Okay, don’t shut up. Wail, rage, weep. And you guys who have yet to start listening, now might be a good time.
Imus, Markos, Cho-Seung Hui, The Supreme Court, Charles Carl Robert IV, Duane Morrison, The Taliban, Snoop Dog.
My head is spinning and my heart is breaking. Misogyny is everywhere. And we are told to be quiet, play by men’s rules, quit whining. It is apparently, our fault, that women and girls are being attacked from every side.
Imus. Hate talk. Reflected a lot of issues that are considered acceptable by large parts of our population. Enabled by a lot of people who were willing to look the other way because their wealth or fame would increase by looking the other way.
Markos Just get the hell out of his way. Don’t even think about messing up his gig by insisting on respect and equal rights. Enabled by people who want to hang out with the cool kid.
Cho Seung-Hui Disturbed and violent male who stalked women over a period of years. Enabled by women who declined to press charges and by a School Administration that took only half-hearted actions to help him or rein him in. VTU administration also failed to close down campus after the first shootings assuming they were “only” domestic in nature.
The Supreme Court Dismissed women’s right to make decision about their own health. Enabled by weak-willed Democrats and moderate Republicans.
Charles Carl Roberts IV A 32-year-old milk truck driver who entered an Amish school in Pennsylvania and shot 10 girls. Enabled by a culture of violence in this country and a media that failed, in large part, to relate the inciident to the broader epidemic of violence against females.
Duane Morrison A 53-year-old walked into a Colorado high school and took six girls hostage. Isolated in a classroom, he sexually assaulted the girls before killing 16-year-old Emily Keyes and himself. Enabled by the same group as above.
The Taliban egregious suppression of women’s rights and violence against women. Enabled by the American Government until an attack occurred on our soil. Still enabled by our government, since the mission in Afghanistan was never completed.
Snoop Dog and all the other gangsta rappers who are supposedly only lash out against evil women who only want to exploit the brothers. Enabled by music industry executives who making a ton of money.
Of course we could also look at rape as a tool of repression in Bosnia, Darfur and Pakistan. I’m sure I’ve forgotten countless others.
And back here in the gold `ol USA, the statistics are grim.
MURDER. Every day four women die in this country as a result of domestic violence, the euphemism for murders and assaults by husbands and boyfriends. That’s approximately 1,400 women a year, according to the FBI. The number of women who have been murdered by their intimate partners is greater than the number of soldiers killed in the Vietnam War.
BATTERING. Although only 572,000 reports of assault by intimates are officially reported to federal officials each year, the most conservative estimates indicate two to four million women of all races and classes are battered each year. At least 170,000 of those violent incidents are serious enough to require hospitalization, emergency room care or a doctor’s attention.
SEXUAL ASSAULT. Every year approximately 132,000 women report that they have been victims of rape or attempted rape, and more than half of them knew their attackers. It’s estimated that two to six times that many women are raped, but do not report it. Every year 1.2 million women are forcibly raped by their current or former male partners, some more than once.
THE TARGETS. Women are 10 times more likely than men to be victimized by an intimate. Young women, women who are separated, divorced or single, low- income women and African-American women are disproportionately victims of assault and rape. Domestic violence rates are five times higher among families below poverty levels, and severe spouse abuse is twice as likely to be committed by unemployed men as by those working full time. Violent attacks on lesbians and gay men have become two to three times more common than they were prior to 1988.
IMPACT ON CHILDREN. Violent juvenile offenders are four times more likely to have grown up in homes where they saw violence. Children who have witnessed violence at home are also five times more likely to commit or suffer violence when they become adults.
Women, stay strong, empower your daughters, teach your sons, take support from the decent men around us. We’ve got work to do. A lot of work.
Raise your voices and say “Enough.”
