Like some of the other women in class have expressed, this was a particularly difficult chapter to read. I’m glad that it was. It should be uncomfortable to read about violence, rape and incest. Not to mention that I claim myself a survivor of several of these categories, so it did bring up some personal feelings for me, too.
What I’d like to address is the perception of international feminists who are trying to bring women of other countries, such as in Afghanistan and Iraq, out of their prisons of misogyny and violence. The grave and valid concerns about the lack of human rights for women in these and other countries have become well known around the world. The book explains that the liberation of women being used as a justification for war “creates complexity for feminist activity in these countries as women and men seeking to address nationalist, patriarchal problems can be interpreted as ‘traitors’; similarly, it causes problems for feminists in North America and Europe whose activism can be interpreted as ethnocentric meddling…” (Shaw, Lee pg 556) I think that the beating, raping, disfigurement, oppression, and violation of women is abusive and inhumane, regardless of what the woman who is suffering (or the men who are perpetrating the violence) might believe. While this may be a cultural characteristic, it goes beyond what is acceptable treatment of an entire group of people. Should we ignore acts of genocide, rationalizing that those are internal cultural affairs and we as an international community have no right to meddle? I think not. In this same way are we obligated to take action against the systematic hatred and violence perpetrated against women on an international front.
Just as in the US, the men in charge in these countries are motivated to maintain the status quo that keeps them in positions of privilege and power. Women are just one segment of society that must be controlled. Men have used rape and other fear tactics as a way to control women, probably since time began. It requires an enormous and continuous upsurge of revolution both from within and from outside forces to change these deeply ingrained systems of power. The situation in Ciudad Juarez is a classic example of the men in positions of power and privilege doing their utmost to maintain the status quo. They have done next to nothing to end the rapes and murders happening in their city. It is the women of Ciudad Juarez and other feminists from around the globe who have kept this issue in the spotlight. They work tirelessly to find an end to this tragedy while building supportive places where victims can find some help. We must continue to back agencies like Amnesty international who “brought between 5,000 and 7,000 people from Ciudad Juarez and El Paso to march through the streets of Juarez… demanding an end to the murders of women and girls” (Katzarova, pg 588).
I believe it is my responsibility to never turn a blind eye to injustice against women, even if others think it is normal or culturally accepted – it is still injustice.
