This week the big news in this country was the San Jose shooting, and the big news in the war on women was in the responses to it. Perhaps most notable was the start of #yesallwomen, which became a place where women shared with each other their experiences of abuse and fear of abuse. It became a safe haven, a place of support.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Men had a hard time with all these stories, and wanted to reassure us that not all men are like that. But the point is that whether all men are like that or not, enough are that all of us have been afraid or felt invaded at some points in our lives. The line that sums up all of this for me is "men are afraid women will laugh at them; women are afraid men will kill them," a quote from Margaret Atwood.
I have not followed all the diaries and comment threads here at Daily Kos about this, but I will say this - being allowed to see into another's experience is a privilege. It may not feel like that, it may feel shattering, but those times when it has happened to me, the reassembled pieces of my world have come together in new and more compassionate shapes, and become a little fuller.
I have read some interesting analysis of the issue here and elsewhere, including a couple of strong articles by men. This first is from early in the week:
http://bellejar.ca/...
Others came later, and struck me as particularly worth sharing and perhaps discussing here, including this:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
http://sidespin.kinja.com/...
And by men, first a look at men and seemingly invisible misogyny:
http://www.slate.com/...
And this second that looks at the cultural narrative that contributed to this tragedy:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/...
This article could be read with an earlier article on women's perception of the same theme. I linked to this last week, so if it looks familiar, that's because it is. But I got a frisson reading it with a man's description of the same thing from a different perspective:
http://oneblackgirlmanywords.blogspot.com/...
Please share articles that struck you particularly in this whole discussion.
Now for the news.
Around the World
First from England - a young opera singer, Tara Erraught, made her debut at the Glyndbourne Festival, singing in Der Rosenkavalier, in an impressive performance. The London newspapers turned in their reviews - about her weight! The link includes a sample of her singing.
http://www.npr.org/...
Some good news from Sudan - international outrage may have been effective in getting the Sudanese woman imprisoned for apostasy and adultery for marrying a Christian freed. She gave birth to a daughter earlier this week, in shackles:
http://www.independent.co.uk/...
http://www.theguardian.com/...
From Pakistan: a woman was stoned to death in Karachi on her way to court. Her family, who had chosen a different husband for her from the man she chose, reportedly beat and stoned her on the street in broad daylight.
http://www.cnn.com/...
From the article:
Under an Islamic element of Pakistani law, known as the law of Diyat, the family of a victim is allowed to forgive the perpetrator, according to the human rights commission's report.
"Thus the victim's family usually is related to the perpetrator as well, and conveniently forgives their kin, absolving them of the murder," the report said. That possibility of impunity has "continued to encourage others to follow suit," it said.
Here At Home
Tuesday is Primary Day in California. I envy those who live where Sandra Fluke is running for the state Senate.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Maya Angelou died this week. RIP.
This week is also the fifth anniversary of the murder of Dr. George Tiller. This article discusses where we are five years later.
http://rhrealitycheck.org/...
Just when you thought Texas politics couldn't get any dirtier, along comes this.
http://time.com/...
Audrie Pott was 15 years old when she woke up at a friend's house half naked with obscenities written on her body. As she tried to figure out what had happened, pictures of her like that went around her school. A week after the incident she committed suicide.
Two boys responsible were recently sentenced to 45 and 30 days respectively. Audrie's parents have worked to get a law passed to treat juveniles who commit felony sex crimes more severely. That bill just cleared committee in the California legislature.
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/...
And here's an inspiring story about a young woman who is making a difference for the homeless in Detroit, growing a business from what started as a project for a design class.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Remarkable Woman of the Week: Dame Daphne Sheldrick
https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/...
http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/...
If you are interested to see her work in action, YouTube has numerous videos of baby elephant rescues and of longer pieces on her and her work.