After watching a documentary on India, I learned of sad stories suffered by the India women and young girls. Nyati, one woman who was interviewed, was dedicated to the “goddess” at nine years old, meaning she was owned by the man of the village and anyone could sleep with her. When she was fourteen, she was married by a man so that she could be a slave to his family. “I was a sex slave as well as a house slave”, she said. She ended up having twelve children, seven of which died from disease and lack of medicine, two of which became blind, one who became paralyzed, and none of which she knew of their fathers. Nyati isn’t the only young girl in India who is involved in prostitution or is sexually abused. There was another young girl interviewed who was gang raped at only ten years old by her father, uncle, and their friends. It is quite common for girls and women to be abused and raped due to their inferior position in society in India. The problem with this situation, other than the obvious, is that many lower class children (Dalits or Untouchables as they are referred to) are constantly segregated and oppressed, and will therefore fall easily for any promise to better their lives, making them vulnerable and easy targets for false promises made by traffickers and child laborers. The sad, statistical truth about this is that every day three Dalit women are raped, two are murdered, and eight children (under fourteen years of age) commit suicide per day. India is an underdeveloped country, years of progress behind the United States. But one is led to believe that there is a correlation between the rates of female sex trafficking and the rates of suicide. This is not okay.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j6LR7JBIKU

World War II paving the way for feminism 

The women’s rights movement achieved success throughout the 20^th Century. Throughout the 19^th century women pushed and fought aggressively for equality with men. Women had little to no rights. A married woman’s status was based on her husband. A single woman’s status was based on the wealth of her fathers. Men defined a woman’s place in society. “In 1900 women’s legal standing was fundamentally governed by their marital status. They had very few rights. A married woman had no separate legal identity from that of her husband” ("Women in American Politics in the Twentieth Century").

Men of the house worked in factories or in a family business; they did the “skilled” work. The women of the houses were seen as maids to their husbands, teachers to their children, and a gardener for the crops. The unmarried women, who worked side by side with men, were paid less, which created great financial hardship for them. Women’s work wage was not kept on an official file in order to keep the perspective of female work ethic low and so the male's would appear greater. Work days for women were very challenging and long with the pay cut shorter than the men's. Women weren’t allowed to own property or serve on the jury; they were treated like they were invisible and useless. “She had no right to own property in her own name or to pursue a career of her choice. Women could not vote, serve on juries, or hold public office. According to the Supreme Court, they were not “persons” under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees equal protection under the law” ("Women in American Politics in the Twentieth Century").

 

 

Feminism 

The article” Global Feminism” also changed the way I look at feminist. Showing me the fight for women against patriarchy and male domination is happening everywhere. Women are coming together to fight for equality. Feminism isn’t about just fighting to be seen as equal as the men but also fighting to end racial segregation. “Radical feminists were dismayed to witness so many women (of all races) appropriating feminist jargon while sustaining their commitment to Western imperialism and transnational capitalism.” American women are seen to have the most “freedom” and “rights”, they are helping women of all races globally. “women in the United States have more rights than any group of women globally, are “free” if they want to be, and therefore have the right to lead feminist movement and set feminist agendas for all other women in the world, particularly women in third world countries.” Reading this article made me want to be part of the change. “Global Feminism” made me realizes the importance of feminist.

Brock Turner released from jail after serving 3 months for sexual assault

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/02/us/brock-turner-release-jail/

My senior year is coming to a close, and I'm in the stressful process of looking for a college that best fits me. Sadly during this process my parents have been very concerned about the large amount of college campus rape cases that has been reported recently. Their worries soon became my worries. I began starting to research many different rape cases that have happened on college campus's, wondering what the most common reason for them was. What I found sickened me. In most of the reports I searched, the incident happened at a party. And in almost every case where the offender was a male and the victim was a female, the offender pledged that the victim was "asking for it by what she was wearing." I felt anger and frustration throughout reading these. 

Women should be able to wear what they feel comfortable in. As a woman, I don't look at another woman who is dressed a certain way and think, "Woah, she's asking to be raped". And I'm sure many others can say the same. So how is it that a man can say it with such ease? How is the statement, "she was asking for it" even a consideration for a fair justification of a rape case? 

Now, I will say that women should be taught to carry themselves with respect and be taught to have some sense of what is, and what isn't, appropriate to wear in different situations. For example, ripped jeans might not be the the best idea to wear for a professional job interview. Or a cropped t-shirt is better worn over a bathing suit on the way to the beach than it is when you're babysitting younger children. But men should also be taught how to treat women with respect as well. We were all taught growing up to keep out hands to ourselves and to treat others the way we would want to be treated. Nowhere along the path of growing up should that change due to an inability in controlling our body language and desires.

Moral of the story is, what somebody wears does not automatically write on their forehead, "Yes, I am asking for it". I think that this seriously needs to be taken into consideration when handling rape cases, specifically college rape cases, and listening to the offenders plead of innocence. 

..

 

Women for Trump

 

"Before last week’s election, polls and pundits suggested that Donald Trump’s presidential campaign was doomed to failure, because it could not attract enough votes from women, who saw him as a misogynist—and worse. Conventional wisdom crashed and burned, however, as 42 percent of women, most of them white, came out to support him."-Fortune

 

1.) He received the strongest support from white women without college degrees, 62 percent of whom voted for him.

 

 

Reason:  Many supporters’ families work in blue-collar occupations such as construction, transportation, and infrastructure; live in low mobility areas; and have little personal contact with immigrants. “Us vs. them” rhetoric framed diversity as an impediment to American greatness, and—consistent with historical racial and socioeconomic fractures—global trade and immigration, the increasing presence of white women and people of color in government, and “dangerous inner cities” emerged as threats.

 

 

2.)The second largest contingent of women supporting Trump was white women with college degrees. Forty-five percent of them voted for him.

 

Reason: He reinforced the masculine, leader-as-savior image with repeated claims that he alone could make America great again. Those drawn to this view, by extension, place a higher level of scrutiny on those who do not fit their image of success. Thus, Secretary Clinton’s handling of her emails was considered far more egregious than anything Trump had done, an assessment fueled by his systematic dismantling of Clinton in virtually every stump speech.

 

 



Saudi Arabian Women have been struggling with freedom for quite some time. They have little to no rights. In Saudi Arabia women cant leave the house without a male, cant not drive, and can not get medical help without permission from their male spouse. The women of Saudi Arabia are fighting back, some have recorded themselves behind the wheel showing hey are willing to fight for their rights.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rQwJXaRN88&t=56s