9.17.2009

reminder: the world does not consider you to be human.

i mean, if you (female reader) were considered human, your life and rights would be treated as sanctimoniously as the purported "life" which exists between two blobs of cells from the moment they touch. personhood? what about the personhood of WOMEN? living, breathing, (voting) women.

also, if you were considered human by the world at large, we wouldn't be reading
another story about a woman kept prisoner for decades, raped as a matter of course, forced to bear her rapists multiple spawn, and fear for her life if she so much as thought about seeking help. this woman wasn't considered human. she was considered property. and although we've heard 3 stories like this now in the past year (Fritzl in Austria, Garrido in California, and now this Australian case), i realize it's still extreme.

what isn't extreme is the similaries between the way these women were treated and the way that women all over the world are treated every day! rape, psychological and physical torture, control over mind and body, imprisonment, threats of violence if help is sought...

every day. everywhere. we are attacked, from every angle.

it's not acceptable. we are human, and we deserve equal rights. period. full stop.

2 comments:

Elizabeth said...

How about the personhood of the unwanted child, born to a parent or parents who don't want it but don't have a choice, who ends up being physically/mentally/emotionally abused for years, and winds up wishing they were never born. Or gets foisted off into foster care, to be neglected and forgotten. I'll get on the personhood bandwagon when these people stop worrying so much about the personhood in utero, and start focusing on what happens when these kids are actually BORN.

Carolynn said...

yes, exactly my point. BORN people are of less concern. that just doesn't make sense to me. personhood actually seems to END at birth, in some people's view.