Articles & Other Resources
This is a place for people who are interested in learning about patriarchy and the overall war on women from those that are studying it, fighting it, and speaking out against it from different points of view. Stop Patriarchy is a group for anyone who wants to fight the war on women, and the views expressed in these articles do not reflect the views of everyone involved in this movement. While there are many important books on this subject, some of which are listed here and we encourage everyone to read, on this page we are mainly trying to provide resources that are accessible online.
|
Did you hear the one about the psychologist, the musician, the student and two professors?
April 2014 from a Professor in the midwest They were all involved in deep conversation but nobody was really talking. No, it is not a joke. This was my situation a few weeks ago. This is why I am hosting a webcast viewing party on Friday night. We were all at an event to recognize the importance of women in the military. How could we possibly run out of things to talk about? Somebody told a story about nurses in World War II. Someone else talked about the monument commemorating women in the Vietnam War. Then I talked about the staggering number of American female soldiers raped by their peers and then the crowd went silent. People started to move away and I did nothing to keep them engaged. This happens a lot lately; I am angry enough to speak out but don’t know what to do next. How do I sustain a conversation about truly important issues? I live in the middle of nowhere in a community of educated silence. We are smart enough to come together for something important but we can’t actually talk about it. Don’t rock the boat, don’t make anyone uncomfortable, and don’t stand out in the crowd. But someone did stay to talk about rape in the military. Then another person wandered back. After a few minutes I took another chance: I invited them to my house on April 11 to see the Abortion Rights Emergency Webcast. As we talked about women’s issues and then about the escalating war on women right now in the 21st century I found a way to sustain the conversation. I don’t have to have all the words because I am part of a larger voice. Sunsara Taylor, Merle Hoffman, Dr. Willie Parker, and Bill Baird: all of these people will speak with me. Thanks to a live streaming webcast they can help me talk about these incredibly important issues. The war on women - including rape, dwindling accesses to birth control and abortion - all of these issues demand our outrage. Many of us were raised to say nothing, especially in the face of crisis; we need a little help to get over the first awkward silence. A psychologist, a musician, a student and two professors will be at my house on Friday. Even if we don’t agree on everything I cannot wait to have a real, honest, important conversation. See photos, video & reports on the April 2014 Emergency Actions Abortion & My Story:
|
Abortion Rights are at a Crossroads
|
Live from D.C. Day 2: Standing Up For Abortion at the Supreme Court, Taking on the Anti-abortion bullshit, and Challenging the Deadly Reliance on the Democrats of the
|
Stop Asking Me, "Why Do You Hate Men?"
|
From Delhi to Ohio & Everywhere Else: If You're Not Fighting Rape, You're Condoning itBy Sunsara Taylor
On Dec. 16, 2012 a 23-year-old medical student was kidnapped, repeatedly gang-raped and tortured on a bus in Delhi, India which had been taken over by six men. She was raped repeatedly, beaten viciously, and penetrated by a rusty iron rod which ruptured her internal organs. By the time her rapists dumped her naked body under an overpass, along with her male companion who had sustained broken bones and a severe beating, 95% of her intestines had been pulled out of her body. Her rapists attempted to run her over with the bus, but her companion managed to pull her out of the way. Still, her ordeal was not over. For nearly two hours, as blood poured from her body, medical treatment was delayed – first as passersby refused to stop and then as police delayed and debated over whose jurisdiction and responsibility she was. On December 29th, after 13 days of emergency surgeries and medical attention, she died. On August 11, 2012, a 16-year-old girl in Steubenville, Ohio passed out at a party. While she was unconscious, the stars of the local football team stripped her naked, raped her, and goaded party-goers into urinating on her while crowds looked on. They dragged the unconscious girl to three different parties, violating her throughout the night. In cellphone footage taken that night, one of the rapists can be seen laughing and joking about what he and others did to the girl. Referring to the fact that she was unresponsive as this assault went on, he jokes,“Is it really rape, cuz you don’t know if she wanted it or not. She might have wanted it. That might have been her final wish.” While this girl did not, in fact, die, a group of guys can be heard laughing as one of them goes on for a full twelve minutes saying things like, “She is deader than OJ Simpson’s wife,” and, “She is deader than Trayvon Martin.” How different are these two stories, really? Read More! |
Reclaiming Abortion As A Fundamental Right: The Essential Alternative to Planned Parenthood's Politics of CapitulationBy Helen Ridsdale.
Today is the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, and abortion remains a tense political issue in the United States. It is also more under threat than it has ever been. And yet, pro-choice activism is on the wane; while hundreds of thousands march for “life” every year, it is rare to see many on the pro-choice side in the streets. The pro-choice movement is taking a more conciliatory stance towards their opponents, and increasingly letting the anti-abortionists set the terms of the debate in the name of reaching across the divide. Conciliation seems generous and high-minded, to those who believe the battle has already been won; and indeed, many in the US today consider abortion rights to be a foregone conclusion. And particularly with a democratic president in the White House, something we can all happily, comfortably forget about. Those who once stood up for women, and stood up for abortion, have been lulled to sleep. The reality is more like a nightmare. Read More! ¡Goodbye Shame!by Nicole, age 16
I am angry, but I am done with the shame. I did nothing wrong. There is nothing I did that made it happen. There is nothing I could have done to prevent it. I am done with the shame. I have spent my entire life blaming myself, and finally I am done. At just 7 years of age I experienced a series of sexual assaults in which I was forcibly restrained and molested, given a cookie to keep quiet each time. I still turn down cookies to this day. At 14, I was taken advantage of by an older friend who I trusted, they made me feel dirty. I blamed myself for both of these tragedies; playing back the assaults in my mind mining for mistakes I must have made. I learned to not trust males, especially older men. On my 15th birthday I told myself I was bigger, nobody could hurt me, and that the past was behind me. At this point I began to say that I no longer blamed myself but every night I still laid awake, wondering what I did wrong, what I could have done differently. Read More! |
I Still Don't Call It Rape and the Weight of it Gets Heavier All the Time
from Abigail Lynn
I was 42 before it really, seriously dawned on me that my first sexual experience was an assault. Even now, in my late 50s, I cannot say that it was rape. Rape is what happens to others; this wasn’t “as bad.” Even as I write about it now I have to soften it, distinguish it from real pain, by calling it an assault. It was 1970; I had just turned 15. Much of my life seemed out of control (parents, peer pressure, poverty, etc) but it was all better when I was babysitting. I had my regular job, every day after school and usually Friday and Saturday nights. They were a great hippie couple (both 31) with four wonderful boys. She was beautiful, earthy, smart, and funny. He had long dark hair pulled into a ponytail, stoner blue eyes, and wore tie-dyed t-shirts and love beads. They knew all the local bands, went to all the trippy parties, and stayed out all night long. They introduced me to Janis Joplin, Allen Ginsberg, and weed. She worked all day at an office to pay the bills; he flaked from job to job without much real success. He graduated from seminary school and was a minister for a few years. That is how I met them: he worked at a neighborhood church running all kinds of cool programs for kids. By the time I babysat for them he was already into a different line of non-work... Read On... Listen to a reading of Abigail's story. |
Response to Abigail: Rape is NEVER the Victims Fault
from Andrea Strong
Rape is NEVER the victim’s fault. Let me repeat that: Rape is NEVER EVER EVER EVER the fault of the victim. If you were raped, suspect you were raped, or if you were coerced by words or charm or threat, and may not call it rape, but still feel violated, IT WAS NOT YOUR FAULT. We live in a RAPE culture, a culture where people think that rape has to with sex. Rape has little to do with sex; it is about one person controlling another: whether through physical violence, emotional pressure, or leveraging of power or other social capital, to the point where the victim of the rape feels anything from humiliation all the way up to fear for their life as the dominant emotions. Any female, from the age of 6 months to 90 years old, of any nationality, from any walk of life, wearing any kind of clothing, doing any kind of work or activity (sometimes even sleeping in her own bed), is at risk. Any female in any physical environment, at any time of day or night, is at risk. It could happen in her own home, at a college frat party, at her kindergarten playground, at her church or temple, at her job, in her car, on the street, on the bus or subway, etc., etc., etc. The aggressor could be her boyfriend, her teacher, her priest, her husband, her friend, her date, a stranger, her employer, her boss, her client, her co-worker, even her father/brother/uncle/ or other family member, etc., etc.,etc... Read On... Listen to Andrea talk about this response. |
