The fact is that violence against women is an everyday reality for millions of girls and women around the world. There are many kinds of violence. The word “violence” is related to the word “violation” – and each time a woman’s right to be a full, self-determining human being is violated because she is a woman, violence against women is committed. From media and advertising depictions of women as vapid damsels in distress worthy of little more than objectification for men’s pleasure, to domestic abuse, workplace sexual harassment, date rape, marital rape, the misogyny of religious fundamentalisms, and sexual assault and gender-based violence, women, girls and trans people are still much more likely to be at the receiving end of violence and violation. These problems are usually worse for women who are not white, not from the upper-middle classes, and those of us who straddle multiple social-cultural identities as immigrants and children of immigrants. Continue reading ‘National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women’»
A long but highly insightful conversation between acclaimed authors Salman Rushdie and Irshad Manji on the nature of belief, Islamism, the history of Islam and Quran, and what to do in a world full of crazies on both the Islamist side and the racist westerner side. Rational, thinking people of all varieties will enjoy this video… please watch in full, it’s worth it. Intelligent comments are welcome.
Lastly, but definitely not leastly, here’s a tribute to the funniest guy who ever lived who died this past weekend, George Carlin. The world was funnier with ya, George, we’ll miss your sick, twisted, brilliant brain. Here he is, in his own words…
"I have become my own version of an optimist. If I can't make it through one door, I'll go through another door - or I'll make a door. Something terrific will come no matter how dark the present." ~Rabindranath Tagore