Untitled

In the past week:

 

* I have seen a story on a national news network about sexual trafficking in women’s and children’s bodies. This global “industry” is now the second largest illegal trade in the world. It used to be third.

* I read a story in the NY Times about a 13 year old Egyptian girl who died as a result of her female “circumcision.” The “clinic” where this mutilation was performed was closed down. The men in her village vowed that the practice would continue and that even though the clinic was shut down, the practice would not be. According to the article in the Times,

“For centuries Egyptian girls, usually between the ages of 7 and 13, have been taken to have the procedure done, sometimes by a doctor, sometimes by a barber or whoever else in the village would do it. As recently as 2005, a government health survey showed that 96 percent of the thousands of married, divorced or widowed women interviewed said they had undergone the procedure — a figure that astounds even many Egyptians. In the language of the survey, “The practice of female circumcision is virtually universal among women of reproductive age in Egypt…The challenge, however, rests in persuading people that their grandparents, parents and they themselves have harmed their daughters. Moreover, advocates must convince a skeptical public that men will marry a woman who has not undergone the procedure and that circumcision is not necessary to preserve family honor. It is a challenge to get men to give up some of their control over women.”

* I read a story, again in the Times, about a 16 year old young woman from Syria who was raped when she was 15. In order to protect HER honor, a beloved cousin offered to marry her. He loved her deeply. They were married. A month after their marriage, after her new husband had left the house for work, her brother went into her bedroom where she slept and brutally stabbed her five times. Her murder is traditionally considered an “honor killing.” It does not carry the charge of murder. Typically, the assailant in an honor killing is either acquitted or sentenced to a month in prison, at which point he is released to go home to family and friends who honor HIM for reconciling the family “shame.” The woman was raped by a man and then murdered by a man who presumably redeemed her; her shame and honor, determined by others than herself.

 

How much brutality have women endured throughout history in the name of “protection,” control and definition of their sexuality? It is too much to consider.

 

I can find hope only in the fact that at last there is outrage.

At last, sexual slavery and the “disappearance” of millions of women worldwide are being exposed.

At last, there is opposition to a practice that denies women sexual pleasure, autonomy and threatens their safety and their lives.

At last, there is intolerance for an absurd practice that counts a woman’s virginity as more valuable than her life.

 

The claim to moral relativity is not relevant here. A woman’s life is not negotiable. Murder cannot be defended by appealing to cultural differences or by a reluctance to make moral judgments. And know this: the feminist movement is about many things but at its core it is about liberation and ultimately, the protection of women’s lives from the men who would end them.