Short Things

A short list of things I don’t want to forget and may explain later.

1. Talking about Buffy makes me want to re-watch Battlestar Galactica.

2. I’m angry that there are people in the world who are anti-choice, and make it their lives’ mission deceiving women for no one’s benefit.

3. The BSG soundtrack is so good.

4. If it weren’t for art, science wouldn’t know how to think outside the box.

Found Myself Some Culprits

I know, I know. I’m crazy for thinking that abortion should be covered by a public option. But I recently came across Bart Stupak’s Op-Ed piece in the New York Times, and it just makes me angry again. I understand that you don’t think it’s anything different or new – abortion already isn’t covered by federal tax dollars. But if it isn’t anything new, then why did you feel a need to do it?

I agree with abortion rights supporters who say “the amendment was the biggest setback to their cause in decades.” I just don’t see a reason for it. I don’t understand why the U.S. does not recognize public access to safe abortions as a woman’s right, a health right, and an economic right. I guess because the U.S. hasn’t been good at recognizing any of those forms of human rights.

AND another thing: why is anyone who earns less than $100,000/year a republican? Why are people denying themselves their own rights? I believe that ethics and morals apply to economic, social, and political issues, but seriously. And don’t you remember this bill by Tim Ryan and Rosa DeLauro? What happened to good teamwork?

My Troubling Ways

Here’s the thing about universal health care: it’s universal. Last time I checked, universal meant “including or covering all or a whole collectively or distributively without limit or exception; especially : available equitably to all members of a society.” I understand that to mean that there is no discrimination, which means all people – including women – are covered under a universal health care system, which means abortions are covered under a universal health care system.

Why? Because it falls under health issues. And last time I checked, abortions are legal (in the majority of states). If abortions are covered under universal health care, it doesn’t mean hundreds of thousands of women will suddenly choose abortions over carrying the baby to term. It doesn’t mean that women will be aborting their fetuses for gits and shiggles. It means women can have access to affordable, safe abortions if they choose to do so. And to be honest, you’re paying for them if not through a federal universal health care system, then through taxes for E.R.s.

And since when was it your duty to tell these women what they can and can’t do? And when did it become OK to use women’s rights as a bargaining chip? Abortions are legal. They should be covered under universal health care. We’re talking about the law, not arbitrary definitions of life. I don’t understand what the problem is here.

You’re My Saving Grace

To be honest, I never thought I’d say this, but I think I’m one of those women who will never be married. And let me tell you why…

I had a conversation earlier today about relationships, long distance relationships, and some abstract concept of what it means to be in a relationship. What I’ve realized is that I can’t be with a man who won’t let me do what I want. And that takes a very secure man, my friends. I took a personality test on Facebook a while ago that told me that, of all the Hollywood female stars, I am most like Katharine Hepburn. Why? Because I will show up a man at any chance I get.

I can’t stand a man who thinks he can beat me, rule me, thinks he’s better than I am, thinks he can control me. And maybe that’s why I’ll never get married. The day I meet a man who can let me be who I am without compromising himself is the day I find my husband.

Fuck the rest, my friends. Fuck the rest. I’m going to bed.

I’m Surrounded By Your Embrace

I came across this multimedia project titled “The Price of Sex: Women Speak,” and I’ve wanted to write something about it for the past week or two. Photojournalist Mimi Chakarova interviews and photographs multiple Eastern European women who worked as sex slaves after the collapse of the USSR. Usually I shrug off these types of projects because they’re isolated on the internet, and can only be found by those who are looking for it. But after I watched one of the pieces that illustrated Aurica’s story, I was in awe.

I wasn’t as shocked by her story of assault as I was by her story of escape. She fell off a balcony from six stories high, and broke her spine and pelvis. After spending two months in police detention, she was sent back to Moldova. U.S. Congresswoman Kay Granger met her at a shelter for trafficked women, and sent her to Dallas to have surgery done on her injuries. After months of rehab, she can walk now.

I can’t imagine anything I would want to escape so badly. These multimedia pieces successfully illustrate their struggles, as well as their achievements. I always heard about sex trafficking in the newspapers, and I watched it depicted in movies and TV shows, but these photographs and interviews create a different level of intimacy and, in some ways, respect for these women. I wouldn’t say the images are all individually strong, but as a whole, I definitely recommend you take a look.

It blows my mind that there is such disregard for women’s health and rights. We make up half the population – wouldn’t you think, then, that our rights would be a priority? How can people be so disrespectful and hateful and disgusting? I can’t believe that so many crimes against women go overlooked and uninvestigated. And I don’t believe it’s because the police and governments don’t know. I believe it’s because the pigs out there wants a piece of the pie, whether it be profit from such activities, or indulgence in their perverse desires.

Some day, women will have their revenge. (muahahaha.)

The Bible Didn’t Mention Us (or did it?)

I recently read this article by Fatemeh Fakhraei about how Muslim women appear to be treated by some (radical?) feminists. It seems that some people in the U.S. assume Muslim women can’t or don’t speak for themselves. While I was taking an International Human Rights Law course at the American University in Cairo (because I’m sooo worldly and such), I read this great article by Madhavi Sunder titled Piercing the Veil. The whole document is great, but since it’s 75 pages, I will extract my few points. (The greater scope of her article addresses and critiques CEDAW and human rights law in regards to religious practices and vice versa.)