My god! That's terrible. What's next? We've already done female circumcision, now breast ironing. Next, they'll permanently disfigure the girls' faces so the boys won't want to have sex with them. This is crazy and very sad.

What's next?

Vagina-sewing?

EJ asks:
What's next?
Vagina-sewing

They do that already in some Islamic societies. I have heard stories from first person experience.

Not that this is a new observation to anyone here, but I feel the need to note how once again girls are made responsible for male sexual action. And yet you never read of any damn people "ironing," or beating the crap out of their teenage sons' penises or anything like that in order to keep them "pure," or to keep them from making sexual advances.

They do that already in some Islamic societies. I have heard stories from first person experience.

Almost always African societies, if you please. It's not supported by Islam, although the people doing it try to point to the religion as a source.

Incidentally, it's usually perpetuated by the matriarchs of the family, not the men.

I get where your indignation comes from, but I think this issue is a bit more nuanced. At least in the second example, to me it seemed the mother was trying to ensure a better life for her child, wanting her to complete school before getting pregnant. I don't think that's necessarily an issue of putting virginity on a pedestal as much as her sentiment is evidence that empowerment for women is taking root in the culture. In cultures where the onus is so devastatingly on the woman for self-determination and personal preservation, it could be that the ability to withold sex or deflect attention could be a manifestation of feminism. A really effed up manifestation, but something to work with.

Interesting perspective, sactomaya.

But I still find it difficult to call this form of "protection" from a mother as a form of women's empowerment.

I understand that there is a lot of the culture that we don't understand and therefore can't fully comment on this, but this feels to me much more like women's lack of empowerment - this seems to illustrate how a woman's sex is the only thing of value she has - and therefore she needs to have it mutilated in order to "protect" it (read: save it for a certain man).

I think when a woman is truely empowered, her sex and sexuality is only a portion of where her power comes, and therefore looses emphasis in daily life.

I am of the opinion that when women are empowered, they don't feel the need to torture their daughters in a vain attempt to control male behavior.

In the late 1990s, I briefly (very briefly) mulled on attending the Roman Catholic Church. I was doing a few courses through a Jesuit extension program (Master of Theological Studies), and thought that, hmm, there is a progressive strain in Catholicism. So I joined a few listservs.

On one of the largest Catholic listservs--I won't say which one--I encountered a published Catholic author--I won't say which one--who said that his Eucharist was "ruined" because of women who dressed skimpy and provoked sinful lust in him. He prayed for the souls of these women, who he believed God would punish severely for forcing men to lust after them during the Eucharist.

I pointed out that when Jesus brought up lust, it was men who were in danger of adultery for lusting after beautiful women, not the women they were lusting after.

He responded that I did not understand Catholic moral theology. And suddenly, lasting for a period of several days, every woman on the listserv--which, up to that point, was about two-thirds female--went completely silent.

I later realized that he was basically right, when it comes to the views of the current Vatican incumbents, and that was the moment I realized I'd never make it as a Catholic.

Now I'm a Unitarian again, and relieved that I don't have to obsess over how much of their bodies women cover, or how I might physiologically respond to same.

This idea that women are responsible for "making men lust" is, unfortunately, too universal to be representative exclusively of Africa or Islam. It is still represented in the way that rape cases are defended in this country. It is all over the Duke situation. And it's very, very sad.

I watched a documentary on the Sundance Channel the other night called Slut!. Dealt with the etymology of the word, how women felt when they were called by it, etc. I found it entirely too MTV-ish and tuned out about halfway through, but it made some very strong points about just how nasty and universal this stuff is, and how much harm it causes to Americans, who don't get their breasts squished or their vaginas sewn together or their clitorises cut off, but still have to deal with the soul-crushing effects of living in a society where men are not held responsible for their own behavior.

Cheers,

TH

That's a lovely post, Tom. You're absolutely right, of course. One need look no further than court cases in which women's clothing were entered as "evidence," which wasn't all that long ago, or young women who wear baggy clothing specifically to avoid the street harrassment they get if they have the audacity to wear a tank top or short skirt in summer to find that mentality here in the US.

"...it could be that the ability to withold sex or deflect attention could be a manifestation of feminism."
Posted by: sactomaya

I think there can be no kind of feminism where a woman does not have control over her own body and sexuality. If her parents control her body then that is not feminism. That is simply control.

TH I love your posts. They are well thought out and detailed, and you always make good points.

Thanks so much for the kind words, folks.

This has been eating on me, so I looked it up on Amnesty International and found some pretty horrifying stuff:

• Cameroon's rape laws allow rapists to escape prosecution by marrying their victims.
• And oh, by the way, marital rape is perfectly legal in Cameroon.
• There are no laws against genital mutilation, and an estimated 20% of women in Cameroon are subjected to FGM.

I read a press release from an anti-choice organization today that didn't actually mention abortion, even euphemistically. No reference to abortion. None. It just talked about feminists being unattractive and angry, about "women trying to act like men" ("a pathetic sight indeed"), about how "feminism is nothing more than blatant
rebellion against God and His design for a man and a woman." And I think of the women of Cameroon who, yes, have to deal with things that American women will hopefully never have to face, but I can't help but think that the horrors over yonder are an undiluted form of the misogyny we see every day in the United States, as we saw in the reaction to the Duke rape case, as I saw on that silly Catholic listserv. And I think it fuels the apathy of our leaders towards women in the developing world.

I know these misogynists are thousands of miles apart in more than a geographic sense, but there is a kinship between the Cameroonian justice of the peace who smiles as he weds a rapist and his victim and the "men's rights" activist who howls that only "pure" women can be victims of rape, with the implication that everyone else is just asking for it.

People keep saying feminism is irrelevant, but if it were really irrelevant, why would so many people be working so hard to fight it? If gender equality is already part of the cultural landscape, why isn't more media attention paid to the problems in Cameroon, Nigeria, Liberia, and on and on and on?

It's heartbreaking. And I'm heartbroken at my own complicity in all this. Once at the post office I was accosted by a crazy-looking old man in a fishing hat. He looked familiar. Kept ranting about how women need to know their place. He scared me, so I half-smiled and half-nodded and tried to avoid eye contact while I waited for my turn at the counter. Later turned out he was Roy McMillan, Jackson, Mississippi's best known anti-choice activist.

He had given me, a total stranger, his fiercest anti-woman lecture and all he got from this captive audience was polite silence. That misogynist on the Catholic listserv got respectful disagreement. When people say "slut" or "whore" I generally change the subject rather than condemning those words. If I am honest, I will never do such things again. If I'm going to sit here and convince myself I'm serious about dismantling misogyny in Cameroon, a good first step is to stop reinforcing it at home.

Cheers,

TH

Tom, your posts are always so wonderful and well thought out. You are an excellent writer.

It's daunting to take on someone like McMillan, because the argument that would ensue would no doubt take up much valuable time, not to mention the embarrassment of a spectacle of fighting with such a nutter. That said, I do have to agree with you Tom - attitudes like these must be challenged at every opportunity, if only for the pleasure of seeing said nutcase shut the hell up.

"Breast ironing" is disgusting. I've read quite a bit about female genital mutilation, and have read that many times the labia are sewed closed and are only reopened to allow for the birth of a child. In my bioethics class we had a scenario where a woman wanted her daughter to have her clitoris removed by a doctor so that the procedure would be done safely and her daughter would be ensured a marriage. There were, of course, the ethical questions of going through with this painful, needless and humiliating procedure, but there was also outcry from some that this was the person's "culture," and it should be respected. I understand that FGM, "breast ironing," rampant rape and beating have been tolerated for a very long time, but I don't buy that it is "part of culture" and should be allowed - I cry bullshit. I find it disheartening that at no time, and in no place, has the notion of altering the almighty penis been broached, as the penis itself seems to be the weapon of choice for so many men. What's next - will parents burn their daughters' faces off with acid before the boys can do it?

"I don't buy that it is "part of culture" and should be allowed - I cry bullshit."
Posted by: otterotter

Of course it should not be tolerated because of cultural reasons, or for that matter religious reasons. It seems like we only have these quandries in the US, where feminism has been diluted and thoroughly discredited. There's an article up here by Houzan Mahmoud. Ask her what she thinks about breast flattening or genital mutilation. I'm sure her answer would be swift and unambiguous.

Like Tom said, there is an organic, global awareness of the rights or misuses of women, and the US can either lead or not. Bush is not ensuring women's rights in Afghanistan or Iraq, they've worsened. He said in public that first year of the war that the Taliban had some good values, too. I remember that distinctly. Meanwhile, women around the world are saying....whaaat? They are fighting for their rights. Here in America we are referring to feminists as "feminazis." We loathe freedom for women. As a nation, we are jealous of them and full of resentment and even hate toward them.

Perhaps this culture, this atmosphere has even been a part of allowing the Neocon takeover of government and media. I can't help but think that if there were more "3rd wave" feminists as they are called, standing up and reafirming their rights and proud of their predecesors, then we wouldn't be in the jam we're in. We wouldn't be in the silly situation of being denied even simple birth control from a pharmacist at Target because of his "moralilty." We have become complacent and accommodating, and apologetic, and of course non-united. Much like the Democratic Party, I might add.

I know this website is "by and for" young feminists. But, as a 42 yr old liberal, lesbian democrat, I thought it would be interesting to read the thoughts of young feminist women. Because I align myself with feminism as well. What I found was some wonderful writing and energy. What I also found was a surprising struggle to defend basic ideas about women. I mean, we're still arguing about abortion? We attack each other over blow jobs? We write that breast flattening is a feminst act or that Nelly's bootie song is a feminist "anthem?" I mean, when exactly is it that you build concensus and move forward? When is it that you have an identity so powerful that you sweep up the rest of us in America?

Two quick notes:

Yeah, this is bad. Almost like, if there were some simple injection, say a vaccine of some sort, that could prevent a girl from going on to get some body-destroying disease, like a cancer, and some people wanted to withhold that vaccine because resistence to that disease might be a reason for more girls to remain "pure."

And, hoo boy, crazy Cameroon, huh? Allowing rapists to get off because they marry their victims?

""If a man is caught in the act of raping a young woman who is not engaged,he must pay fifty pieces of silver to her father. Then he must marry the young woman because he violated her, and he will never be allowed to divorce her." Deutoronomy 22:28&29, Living Bible.

Savages.

I think that any woman from those countries should get automatic entry to ours as a refugee.

The reasoning reminds me of a gentler example: Golda Meir of Israel recalled the days when young women were being attacked at night. In Parliamentary debate, one member suggested that to keep women safe, they should have a curfew and not be allowed out on the streets at night. There was a general rumble of approval. At that point, young Golda popped up and said that since men were the cause of the problem, if a curfew was the solution it should apply to men. At that point, the idea of a protective curfew was dropped.

Monado writes:
I think that any woman from those countries should get automatic entry to ours as a refugee.

I agree completely, and I don't understand why this isn't already being done.

Cheers,

TH

It came up in the refugee petition of a woman who had taken her two young daughters and fled to our country in order to save her kids from FGM. I can't remember what happened in her particular case, but I have the feeling it wasn't good, because the final ruling was that the US couldn't consider gender as a category of persecution because then too many people would be refugees. You've got to love the logic there: the problem isn't rampant, violent misogyny...it's that too many brutalized women might have the right to seek asylum.

I wish I had the citation, but this is a memory of a NYT article I read a few years back....I mainly remember being outraged and appalled.

EJ, supposedly the Ubangi practice of stretching a woman's lips to accommodate those huge plates originated as a way to keep them safe from slave raiders.

Greg Peterson, you beat me to the Deuteronomy quote. It's been one of my "favorites" for years.

Even with my (incomplete) medical education, it's obvious to me that breast ironing is likely to cause permanent damage to the function of the breasts. At the very least, it will cause some very ugly and painful benign tumors, and might lead to a life-threatening infection.

bananas?
if someone was wacking me with a banana i might find it more funny then painful

Wow, I am currently living in Cameroon and I can't believe that I've never heard about this. Well, I suppose I can, as the Cameroonian media is almost entirely controlled by the government, but this is really shocking. The Cameroonian women I know are very into their appearance and walk around in nice dresses and heels on terrible roads, up and down hills. This is in the capitol and so not really a representative sample of Cameroonian style as a lot of people dress in Western clothes and show off their obviously un-ironed breasts. Of course, common Cameroonian outfits for women are called kabas and just look like big bags anyway, which can hide a pregnant belly, not to mention breasts, so I don't see how ironing would make much of a difference. But 1 in 4--that's absurd.

Though I have to say that the scariest thing here was International Women's Day, on March 8th. Thousands of woman marched in a big parade and then go out to bars "like men" to drink beer and dance and take a day off from housework. Ignoring the fact that this ritual just reinforces the existence of the current system, the worst part was that night. Apparently, men get jealous when their wives and girlfriends go out and so the night of Women's Day has become a night of beating. Friends of mine saw a woman being kicked under a car because she didn't tell her boyfriend where she was going. And law enforcement, if they showed up, would probably let the man off once he paid them 500 francs (1 USD). So while breast ironing may exist in more remote locations of Cameroon, there are so many ways that women are marginalized here everyday in more subtle, insidious ways.

BTW, I'd like to include a link to the April 16 post on breast ironing, so people in the future who find this post through a search engine can easily find that one too:

http://feministing.com/archives/009021.html

"Next, they'll permanently disfigure the girls' faces so the boys won't want to have sex with them."

More like threaten to permanently disfigure the girls' faces to keep them in line:

from "India's acid victims demand justice," Sunita Thakur, BBC News, Delhi, 9 April 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7270568.stm :

"...In Bangladesh, Pakistan and India, the number of acid attacks have been rising - and there are some facts now beyond dispute.

"The largest numbers of victims come from the poorest backgrounds and are women who have rejected their husbands, employers or would-be boyfriends.

"The attack is not committed in a fit of anger or 'passion' as is popularly believed but is premeditated and intended to kill or maim.

"The attacker's message in no uncertain terms is that if you can't be mine, you won't be any one else's either.

"Mamata's story goes back 12 years, to when she was 14.

"Her crime was that she refused to stay with a husband who had decided to marry again..."

"bananas?
if someone was wacking me with a banana i might find it more funny then painful"

Sa'ah said "Heated bananas and coconut shells are also used." I guess how painful the banana can be varies with temperature.

"Thousands of woman marched in a big parade and then go out to bars 'like men' to drink beer and dance and take a day off from housework. Ignoring the fact that this ritual just reinforces the existence of the current system..."

Just curious - how? Is the problem with the surrent system the labelling of beer and dance and breaks from housework as "just for men," or the existence of beer and dance and breaks from housework?