This week Jews celebrated Purim, the holiday where we read the Book of Esther. Esther's story, whether based on facts or not, always makes me think about the place of women in strongly patriarchal societies, especially patriarchal monarchies.
The short version, if you don't know the story:
In ancient Persia, a drunken king brags about his wife's beauty, and orders her to unveil in front of his friends. She refuses, which I learned was a sign of virtue, and was banished. The king holds a beauty contest to find a replacement, and the winner is a young Jewess named Esther, who doesn't tell the king that she is Jewish. Meanwhile Esther's uncle offends the vizier Haman, who then plots to kill him and destroy the Jews of Persia. Mordechai tells Esther to plead with the king for her people, and after hesitating in fear, she agrees and is successful.
The women in the story are often criticized, Vashti for disobedience and Esther for her hesitation about helping her people. I always defend them. Vashti chose virtue over a silly command from the king who was drunk at the time, and took her punishment - sometimes she is assumed to have been sent away, sometimes back into the harem. And I try to put Esther's fear in context. She was probably somewhere between 12 and 15 upon becoming queen, and after what happened to Vashti, was well aware of the dangers of disobeying her husband or taking the initiative of seeking an audience rather than waiting to be summoned. I always think of the story of Scheherazade - where a king decides to kill wives rather than wait for them to be unfaithful - as the other story showing the absolute power of kings (men) over their queens (wives). It took courage for Esther to hatch her plot and invite the king and Haman to a feast with her, and she rose to the occasion despite the odds.
Women of Courage
Thinking of this, I was moved to find women at the heart of two protests around the world. In New Zealand, women stood up for freedom for West Papua, staging a public intervention at Pasifika Festival Auckland, Saturday 8 March. This link contains wonderful photos of the demonstration.
https://www.facebook.com/...
And in Palestine, women took to the streets to demand a stronger law against "honor" killings, which have increased over the past few years. Existing law (Jordanian law) allows such murderers to receive consideration to lessen their sentences. A new law would call these "ordinary" murders, and not deserving special consideration.
http://www.al-monitor.com/...
And from India, a story of a woman who was severely beaten after trying to stop a child marriage.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/...
Our Bodies, Ourselves?
"How to get a bikini body. Put a bikini on your body."
https://www.facebook.com/...
And from Stephen Colbert, another point of view.
http://www.colbertnation.com/...
Why we need comprehensive sex education in our schools:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/...
Events to Note
Alex Sink lost in Florida on Tuesday. If you have money to give, this will be a long campaign season, and the Republicans are already sinking millions into attack ads against women candidates. If you can, please give to women's campaigns at Emily's List.
http://emilyslist.org/
And Michigan's rape insurance law went into effect this week.
http://www.msnbc.com/...
Women students at Dartmouth continue to protest treatment of rape victims and rapists, demanding nothing less than expulsion as punishment for rape.
http://act.weareultraviolet.org/...
http://act.weareultraviolet.org/...
There is a petition to Florida governor Rick Scott asking him to remove Angela Corey from her post. After weak prosecutions in the murders of Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis, she is fighting against Marissa Alexander with everything she's got.
http://act.colorofchange.org/...
Political Commentary
An interesting article on why we need more women of color in office in this country.
http://www.americanprogress.org/...
Unclassifiable Idiocy
http://www.dailykos.com/...