The Modern Women’s Liberation/Feminist Movement Part I

            I’ve seen signs on Facebook that people aren’t happy about the continuing Women’s Rights movement. They say things like “well, we’re not under Sharia law,” or “why are they protesting? They have it good here.”

            Not only that, the signs that women are waving have gotten pretty graphic in their depiction and words about parts of the body that are normally considered private. Then there’s the pink “pussy hats.” Frankly, I think they look more like cat’s ears sticking up.

            So here’s how I see things. Yes, we have a lot of rights that women in other countries don’t have. Thankfully, we don’t live under Sharia law. However, we aren’t always respected as people.

            This shows in a myriad of ways, but most prominently in the sexual arena. Think about it. How many women have started speaking up about sexual harassment and/or abuse in the work place? A lot of the women are talking about things that happened to them years ago because if they’d spoken up then, one of three things would have happened:

1.      They wouldn’t have been believed.

2.      Even if they’d been believed, they would have been treated as if they’d brought this on themselves – i.e., what were you wearing, how did you behave, etc.

3.      They would have been gas lighted – treated as if they were crazy.

As much as I hate to say this, these attitudes haven’t changed much in recent years. Women who are sexually harassed, assaulted, or abused are still likely to run up against these attitudes.

Even if the women manage to persist, file charges, go to court, and the man is actually convicted of his crime, what kind of sentence will he receive? As we all know, in the infamous case of Brock Turner, the Stanford student, he received a six month sentence of which he served only three months. That’s adding insult to the injuries he caused his victim. Hopefully, the judge who gave him such a lenient sentence will be removed from his position.

The only case that’s happened recently in which I really believe the man got what he deserved was the gymnastics doctor who was abusing the athletes in his care. Unfortunately though, I’ve seen something about some men saying the judge was mean for sentencing him to 175 years. Cases where these types of sentences are handed down are rare because too often the men who commit these crimes wield a lot of power.

By power, I mean men like Weinsten who had the power to make or break young actress’ careers if they didn’t do what he wanted. I realize that a lot of people say those women shouldn’t have done what they did to get their careers. Unfortunately, if they hadn’t, some other young woman would have.

I think men who abuse a woman that way, ought to be castrated. That might give them some idea of the damage their actions did to their victims.

It’s not just the sexual harassment and abuse, though. There are other ways in which we’re disrespected as women. I’ve read of women doing the same jobs as men and asking for what the men get. The men generally only need to ask once. A woman has to ask more than once and is considered a “bitch” or “difficult to work with” for doing so.

Even worse, though are the people in our daily lives who we should be able to trust. Our families, friends, and when we’re in school the personnel who work in those schools. Often times, though, experience teaches us that we won’t be listened to.

I was teased and bullied a lot during elementary school. Talking to the people in charge did absolutely no good. They all told me to ignore the ones teasing me or avoid them if at all possible. There was no effort made to deal with the kids who teased or bullied me.

In junior high, I went to summer camp with the church youth. Someone in the group owned a motor boat that we could ski behind. That summer, someone brought a round disk that had a place for a water ski handle so someone could lay flat on the disk and be towed around the water. I thought that looked like fun, so I got in line. It was fun. At first. Pretty soon he was driving the boat so fast that I was being bounced hard on the water. It was like doing numerous belly flops in a swimming pool, one after the other with no real break until I let go of the disk.

When I let go of the disk, he circled back and asked me what was wrong. I told him he was going too fast and that I felt like I was being bounced to the point I was afraid my insides were going to be bounced out. He told me that wasn’t possible. He wasn’t going any faster than he’d been told was safe. I don’t remember how many times I let go of that disk, then when he circled back and questioned me, I told him the same thing. If I’d had the confidence in my swimming abilities, I’d have swum back to the dock instead of riding that disk again.

A few minutes after we got back, he came over to me and apologized. He’d learned that he really had been going too fast.

More on this subject next week.