women: good fundamentals, bad show(man)ship

It seems that women's rights are becoming more of an issue internationally. In a nod to the Christian fundamentalism that is sweeping the United States like a Manitoba brush fire, Japan seems poised to introduce legislation which would restrict a woman's right over her own reproductive capacity. The neat thing is that in order to accomplish this, the Japanese constitution has to be changed to get around that whole human equality thing that plagues every good fascist. Now that sounds a little familiar, doesn't it? Unlike the US however, in this case there's no religious dogmatism, but rather nationalistic pride. A good woman is a good country, they say.

Are certain men in power really that scared of the genetic information that is missing on the Y-chromosome? I know it doesn't produce like the X does, but should we really be scared of two little Xs cohabiting the same body? [Christians who learn a bit of dimestore science quickly point out that XX is really really close to XXX, while XY cannot be turned into anything so rude]

Maybe that Jim O'Rourke song was more prophetic than once I thought. "Women of the world, take over. Cuz if you don't the world will come to an end. And it won't take long."

Forget Middle-Eastern oil dependency, the true battleground of the 21st century will be internal. The "seed of creation" (such a scary scary place for fundies...) will be Ground Zero.



It doesn't help the cause that so many otherwise progressive women's research and health groups appeal either to frilly, soft, Victorian symbolism of purity and innocence like this:


"Women's Wellness Program" @ the Stanford School of Medicine

or Hellenic stoicism (good women are supposed to silently bear the burdens of their sex)

"Defining Women's Health" @ Harvard University, 2002
or the flakey, Earth-Goddess imagery made popular in the 1960s

"The Everychick"

I myself prefer a more militant approach, and maybe we should all co-opt a Herstory logo to demonstrate to these scared bigots that women do not actually go quietly into the night.

Print the .jpeg below and put it on a t-shirt, then punch a dude in the face. Or better yet, hit him where he's hitting you, right in the junkpile.