I'm writing a paper and feel like ranting

[melodypottersnape]

I'm writing about bride burning and I'm amazed by something. For those you don't know Bride burning is when a girl is arranged to marry a guy. The guy and his family receive a dowry (technically illegal) and then the guy's family wants more or to receive the payments faster. So he treats the girl like a hostage and if they don't get what they want they burn her alive. They then say it was a kitchen accident and get away with it.

Earlier I read a story of a girl being raped and then her own family stoned her to death to reclaim their honor. This is a kind of Honor Killing.

I sat their thinking and it really hit me how nearly every culture that exist all saw women as lesser beings. I mean some see women as property even today, but in everyone's history women have been seen as such at some point in time.

I mean I'm from the US and it wasn't until recently that women have had the rights that we feel entitled to today. I don't think it was until the 70's that rape was seen as an actual crime. It was originally thought only as a girl regretting a sexual encounter. I heard a story were if a girl reported it that the cop would give her a stick and he would take a cup and tell her to force the stick into the cup. This was to prove that the victim had to 'allow' the rape to happen and further humiliated the victim. Not only that but a woman could be beaten and it would be thought the husband's right.

It just boggles my mind that every culture has had this. I mean this wasn't one culture forced on another. I just can't understand why. I mean without women new children wouldn't be born so that alone would seem to make women equal. It can't be solely on the fact that men are normally stronger than women. It can't be because that they were more intelligent, because at some point they had to be in the same boat that we were. And had to decide that men were entitled to education but women weren't.

So how come all cultures saw women as lesser even before they met each other.

[Kitty279]

You bring something up I never understood, either. Over the years I've read enough articles about women getting killed to 'restore the family honour' because they had a boyfriend, and worse, maybe one not of the same nationality and/or faith.

Then there is a case I did read about once - in Italy a rape case was dismissed - the judge decided that you can't remove the jeans of a woman against her will, they have to want it. I was ready to bang my head about that much stupidity!

It leaves one wondering about the sanity of mankind, doesn't it? Sure some of it was probably necessary in earlier times, when pregnant women had to stay at home in order not to overexert themselves and watch already born children, for instance, while the men went hunting, which could be dangerous. Back then, it made some sense. But nowadays, it makes absolutely no sense. But as long as men are in charge nearly everywhere, I doubt it will really change any time soon.

[ayrine]

Misogyny and racism and ignorance are universal. Some "Men" and even "women"(I use the term loosely) use things like religions or traditions to enforce their power and abuse on women, children or people from different ethnic/color.
Slavery, sexual slavery, child labour, and now the economic slavery, when you push people into debt, take all their money and then force them to sell their organs. They have all something in common: greed and hate. One of the reason I despise usury and racism, it's so disgusting.

[Kitty279]

That's for once something I completely agree with, Ayrine, even if we very likely will never agree about a certain Albus Dumbledore. It's sad how some people use others for their own gain, not caring how many lives they destroy in the process.

[ayrine]

I know, it's horrible how people use others and use their differences as excuses to undermine them. Maybe you are right, we will never agree about Albus Dumbledore, probably because we have lived really different lives, so we see people differently, I, once was really righteous girl, really hard on people who made mistakes, but with time as I grew up and found myself in difficult situations, in a society, where violence and sometimes misogyny is still present, I started to find people excuses and stopped myself from accusing them. So, yes I tend to defend everybody that I feel just try to do their best, I'm maybe too indulgent with them, but that's my personality now
But you know what, it's not that important, it's just POV on societies and wars, what's important is what we really agree about.

[Kitty279]

While I appear to develop the other way around. In earlier times I have been more indulgent, but with old age, I am getting more and more cynical and less forgiving.

True, it's not important if we agree on fictional characters, as long as we agree on really important things like human rights and the like. Besides, despite disagreeing, we always discussed it in a friendly way - no insults, no aggressivity, just factual. Then, it can even be fun to disagree a bit