Am I Doing Enough?

Am I doing enough? Am I working hard enough?

Every day women and girls are raped and beaten. Every day women and girls are murdered. Every day women and girls are sold into slavery. Every day physical, sexual and emotional abuse continues, our children treated as less than human, being scarred for years to come.

Every day young girls internalise messages of self-hatred and despair. Rates of suicide, depression, self-harm, eating disorders all continue to increase.

There are women and girls in the world who don't have the right to education, who don't have the right to a voice, who don't have reproductive freedom, who don't have the right to be seen in public.

And what do I do? I blog. I sit here on my privileged arse and whine.

Am I doing enough? Not even remotely.

It's time to start actual activism, focusing on things that matter. I don't know what yet. I don't know what I can do, or if I can do anything. But I have to try.

Cross posted to my livejournal.

Stupid Laws in the NT

So it has recently come to my attention (via Cheshire_Bitten) that some pretty fucking stupid laws have been passed in the Northern Territory recently.

Firstly, there is now mandatory reporting of any child under 16 purchasing condoms. Or having sex. And this law applies to everyone. If you are a friend or brother and you know of someone having sex, you must report it.

Then, there is this:
"Any person who has sexual intercourse with someone under the age of 16 is guilty of a crime and liable to imprisonment for 16 years," Dr Bauert said.

"There's no age defence, so if the person who was having sex with somebody under the age of 16 is 15, that is no defence."

That's right, 15 years olds having sex with each other is now rape. Because, you know, teenagers aren't hormone-filled, confused people just trying to figure everything out. They're rapists. Let's jail them for 16 years.

There are many reason why these laws are full of shit, the rape charge being one of them (and the big one, IMHO). But these laws effectively remove sex-ed from the equation. If a 15yo comes to a doctor or teacher for help with preventing pregnancy or STDs, that person will need to report the 15yo.

So with possible jail terms, why would any 15yo ask for help or advice about sex? There's also the possibility that parents, afraid of breaking the law, will not provide the proper information, because that could be seen as encouraging underage sex.

Look, people, a person does not magically mature into a fully-capable human being when they reach that magical, arbitrary age. They aren't suddenly able to make informed decisions. Firstly, some kids are mature at 14. Or younger. Hard to believe, but very, very true. There are also kids who aren't mature at 21. Less hard to believe. Still very true.

Also, kids will experiment, whether they are mature or not. Sticking your head in the sand will not make that go away. Calling 15 year olds rapists will not make that go away. How about instead we encourage proper sex-ed and do our part to help prevent STDs and unplanned pregnancies. Support and help is what a teen needs, not a criminal record!

If you live in the NT, write to your local MP and tell them how fucked up these laws are. If you don't, write to the NT MP and tell them how fucked up these laws are. Not sure how much good letter writing will do, but it's better than doing nothing.

Nothing Much Changes

Generation played a key role here. Young women had enjoyed greater personal freedoms during the War and tended to view feminist organizations[sic] as dull and old-fashioned. Former suffrage campaigners, therefore, complained that the young were only interested in personal fulfilment and pleasing men.
Passage taken from Feminism: a short history of a big idea, by June Hannam, Chapter 5 (p110)

This quote is about feminism in the inter-war years. The 1920s. And yet change a couple of words around and it could very easily be applied to feminism today.

Does anything ever really change, or do we just keep going round and round?

Paid Maternity Leave and the Australian Public

When I say "Australian Public", I actually only mean the idiot ones. Well, certain idiots anyway, who send letters to the editor about stuff they no very little about. Take maternity leave for example.

As some people may know, the issue of paid maternity/paternity/parental leave was recently reopened by our beloved Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd. Add this to the recent closures of ABC Learning Centres, and low and behold! Idiots come out of the woodwork and offer their "enlightened" opinions. These are all paraphrased Letters to the Editor, published in The West Australian. They aren't quoted verbatim because, well, that would mean finding old issues of The West, copywright issues... drama drama drama. Also, it's the ideas I'm adressing, not the people themsleves. It's the same ideas I see repeated in that paper time and time again.

Letter One: Why would we want paid maternity leave? We already have the Baby Bonus! Paid maternity leave only helps working mums, but stay-at-home mums are more important than those women who chose to work.

Letter Two: I'm so glad the ABC Centres are closing! Maybe we'll finally see mothers at the park with their children!

Letter Three: Ever wonder why there's an escalating crime rate in this country? It's because mothers don't look after their children! Instead of teaching them proper morals, they leave them in the care of strangers.

Ok, so there's a few issues here that should be discussed.

Firstly, the whole "stay-at-home mums vs. working mums" dichotomy.
I would like to state that I think it's bullocks. Stay-at-home mums aren't worth more than working mums. Working mums aren't worth more than stay-at-home mums. The idea that you can reduce a woman's worth to how she chooses to raise her children is just unbelieveable! Not to mention the fact that some women don't have children, because they can't, because they don't want to, because of a hundred different reasons.
Reproduction is not the be-all and end-all of womanness.

Second, the choice to send children to childcare centres. Sometimes, yes, it is a choice. And when it is a choice, you damn well better respect that choice! Just the same as you damn well better respect the choice of some mothers who want to stay at home with their children.

But it's not always a choice. Lets look at this logically. Let's say you're a single parent. You are able to take a month off from work, unpaid of course, and more if you ask for it (but no guaruntees they'll hold your job for you). That job is your only source of income. The baby bonus is $5000 dollars, lump sum. With no other income and bills to pay, how the hell can you survive?
Or, say you have a double income, and are relying on that to pay your rent, mortgage, bills...? These aren't the only reasons for putting children into child care, but to be so dismissive of all working mothers is completely obsurd.

Third, what about the fathers? The stigma associated with stay-at-home dads is as big as it is stupid. And, yeah, it's a problem. Because fathers have as much of a right and responsibility as mothers with regards to children. But they aren't the ones accused of sending society spiralling out of control.

And finally, the idea that child care centres are going to turn children into psychopathic murderers and cop bashers is, well, absurd. And as someone currently studying to work in childcare, I'd like to give anyone who suggests that I'll screw their children a great big fuck you. But then I'm biased.

The Rules

Because I like rules (I was a Drill Master in highschool ;) and it's easier than trying to figure out what to post. And hey, I'm limited in what I can write at my parent's house.

• Godwin has no place here. Seriously, the second I see the word Nazi, your comment will be deleated.
• The above rule applies to the term "Feminazi" Damn I hate that term.
• This blog is a hate free zone. I love passionate debates, even when they turn nasty, but please leave personal slurs out of it.
• I also don't like scare quotes. Depending on the "context" I might allow it. (Yes, that was intentional).

So, that's all I have at the moment. I don't think I need many rules, but it does keep the place more civil.

Welcome Message

This is the first blog post ever. I'm still working out the kinks, so this will be up until I have real posts ready.