To celebrate the International Women’s Day, the Huffington Post published an article profiling the work done by LGBT women around the world.
Click HERE to learn more about the following women:
Our panel discusses the experiences and challenges of women with Autism Spectrum Conditions:
This is the story of the friendship between Phyllis Rodriguez, whose son was killed in the 9/11 attacks, and Aicha El-Wafi, whose son was convicted with charges of helping with the 9/11 attacks and is currently serving a life sentence.
Here’s Kakenya Ntaiya’s TED talk, where she talked about her battle to be educated:
What comes to your head if you see a girl/woman wearing this:
Or possibly working as a Hooters Girl:
Would you think she’s cheap? Asking for it? A whore, perhaps? Or would you say to yourself, ‘Good for her, for standing up for her choice’?
The majority of you would have probably raised your eyebrows upon reading the sentence before this. Whether we like to admit it or not, we still live in a patriarchal society wherein the choices and rights of women are rather limited. We are a product of our past. With this comes the idea that women are lower than men, and should be judged based on what men think are right and wrong.
Imagine this scenario: a girl wearing skimpy clothes (like the Hooters girls pictured above) walking late at night, and was raped. The rapist argues that if she weren’t wearing those clothes, he probably wouldn’t have noticed her, and hence wouldn’t rape her. More often than not, the authorities would take the view of the rapist, and say that the girl was providing an invitation to anyone to rape her, or at least attract unwanted attention. My question is, why does our society condone men’s animalistic sexual behaviours whilst suppressing those of females? It seems like it is accepted for a guy to ‘wolf-whistle’ at any girl he finds attractive, or for him to shout unwanted sexual remarks at a woman wearing tight clothes, simply because ‘she asked for it!‘. Most of us find it too easy to just shrug off and frown at these male acts. We reason that it’s just ‘men being men’. However, should a girl do such things as ‘wollf-whistle’ at a guy or shout sexual remarks, or even casually verbalise attraction, she would be deemed a bad girl, and a ‘no no’. Women should never do those things because it is widely accpeted that men are sexual aggressors, and would jump at any opportunity for a sexual encounter. How’s that for double-standards?
These standards are being reinforced since adolescence where it is acceptable for young boys to explore their sexuality through watching pornographic videos, masturbation and countless sexual encounters. Add to this the fact that when a boy dumps his girlfriend because he found a new one, he is greeted with high-fives and loud hoorahs by his peers. The picture is totally different for young girls. They are taught from a very young age that sex is bad, let alone pornography and masturbation. They are taught to suppress their inner desires if they want to be treated with respect. A girl is a slut, a whore, a bitch, if she ever express her sexual desires, in any way or form. Why? Why the double standard?
If we are to condemn girls for being promiscuous, why don’t we do the same for boys? If we are to let the boys explore their sexuality freely, why don’t we let girls do the same? If we let people assume that girls wearing skimpy clothes asks for sex, we are limiting female choice and just reinforcing the false belief that males are the higher and dominant force in society . We should start making men more responsible for controlling their sexual urges and actions. Women shouldn’t watch what they say, wear and do just to accomodate men’s immature and irrational views of the world. It’s time for change, people. It’s time for us to change.
Understanding and Embracing Diversity 