A 16-year-old girl told the authorities that she had been attacked by more than 30 men, prompting outrage as the government vowed to combat crimes against women.
Source: First Arrest Made in Gang Rape Case in Brazil – The New York Times
Here’s the paragraph that particularly assaulted me, with my probably unnecessary bolding:
Brazilians reacted with shock after the May 21 assault came to light last week. Graphic photos and videos of the unconscious, naked teenager were posted on Twitter, and several men joked online about the attack.
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A husband can beat his wife, one Pakistani council recommends, so long as it’s done “lightly.”
Source: Pakistani men can ‘lightly’ beat their wives – NY Daily News
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Pass the Military Justice Improvement Act so sex assault victims can receive justice.
The issue of sexual assault in the military has been led by my own senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, who wrote this opinion piece in the Washington Post.
NOTE FOR THE FUTURE: I could spend as much time posting story links on the global war against women as I do reading them.
I find myself railing, of course, against the primitive abuse of women around the world–often rationalized by fundamentalist religions (see above, re Pakistan).
I’ve opined that the fundamental purpose of any fundamentalist form of religion is to suppress women. I assume it comes from fear–the fear men have of women whose existential rights, sovereignty and opportunities in life are equal to theirs.
Every day I read appalling news that most often links the global war against women to the god problem.
I feel relatively helpless to do anything about it, other than wanting to kill.
I’m aware that my horrified contempt for what happens to women in other parts of the world is scented with arrogance, given that the underlying premise of that contempt must be a snotty, “Well, this doesn’t happen here.”
It does, though, doesn’t it? Perhaps not as horribly as it happens “over there,” wherever that is, but it does happen here, every day.
So I’ve decided not to rant any longer on the global war against women. From now on I’ll only rant to you about the American war on women, since I–and all voters, really–do have the prospect of improving things for women here, in our own country.
Whew. I feel as if a (sure, majestically self-imposed) burden has been lifted from my shoulders (especially the left one, which has been bothering me for years–freezing, arthritis, a bone spur, a muscle tear and an unidentified floating object picked up by an MRI…).