Lies, that are repeated enough, often become the "truth"...

[sheshe2]

I believe, that if the "Truth" is repeated often enough it will become fact. When that happens, we will see Change.

SNIP:

Thanks to the Women's Liberation Movement that got underway more than forty years ago, the issue of protecting women against violent men became a national concern. The 1969 Redstockings Manifesto explained women's circumstances in the starkest of terms. In the excerpts that follow, it also offered a context for understanding why violence against women has proven to be so difficult to alleviate:

I. "After centuries of individual and preliminary political struggle, women are uniting to achieve their final liberation from male supremacy. Redstockings is dedicated to building this unity and winning our freedom."

II. "Women are an oppressed class. Our oppression is total, affecting every facet of our lives. We are exploited as sex objects, breeders, domestic servants, and cheap labor. We are considered inferior beings, whose only purpose is to enhance men's lives. Our humanity is denied. Our prescribed behavior is enforced by the threat of physical violence.


"Because we live so intimately with our oppressors, in isolation from each other, we have been kept from seeing our personal suffering as a political condition. This creates the illusion that a woman's relationship with her man is a matter of interplay between two unique personalities, and can be worked out individually. In reality, every such relationship is a class relationship, and the conflicts between individual men and women are political conflicts that can only be solved collectively."

III. "We identify the agents of our oppression as men. Male supremacy is the oldest, most basic form of domination. All other forms of exploitation and oppression (racism, capitalism, imperialism, etc.) are extensions of male supremacy: men dominate women, a few men dominate the rest. All power structures throughout history have been male-dominated and male-oriented. Men have controlled all political, economic and cultural institutions and backed up this control with physical force. They have used their power to keep women in an inferior position. All men receive economic, sexual, and psychological benefits from male supremacy. All men have oppressed women." [1]

Today, Patriarchy is Coming Back.

I do not agree with the Totality of "All men", as the writer states. I do however agree with the article. The last lines of the article:

As we move toward still another war, can we hope to mobilize not just one million men, but millions of men, in a campaign to persuade our young males to boycott war or, if they are already in the military, to refuse to fight? Since these wars are wars of choice, and therefore illegal, young men have not only a right to refuse to fight but a moral obligation to do so. There are many men who have rejected the patriarchy's ideal, but unless they speak up publicly they are supporting the system by their silence.

It isn't only women that the patriarchy has in its grip. Men need to be emancipated, too.

There is a lot to read at the Link:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/2/The-Connection-Between-War-by-Mary-Wentworth-130402-315.html

[Mnemosyne]

1. Thanks sheshe. Interesting article, i also do not agree with that Totality of All Men" memo.

Silence is consent, always.

[sheshe2]

2. Thank you, Mnemosyne.

I needed to add that disclaimer. It is not all men.

The sad silence comes from both sides. It is something that is not talked about. However, it needs to be.

[Mnemosyne]

3. I have known some very fine men, but sadly fewer and farther between as time goes on.

My daughter and I have raised her two boys, ages 12 and 3 1/2, and they have a healthy respect for women. No gender biases being learned here at least. Well, probably when they are with their bonehead macho fathers, but otherwise...

DU has some great ones too though, just have to pick through the 'posers'.