Patrick Stewart's Passion

Patrick Stewart was asked what the most important thing he has done outside of acting is and this was his response.

Here is the Amnesty talk that was referred to and a link to the UN platform he did. 

Stewart, who grew up in a home where abuse occurred, speaks to the mistaken prejudice that women must have "done something" to deserve their abuse. It is the lie that excuses the abuse and places the blame on the victim. It is wrong (to use his response)!  There is nothing a woman does to justify being attacked. Furthermore, Stewart (with lots of emotion) states: Violence is never, ever a choice that a man should make. 

This is the greatest lie that allows abuse to continue and it is one of the biggest lies we have to combat and defeat if we are ever going to end violence. Men need to stand up and say to other men that violence is not okay. 

I also appreciate that, without excusing his actions, Stewart is able to state that his father suffered with undiagnosed PTSD and that played a role in his behavior and abuse. Still, violence is a choice. Stewart now does a lot of work equally for battered women and for those who are suffering with PTSD.

Read about the experience from the amazing woman who asked Stewart the question. 

International Women's Day

Today is International Women's Day. According to the UN, "It is a day when women are recognized for their achievements without regard to divisions, whether national,ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political. It is an occasion for looking back on past struggles and accomplishments, and more importantly, for looking ahead to the untapped potential and opportunities that await future generations of women. (link)"

We take a day to celebrate the amazing achievements of women, to look at how far we have come and yet, how far we still have to go. For us, this is a day to stand up for the accomplishments that have been made for women in the area of abuse - being able to call on the police for help, the laws that help prosecute those who abuse, the protections for women getting out of abusive situations, the attention and advancements that are being made for those being sold. We stand with communities who chose to not accept the abuse of girls and women and take a stand! We also cry out for our sisters around the world who suffer under the kind of discrimination and silence that we in the U.S. have fought so hard to eradicate. It is a day of celebration, but it is also a day to call attention to the fact our work is far from over.

In our community, we will be attending Local Women Making an International Impact, a program being sponsored, in part, by our dear friends at Zonta.

We want to acknowledge women who are making an impact. 

• The mother working to provide the best life possible for her kids. Whether it is in or out of the home, we celebrate the woman who is giving her all to her kids, who laugh, cry, play and clean-up after the little ones who bring her so much joy. 
• The mother whose children are out of the home, who is getting back into the workforce, trying to forge her own way and make a name for herself.
• The woman who continues to give through mentorship, volunteering, etc. helping to shape the lives of younger women. 
• The female CEO, Executive, Board Member, etc. The process of women becoming equal in the workplace has been a struggle, and while still not finished, there is nothing women can't do! We have made it into executive offices, the military, Congress, and every realm in between. 
• The military member serving her family, sacrificing time with them, putting herself in harm's way, defending our freedom and increasing the freedom of others. We also celebrate the moms who have to hold down a home while their spouse serves. Their sacrifice is no less demanding, and we celebrate the woman who keeps things going while their loved ones serve far away.
• The woman dreamers, givers, lovers and fighters. Women who give, dream, push and inspire us to keep going, keep giving, keep trying, keep loving. Without these women we would be lost, without them LTHF would just be a great idea but because of them we put it into action. 

Take some time to celebrate the amazing women in your life. Take a moment to tell them, to thank them and to tell others about the advancements of the women you admire that have done so much for you.

One Billion Rising

Advocacy Day: Today there are one billion rising to end violence against women!

Human trafficking is a form of violence.

While many today will be rising to fight domestic violence and sexual assault, we want to include human trafficking in the dance as well.

It is the violation of women and children's freedom of choice. It is rape for money. It is exploitation.

Let's stand & DANCE and say enough is enough for those who are being raped and sold and used for the benefit and pleasure of another.

Malala's Fight

Malala Yousafrai should be a typical fourteen year old girl. She should be going to school, laughing with friends, dreaming of being a doctor, painting her nails, enjoying being innocent and cared for.

Instead, Malala is being flown to a better hospital after being shot by the Taliban.

Why? Because Malala wants to the basic freedoms that should be guaranteed to every woman and girl.

In a statement, Hillary Clinton said the attack, "Reminds us of the challenges girls face, whether it is poverty or marginalization or even violence just for speaking out for their basic rights."

It started back in 2009, when writing under the pen-name Gul Makai, she wrote for the BBC about life under the newly-Taliban controlled Swat Valley.

One entry reads:

I had a terrible dream yesterday with military helicopters and the Taleban. I have had such dreams since the launch of the military operation in Swat. My mother made me breakfast and I went off to school. I was afraid going to school because the Taleban had issued an edict banning all girls from attending schools.

Only 11 students attended the class out of 27. The number decreased because of Taleban's edict. My three friends have shifted to Peshawar, Lahore and Rawalpindi with their families after this edict.

On my way from school to home I heard a man saying 'I will kill you'. I hastened my pace and after a while I looked back if the man was still coming behind me. But to my utter relief he was talking on his mobile and must have been threatening someone else over the phone.

Since then Malala has become an outspoken advocate for women's rights in Pakistan, fighting for education for girls.

The Taliban has said that if she survives, they will come after her again.

One question has been lingering since I heard about the attacks: What are they afraid of? What about a fourteen year old girl wanting nothing more than what should be hers scares them? Why does the Taliban want women to stay ignorant, dominated and oppressed?

The second question: What can we on this side do? Malala is fighting for nothing more than the basic human rights that we take for granted. Today life in America goes on as if nothing is happening. Most care more about celebrity gossip then they do about Malala and why she was attacked. Most don't see how the attack on Malala is an attack on all women and our basic rights.


What can you do? Talk! A lot! Talk about what happened. Make sure everyone knows why this 14 year old girl is fighting for her life. 

Prostitution Incompatible with Gender Equality

Maybe something good can come out of the Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK) stupidity. France has apparently passed new laws that target demand - the pimps and the purchasers. From Truth-Out.org (emphasis added):

French women have made their voices heard, especially rejecting DSK's predatory behavior as simply the flirtatiousness of a man who defends his conduct with the feeble claim, "I love women, et alors." Most notably, Christine Lagarde, the woman who replaced DSK as the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), bluntly stated that DSK's defenders were in denial when they named DSK the victim, "... while ignoring the real victim and it led to unacceptable and disgusting comments by some of his friends. Male friends, of course."
...

In the midst of these sordid disclosures, a major political milestone took place in the French Parliament on December 6, 2011. All political parties in the National Assembly signed a resolution that "Reaffirms the abolitionist position of France, the objective of which is ultimately a society without prostitution." Significantly, this means that France does not recognize prostitution as "sex work," nor does it support legislation legalizing brothels and pimping. Legislators resolved that legal acceptance of prostitution is incompatible with French policies that promote gender equality and human rights. (!!!) In supporting the resolution, legislators spoke about the failure of legalized prostitution systems in other European countries, which have become magnets for organized crime, and encourage violence against women.
...

The Nordic model does not penalize the persons in prostitution, but makes resources available to them. Instead, it targets and exposes the anonymous perpetrators - the buyers, mostly men, who purchase mainly women and children for sexual services. The key to the law's effectiveness lies not so much in penalizing the men, but in removing the invisibility of the buyers and making their crimes public. Men fear being outed as prostitution users.

Criminalizing demand works. Police report that it becomes less profitable for pimps and traffickers to set up shop in countries where their customers fear the loss of their anonymity. Less profit means less prostitution and less violence against women.

If this law holding prostitution users accountable for their commercial sexual exploitation passes, France will be the first country on the Continent to penalize the demand for prostitution. Parliament has set the groundwork for a future vote on the proposal after the French elections.

What this means is that 13 year olds are not the ones charged with the crime of prostitution. Instead the system looks at the people putting her there - the men selling her and the men buying her. It breaks down the likes of "sex work" and realizes that modern day slavery is a) in France, and b) affecting the women powerful men like DSK thought they could buy, abuse and discard like rubbish. It turns the spotlight where it should be on the system (demand) that keeps the whole operation running.


Could we get something like this in the US?

Connectedness

Eve Ensler spoke at Ted last year. I will admit I don't know that much about Ensler but found her talk fascinating. Best known for her book Vagina Monologues, Ensler speaks about connectedness. Connectedness to each other, our planet and to the devastation around us.

At one point she says, "Then I went somewhere else. I went outside what I thought I knew. I went to the Democratic Republic of Congo. And I heard stories that shattered all the other stories. I heard stories that got inside my body…” Stories of horrific rape, of girls forever scarred and wounded from what happened to them.

“There are thousands of these stories, and many of the women had holes in their bodies -- holes, fistula -- that were the violation of war -- holes in the fabric of their souls. These stories saturated my cells and nerves, and to be honest, I stopped sleeping for three years. All the stories began to bleed together. The raping of the Earth, the pillaging of minerals, the destruction of vaginas -- none of these were separate anymore from each other or me. Militias were raping six-month-old babies so that countries far away could get access to gold and coltan for their iPhones and computers. My body had not only become a driven machine, but it was responsible now for destroying other women's bodies in its mad quest to make more machines to support the speed and efficiency of my machine.”

Connectedness. The stories of sisters suffering around the world, in part because of the goods we buy, left Ensler scarred. It leaves me grappling and wounded too. I wish I didn't know what I do, but we cannot escape the reality around us. So, Ensler started V-Day, an organization that demands the end of violence against women and children.

If we are connected to the earth. If we are connected to the tragedies around the world. If we are connected to and take responsibility for our greed that breeds destruction in other places. If we realize our common movement within humanity - then what is our response? What do we do for the women in The Congo, crying out from the violation of their land and of their bodies? 

No easy answers come, but then again nothing worth doing is easy. 

There are no easy answers.
Anyone who tells you differently is selling something. 

Connected - joined or fastened together. Our actions, our decisions, our words, our action (or inaction) affect each other. 

Awareness - We are connected to each other. 

Education - How we spend our revenue affects women worlds away,

it can bring destruction or it can bring restoration. 

Advocacy - Use your influence to tell others. 

How can you bring connectedness to your world; to those around you in your family, community, society and to the larger universe in general?

 

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