V-Day: 27

The setting is Libera. The time period is 1999-2003. Rape, War, Death, Hunger, Child Soldiers. HELL.

Then something extraordinary happened. The women of Libera took a stand for peace.

The following is an excerprt from the book The President Will See You Know by Leymah Gbowee. 

The morning of the eleventh, the steps of city hall were a sea of white. There were hundreds of women there, maybe as many as a thousand. Some of the city’s religious leaders turned out as well. Taylor supporters and soldiers mixed through the crowd, and local media was everywhere. Emotion ran high as women stood to testify what the war had done to their lives, and I got a little afraid that WIPNET would lose control of the gathering. As the Liberian proverb says, “Sudden rain brings the sheep and goat under the same shed.” There were women here who’d lost children and were filled with rage, women who were political radicals interested only in ousting Taylor, and women who were just drunk.

Our demands were nonpartisan, simple and clear: the government and rebels had to declare an immediate and unconditional cease-fire; the government and rebels had to talk; and we wanted an intervention force deployed and sent to Liberia.

“In the past, we were silent,” I told the crowd. “But after being killed, raped, dehumanized and infected with diseases, and watching our children and families destroyed, war has taught us that the future lies in saying no to violence and yes to peace! We will not relent until peace prevails!”

The women erupted. “Peace! Peace!”

...

Dawn to dusk, twelve hours. We passed the time in different ways. Sometimes women would dance. Sometimes they would preach. The slogan of our action was a simple one: “We want peace, no more war.” The women on the field turned the chant into a song:

We want peace, no more war.
Our children are dying — we want peace.
We are tired suffering — we want peace.
We are tired running — we want peace.

About a week after our trip to Parliament, the Speaker came to where I sat on the field. “I have a message,” he said. “Come to the Executive Mansion on April twenty-third. President Taylor will see you.”

Charles Taylor was exiled. The women continued to be active. They encouraged voting. The women of Libera fought for peace peacefully. And it worked. These women said no to rape, not to hate, no to greed, and no to violence. 

V-Day: 26

I spent four years living in fear and silence. I blamed myself. Society blamed me. My family blamed me. The thing is is that it was not my fault. Please do not be afraid to get help. If you are currently being abused or a victim of abuse who has not gone for help, please please please get help.

Get Help: 

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233 

Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network 800-656- HOPE (4673)

V-Day: 25

This week is National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. 
When I was 14 I was diagnosed with Bulimia. Looking at me you couldn't tell that I had an eating disorder. To an outsider I looked healthy. I ate a lot of food. But I was anything but healthy. 

Facts:

1. Bulimia nervosa affects 1-2% of adolescent and young adult women.

2. Approximately 80% of bulimia nervosa patients are female.

3. People struggling with bulimia nervosa usually appear to be of average body weight.

4. Many people struggling with bulimia nervosa recognize that their behaviors are unusual and perhaps dangerous to their health.

5. Bulimia nervosa is frequently associated with symptoms of depression and changes in social adjustment.

6. Risk of death from suicide or medical complications is markedly increased for eating disorders

V-Day: 25

"But mainly my short skirt and everything under it is Mine. Mine. Mine." (My Short Skirt- The Vagina Monologes. Eve Ensler.)

Get Help:

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233 

Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network 800-656- HOPE (4673)

V-DAY: 23

Today I started reading "The First Paul Reclaiming the Radical Visionary Behind the Church's Conservative Icon" by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan. I made it a point to read the chapter on patriarchy. Two statements about the theology of Paul stood out and I really wish that I had found this book a long time ago. I remember asking the pastor of the church that I grew up in (who happens to be my great uncle) about the whole women being submissive thing. The answer I got was crap and I have a funny feeling that he knew the right answer and just did not want to tell me. So back to those two quotes that I found:
1. "From the very start of his discussion it is explicitly clear that Paul presumes a Christian assembly that includes both "any man who prays or prophesies" and aslo "any woman who prays or prophesies." That equality is taken for granted- female and male are equal in the communal Christian assembly just as in the private Christian family."

2. "For him [Paul] women as well as men were called by God to be apostles of Christ. The Christian gender equality that existed in marriage and home also prevailed in assembly and apostolate."

Religious traditions that abuse and neglect women cannot claim to follow a loving God. This notion that women need to be silent and submissive is crap. Patriarchy has no place in the Kingdom of God.

V-Day: 22

Warning: Rant Ahead

I am so pissed off right now. My vagina is beyond angry. I was just informed by a friend that he "lost all respect" for ex girlfriend because she had an abortion today. He got pissed off at me when I told him  "i'm not going to be upset about this or talk about her behind her back." So aggravated with him right now. The last time I checked it wasn't his body. The last time I checked he wasn't the one with a vagina. The last time I checked he wasn't God. 




This is how I feel right now. 

V-Day: 21

V-Day: 20

Get Help:

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233 

Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network 800-656- HOPE (4673)

V-Day:19

V-Day: 18

Benazir Bhutto was an amazing women. She left a lasting impact on our world. May we remember her and all the good that she brought to this world.




Get Help:

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233 

Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network 800-656- HOPE (4673)

V-Day: 17

Today's post is not easy for me to write. Today I want to talk about Planned Parenthood and why it is a vital part of the fabric of American Society, but before I do that I need to come clean.
I wasn't always pro-choice. There was a time in high school and my freshmen year of college that I was pro-life. I'm pretty sure that when I was in high school I would have protested in front of Planned Parenthood had I been given the choice. I had these bumper stickers that I had bought from some Pennsylvanian's for pro-life group. One said, "Pro- choice that's a lie babies don't choose to die." The other one had a picture of a baby seal holding a baby human and it said "Save the baby humans." I am still ashamed that I gave these people $2. I was pro-life because  I was taught that it was murder. There was some scripture that went with what I was taught but I never actually knew what that was scripture was. I was pro-life because everyone I knew was pro-life. Then I got really sick. Really sick. And everything changed. I remember sitting in the doctors office being told that I had stage I endometriosis but that I would need surgery to remove the growths. So I had the surgery and the growths came back and I was diagnosed with stage II endometriosis. I was told that if I ever became pregnant that it would be dangerous for me and for the fetus. To make a very long story short I was told at the age of twenty that I would not be able to have children without potentially dying. Not what I wanted to hear at twenty. I was also told at twenty that I would need have a hysterectomy, thankfully that has not happened yet, but I am sure that one day it will. As I was walking out of the office, an old lady came up to me and said, "You made the choice to get pregnant now you have to deal with it." Because apparently in her world the only reason for a twenty year old to be at the OBs office was because she was pregnant. Her words hurt. Not only because I knew that I would never be able to have my own children but because, they were words I had said before. Words that I had said when I gave a speech in 8th grade on why abortion should be illegal. I realized how much of an ass I had been. I know that I cannot go back in time and not give that speech, but even I could I wouldn't. My past as crazy as it has been has made me into the socialist feminist christian human rights activist that I am today. I was wrong with what I believed. I had been lied to by the adults in my life and I did not know the facts. But I do now. Abortion is not murder. Women who choose to have abortions are not bad people. Women who are pro-life are not bad people. I am not a bad person, a bad woman because I cannot have children. It is not my duty as a woman to have children. It is my duty as a woman to fight for the rights of women everywhere. It is my duty to fight to end the war on women.  I have learned that pro-choice does not mean that I believe that abortion should be used in place of contraception  I have learned that my being pro-choice means that if I ever need to I can legally have a safe abortion in a doctors office and not in a back alley with a hanger.

Planned Parenthood is not a "murder factory".  In fact Planned Parenthood saves lives by providing health care for women. Planned Parenthood is a vital part of the fabric of American Society and I fear the day that the government cuts funding for it.

Also because it is still February I felt that this needed to be included. 

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233 

Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network 800-656- HOPE (4673)

V-Day: 16

I first watched "In the Time of the Butterflies" when I was a sophomore in high school.  Six years later the movie still sticks with me. The movie is based in the book of the same title by Julia Alvarez. Both chronicle the story of the Mirable sisters under the dictatorship of Trujillo in the Dominican Republic. The sisters fight against the oppression and in the end of the are killed by the state.
Their story repeats itself across history. Too many women die each day because they dare to fight against a society that belittles them and treats them as less than human.
Oppression cannot last. It was women who ended the apartheid in South Africa. It is the simple truth that "Women hold up half the sky."

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233 

Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network 800-656- HOPE (4673)

V-Day: 15

 just this.

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233 

Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network 800-656- HOPE (4673)

V-Day: 14

One Billion Rising is today!

This light is in memory of the victims, the survivors, and those who are currently living in fear.

Get Help: 

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233 

Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network 800-656- HOPE (4673)

V-Day: 13

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of lent. This year I am not giving anything up. Instead this blog is going to be "40 Days of Justice". February will focus on women's issues and the V-Day movement after that the issues will be more broad, but just as important.

Day 1: Education

educating women helps end poverty both locally and globally. 

Get Help: 

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233 

Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network 800-656- HOPE (4673)

V-Day: 12

we need feminism and the V-Day movement because these 22 men voted to not protect women. 

V-Day: 11

Get Help: 

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233 

Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network 800-656- HOPE (4673)

V-Day: 10

Fact:  Every two minutes, somewhere in America, someone is sexually assaulted.(Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) calculation based on 2000 National Crime Victimization Survey. Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice)

Fact: According to the 2010 National Crime Victimization Survey, more than 20,000 rapes or sexual assaults occurred in 2010; 169,370 of them occurred among females and 15,020, among males (Department of Justice 2010).

Fact: Sexual violence victims exhibit a variety of psychological symptoms that are similar to those of victims of other types of trauma, such as war and natural disaster (National Research Council 1996). A number of long-lasting symptoms and illnesses have been associated with sexual victimization including chronic pelvic pain; premenstrual syndrome; gastrointestinal disorders; and a variety of chronic pain disorders, including headache, back pain, and facial pain (Koss 1992).Between 4% and 30% of rape victims contract sexually transmitted diseases as a result of the victimization (Resnick 1997).

Get Help: 

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233 

Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network 800-656- HOPE (4673)

V-Day: 9

Growing up "feminist" was a dirty word. Not surprising when the church I grew up in taught that women were to be silent and submissive.

It wasn't until I got to Cedar Crest College that I started to understand what it means to be a feminist. Last spring I took a gender studies class. It was horrible, but it helped me define what feminism means to me. The class was pretty much 2.5 hours of everyone bitching about men. That is not what feminism is about. Feminism is not about bashing men. It is about a dream, a vision, a world view where men and women are equal. Where neither gender has to worry about being sexually abused. For me feminism is about lifting each other up. It is not about women being better than men. But I need feminism  I need feminism because I am a survivor. 

Get Help: 

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233 

Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network 800-656- HOPE (4673)

V-Day: 8

You are fearfully and wonderfully made. 

You are perfect just as you. 

Get Help: 

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233 

Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network 800-656- HOPE (4673)

V-Day: 7