Violence Against Women - What we in the US take for granted

[EnderD_503]

Originally Posted by Words

Given the contents of the following article (amongst others), I'd say that your title is somewhat misleading AtLast. You might take a lot of things for granted, but what applies to you, doesn't necessarily apply to others, especially those from less privileged groups...and I'm not talking about those in Afghanistan, Egypt, or Syria, I'm talking about those in your own back yard.

http://www.now.org/issues/violence/stats.html

Best,

Words

Also took a bit of an issue with this thread for the same reason. I really dislike it when people from North America or Europe talk about "what we take for granted" as far as human rights. Are women's rights violated with such frequency and to such excessive degrees in developed nations vs. many developing nations? No, evidently women's rights have come along way in Canada, the US, France, Germany, the UK etc. However, just because they have come a long way does not mean we should say that we are taking anything for granted when we discuss violence against women in developed nations. It's the same argument I think I've heard frequently even on this forum about queer/trans rights worldwide...that despite the homophobia and transphobia that still exist in the west and other developed regions, that because somebody has it worse we are "taking things for granted."

To me that comes off as though we're "whining" when we try to fight for equal rights in developed nations. But the truth is someone will always have it worse, and that does not mean that we are taking anything for granted in the developed/western world as far as our own rights. It does not mean that women's rights in one nation are more important than women's rights in another nation. Both are equally important.

Just a month or two ago I was appalled to hear that some U.S. states had passed or reinstated laws that allowed police to conduct criminal investigations against women who had miscarriages, in order to make absolutely certain that the woman had not somehow induced the miscarriage herself. So not only are the police and the government policing women's bodies by not allowing them access to abortion resources, but they are actively pursuing miscarriage cases. This is violence against women. No, it's not acid thrown in a woman's face, but it is still violence against women. It is still policing women's bodies. It is still completely atrocious and it is happening in a western "developed" nation.

I just feel that the wording of this thread is problematic and that people need to understand that no matter how far rights for marginalized people (including women!) have come in the west, they still have very far to go.

As far as US centrism...well yes, I think a lot of the issues discussed on the forum are extremely US-centric...however, that should not detract from the struggles of women in the US. I'm not accusing you of that or anything else, AtLast, but I'm just saying that wording can be "dangerous" as far as what it may convey to some.