionary psychology is that we are hardwired for this. that we divide the world up between tribe and not tribe. and not tribe is very open, so that new threats are easily identified.
i could go on and on about this, but i have to start dinner.

[elehhhhna]

14. last time I checked tribes needed women.

[KitSileya]

15. K&R

I am getting so discouraged regarding this - the men who won't realize this is their problem, and the girls who think they've achieved equality. I see my students, girls in skimpy clothes worrying about their weight, boys who think if they look upon girls as their equals they're wimpy. It makes me want to cry.