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Index:
Oppression
Profit over health
Topfreedom
Medical
Size and Shape
The Breast Challenge
Lactation
The woman's movement has had to deal with oppression due to gender, ignorance, and simple sexism. Through the years these have taken many forms and many misconceptions. In many cases the way it was was taken for granted, without regard to what a woman wants.
The women's movement did not take effect till the oppression of race had become an issue. However the two did not help each other as much, they have many ties which link them as the same type of oppression from a predominant (majority) race and culture.
Women were given few rights by men and are still treated unequally despite all the effort put into the issue. Woman's rights to land were virtually null, women's right to vote did not exist. There are still laws in the books today (though not upheld) that support this biased attitude toward women. This shows the biased views of women of the time the laws were made and in some cases attitudes which still linger.
Though I personally do not agree with some of the more radical aspects of the woman's rights movement. (I.E. changing spellings from women to womyn, that babies should be born in jars, and that men should all be killed off. There are several fundamental rights that women should have already had. Only by acknowledging and removing these can our society truly accomplish greater things using the equal contribution and diversity of all people.
I. Oppression
Billions of women through the time of man have dealt with sexism, oppression and brutal male domination. This treatment was tolerated simply because, this is the way it has been, and this is the way it will always be. Until recently these beliefs were never questioned. As often happens, when someone starts questioning a given or a time honored tradition there is great aggression or oppression to keep the rebbles silent, to safe guard the way of life.
In some cultures, women are second class citizens. They either have few rights or no rights at all. They are considered possessions. American's and other more "enlightened" cultures are slowly learning that there is a resource which has gone widely ignored. So not to condem any other country like some American's tend to do, I have included a small sample of what America has done about the women's issues.
First of all to help keep women in their place, many laws were passed to keep them in their place. Of course now days these laws seem silly, however the fact that they are still on the books and can be used against women at any time bears mentioning. Of course the Supreme Court would not uphold these laws as they are sexist and unconstitutional (now) the struggle to get an appeal to the court or even the Supreme Court would be monumentious.
Here are a few cases of laws which were passed to "keep women in their place." Many of these laws are still on the books.
In Memphis, Tennessee
A woman cannot legally drive unless there is a man running on foot ahead of her car with a red flag to warn motorists that a woman is driving. BBB-48
In Dyersburg, Tennessee
Its illegal for a girl to telephone a guy asking for a date.
Whitesville, Delaware
A woman can not propose marriage to a man, it would be considered "disorderly conduct."
Bellingham, Washington
A woman is forbidden to take more than 3 steps backwards when dancing.
Michigan
A man owns his wife's cloths, so if she leaves him, he can follow her into the street and remove them.
Virginia
A man is allowed to curse and/or abuse his wife if he does it in a low voice.
Los Angeles, California
It is illegal to hang lingerie in public view
Florida
A woman of "notorious bad character," is not allowed to ride a horse though town.
Gloversville, New York
Women wrestlers are forbidden to appear in the city.
Corvallis, Oregon
A woman is forbidden to drink coffee after six in the evening.
*These laws and statutes were taken from Loony Laws & Silly Statutes by Sheryl Lindsell-Roberts.
II. Profit over Lives and Health
One of the most serious offences of bigotry is the willingness and overt desire to make a profit over human bodies. The human body has been so reduced to the dollar that a price is easily found for a person's life.
Take for instance the ???? produced by Ford in 19?? It was a very dangerous vehicle which its gas tank often exploded on impact, as the company knew. However instead of redesigning it, due to the fact that so much money had been put into building this automobile they pushed production and ignored the situation. They calculated that settling out of court and wrongful death suits would cost them less than scrapping the car all together. After all their lawyers on call are being paid regardless if they do anything or not. This in itself is sick, however even with the lawsuits surfacing (non-publicly) they continued to market the vehicle. It even became one of the best sellers of it's time. But, not until shows like 20/20 and Prime Time was the public as a whole informed about the situation. Not only about the situation but, the fact that Ford knew of these life threatening problems and ignored them, covered them up and lied to the public. No wonder the public has become more cynical about big business.
I found this very interesting when doing research about women's rights and the women's movement. Tampons, though inserted into the female body are not considered medical and there for do not list most ingredients which are inside them. One item most of them contain is rayon along with other synthetic materials. Rayon has been found to lead to a serious condition T.S.S. (Toxic Shock Syndrome) which is caused by Staphylococcus aureus bacteria entering the bloodstream. This poisons the body and in extreme cases can cause limb loss and loss of life. Between 1985 and 1994, between 24,240 and 119,680 American women contracted T.S.S.
Manufacturers of disposable tampons are trying to get girls to start using their products earlier and earlier. Martin Emmett, CEO of Tambrands (maker of Tampax), told shareholders in 1993, "If we can persuade young women to use our product during their early teens, we can gain loyal consumers for thirty-five years or more." By sponsoring classroom presentations, Tambrands reached 20% of the 1.8 million thirteen-year-old girls in the US and 21 percent of the same group in Canada in 1991.
Check this out on powonline.com (which rightly stands for Pissed Off Women online)
III. Topfreedom
A. Medical
For decades having a hysterectomy--even a partial hysterectomy--would have left a woman "fridged." They were not given careful consideration of their nerves. Several women would loose the sensation of feeling and thus enjoyable sex due to the surgeries. This is in part because of an age old beliefs that women do not themselves truly enjoy sex, because they enjoy children they endure sex. The fact is several times the doctors would sever critical nerves that delivered sensation to the woman's brain during these operations, thus taking away any excitement for sex, leaving them "fringed." During much of this time Doctors knew which nerves to avoid in the male anatomy. This was simply because, doctors focused more of their time into male sexuality and not into female sexuality. Only recently has this insult been faced and there are better attempts to study the female sexuality to better understand these things. The sad fact is that because, surgery was such a predominately male role, that women were overlooked. Not out of spite, but, simply because no one considered the issue. This could be because, the profession was predominately male and no one considered the situation of the woman.
Women should receive equal treatment in all situations where men do, including equal pay for equal work, equal rights to property, children, military institutions and topfreedom. Admittedly women are more apt in certain jobs than men are and men are more apt in certain jobs than women are. Yet, men are not restricted from doing the job that a woman can supposedly do better. So why not let the women try their hands at what men can supposedly do better. The results might be very surprising.
I admit the issue of topfreedom is a biased one on my behalf. It would not hurt me to see more women walking around on a hot summer day topfree. However who was the one who said the female breast was such a bad thing to show? In many other cultures "civilized" or "un-civilized" this is not the case. As with words, the breast only has the disgusting attitude given them by people's reaction. I remember when I was a child I saw a woman breast-feeding her infant. It was understood that this was a beautiful thing and not a thing to scorn.
So what is the difference between the male and the female breast? Size or larger areola? The ability to lactate? The answer to these is no. Several studies have shown the male and female breast are exactly the same.
B. Size and Shape
Just as a smaller breast verses a larger breast will produce the same amount of milk regardless of physical size so do male's and female's breasts have the equal ability to lactate.
"...most breast tissue is merely fat, not milk-producing tissue"
C. Take the Breast Challenge
Here you will find breasts of different sizes and shapes, can you figure out which is female and which is male
D. Lactation
Lactation may be triggered by the growth hormone acromegaly or by other stimulants. The hormone is found in both men and women and thus each have the ability to lactate.
Hello, I'm Professor Patty Stuart-Macadam of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Toronto. Last week I asked if there is an example of a mammal species in the wild, in which the male lactates. The Dayak fruit bat from Malaysia - Dyacopterus spadiceus. In 1992 18 Dayak fruit bats were captured from a rainforest in the Krau Game Reserve, Pahang, Malaysia. Of the 10 mature males captured, each had functional mammary glands from which small amounts of milk were expressed. It is not known whether the males actually feed young. The reason this could happen is that a breast is a breast is a breast. Male lactation is physiologically possible and has been observed in some domesticated mammals and even humans. Dr. Robert Greenblatt says that milk production in human males can be stimulated by letting a baby suckle for several weeks. INdeed some males, either at birth or puberty, secrete milk. Historically male lactation has been noted by the explorer Humbolt, who spoke of a 32 year old man who brestfed his child for five months. It was even observed in a 55 year old Baltimore man who had been the wetnurse of all the children of his mistress!
Male humans look pretty unhelpful next to pigeons. Newborn babies, still pumped full of maternal hormones, usually lactate slightly, producing a few drops of "witch's milk." Medical conditions like acromegaly (excess growth hormone) can induce male lactation
Dr. Miriam Stoppard, author of "The Breast Book," agrees with Darwin that male nipples are more than rudimentary, cheerfully suggesting that "men could develop fully functional breasts given the right hormonal conditions."
--Susan McCarthy--
"My breasts are for everyone else’s pleasure, and my own oppression. Whose breasts are they, anyway?"
- Gwen Jacob (1991) -
I. The E.R.A.
Read about the E.R.A. at this site.
II. History
Topless Men
To a considerable extent the history of America is written in the evolution of its rules, as illustrated by the following description of "proper" beach attire.
Wading through miles of red tape, men finally won the right in 1937 to hang their swimsuit tops on a hanger and go down to the sea in trunks. In the summer of 1936, the no-shirt movement was a hot issue—hotter, in fact, than the perennial fuss about female undress. The United Press reported that topless men were banned from the beaches of Atlantic City because the city fathers wanted "no gorillas on our beaches." Cleveland held out for men’s trunks covering the navel. Galveston insisted on tops for men’s suits, "but no special regulations concerning color or style of garment worn by women." The situation was so unstable that beach travelers found it prudent to consult updates on swimwear regulations across the country.
Source: Lena Lencek and Gideon Bosker, The Beach: The History of Paradise on Earth (New York: Penguin Group, 1998), p. 213.
III. In the news
North Beach Magazine
Read about "Carol Doda and the Topless Era: A Fact Sheet" researched by Marsha Garland here.
Boston.com
Topless protesters brave cold for gender equality
By Associated Press, 11/19/2000 04:41
NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (AP) Protesters in this city were serious about gender equality. Serious enough that a few of them went topless Saturday afternoon to bring attention to state laws that allow men, but not women, to go topless in public.
About 20 demonstrators and performance artists, belonging to groups calling themselves Boobie Rights for Women and the Men in Bras Brigade, gathered in Pulaski Park at 2 p.m.
But at 2:40 p.m., similarities to other protests in a college town that has seen its share came to an end.
That's when eight women and two men took off their shirts and marched up Main Street, chanting ''We're bold! We're cold! Equal rights for women!''
Halfway through the march, James Russell, 18, of Longmeadow, took off his shirt, too. ''Hey if it's about equality, men should be topless too,'' he told the Boston Globe.
Other male demonstrators wore bras and offered them to male passers-by.
Protesters, who held a similar rally and march on August 5, said state law that allows men to appear in public without tops, but deems the same behavior in women indecent exposure, is unfair.
Michelle Wilde, an organizer, said she wants to transform the attitude ''which says it us OK for women to take their shirts off in a place of commerce like in a strip bar, but not in public on a hot day.''
Wilde, who said she sometimes rides her bicycle bare from the waist up, said she was motivated by gender inequality to hold the protest despite the brisk fall weather.
While onlookers seemed to support the protest, not everyone approved.
''Our breasts have different meaning than a man's in this society, and they should be celebrated differently as well,'' said Rosa Ibarra.
As was the case in August, police observed the march but made no arrests.
by AMERICAN NEWSPEAK even has a mailing list at wgrytt@blarg.net.
AMERICAN NEWSPEAK is hoarded at http://www.scn.org/news/newspeak/
Celebrating cutting edge advances in the exciting field of Doublespeak!
Written by Wayne GryttingUpholding Community Standards
A judge in New York has officially ruled that men's breasts are not as erotic as women's. Judge John S. Martin's vital discovery that women's breasts have more sex appeal came in a case challenging the city's 1995 law banning topless bars in residential areas. Attorneys for the Cozy Cabin dancing establishment argued sex discrimination because the law does not bar men from baring their chests even though "male pecs are sexually arousing," according to Psychologist Lenore Tiefer, who pointed to a popular Diet Coke commercial showing women turned on by a shirtless construction worker. But the judge ruled that "if 10 topless women were walking down Park Avenue and 10 topless men were walking down Madison Avenue, the effect on the traffic on Park Avenue would be substantially greater than Madison Avenue." Thus the judge established a new community standard for judging obscenity: if it stops traffic on Park Avenue it's obscene. Meanwhile, the ruling would seem to leave open the status of topless women who do not stop traffic on Park Avenue. (AP 4/9, WP 4/10)
