Gender Across Borders

Nadja Benaissa Photograph courtesy of Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Nadja Benaissa, of the popular German all-girl pop group No Angels, has been charged in criminal court with grievous bodily harm and attempted aggravated assault. Her crime? Having unprotected sex with three men without informing them of her HIV-positive status. One of the men has since become HIV-positive as well. (The other two tested negative for the virus.) Although the singer is now 28, she was tried in juvenile court because her crimes allegedly began when she was only 17, the age at which she became infected with the virus. She faced a prison sentence of between six months and 10 years, but was given a two-year suspended sentence and 300 hours of community service working with those who are HIV-positive. Has this case educated the public to take strides against infection or further increased the stigma against HIV-positive people?

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Cream suit, a salient detail in the war crimes trial

The media was all atwitter this past week because THE miss Naomi Campbell, scary but gorgeous icon that she is, took the stand at the Hague in the war crimes trial against Charles Taylor.  Never the willing accomplice, Campbell was subpoenaed to testify after it became clear she was the recipient of questionable diamonds at the home of ex President Taylor back in ’97.

Although Campbell’s mind-numbing ignorance – she claimed to have never heard of Mr. Taylor before the night she’d met him (OK, fine), had never heard the term “blood diamonds” (alright…), and had never heard of the country Liberia (wow) – was a sad testimony to just how far so many in the upper echelon of the developed world are from the reality of others, the “demure cream suit” that she wore was an unlikely boon for the fight against war crimes writ large.

Why?  Ironically, much more of the world sat up and noticed.  In fact, the trial is now being “widely followed” thanks to Campbell.  Although infuriating for many reasons, if Campbell’s cream suit made just one person go back to the Wikipedia page to read up again (or for the first time) on the Sierra Leone civil war, or the long, curious reign of Charles Taylor, well then alright.

Not that the UN or the Hague are known for timeliness in trying war crimes (oh good, the first Khmer Rouge commander was just convicted and sentenced to 19 years for the mass killing of 14,000 people back in the 70’s?), but the issues at hand are ones of ultimate and essential importance to everyone, especially women.  The aftermath of genocides and wars become far and distant memories to the public while the people most affected continue to live through the painful and slow recovery.

Taylor, a famously wicked and powerful rebel then elected to presidency in Liberia, is accused of dirty handiwork in Sierra Leone’s decade-long civil war that killed tens of thousands and displaced millions.  I thought it strange that Campbell would be so ten-foot-pole away from it all, given that she’s actually a global ambassador for the White Ribbon Alliance, a global network of celebrity advocates on issues of maternal mortality. Read the rest of this entry →

The Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) Situation Report is a monthly column devoted to examining policy changes and issues around these critical rights around the world.

This month’s column focuses on so-called “reproductive tourism,” the growing trend of women in the U.S. finding gestational surrogates in India.  Gestational surrogacy is the practice of implanting a fertilized egg in another woman’s uterus.  Through the miracle of modern science and hassle-free air travel, western women are traveling to India, where the medical infrastructure is good and most of the doctors speak English, to find a surrogate to carry their baby.  Medical tourism has been around for a while, complete with travel agencies that set you up with the doctor and the spa/hotel where you’ll recoup after your nose job.  This new twist, however, brings up a lot of problems. Read the rest of this entry →

Women in Papau New Guinea

Earlier this week, Papau New Guinea apologized before CEDAW (The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women) for its inaction against the torture and murder of women suspected of witchcraft. Government officials did not deny that those alleged to practice witchcraft have been tortured and killed. According to the Center for Independent Studies, more than 500 women have been attacked. In 2009, there were more than 50 murders of those accused of practicing black magic, including one woman who was burned alive. Why are the people of this South Pacific island nation accusing women, and some men, of practicing black magic? They are blamed for the epidemic of HIV/AIDS, which is devastating the country’s population. Read the rest of this entry →

The pill herself

Nick Kristof’s latest column is on the “miracle pill” misoprostol, which we over here at GAB have been heralding for quite some time, AHEM.  I have to give a big shout out to Kristof for writing a column devoted solely to abortion and the medication that induces it for, of course, it treads delicate ground.

Misoprostol, marketed as an ulcer med in most parts of the world, has long been used as an abortifacient on the side and the shielded nature of the drug’s use has been the key to its continued accessibility.  It is increasingly used to stop bleeding after childbirth in parts of the world where no other options to save women’s lives exist, and even to stop bleeding post-miscarriage in richer places like the US.

In addition, studies are now showing that miso can be used by women, on their own, to induce abortions safely and effectively up to a certain number of weeks.  This is revolutionary.  If done correctly and effectively, there is no need for a provider, no need for a hospital gown, no need for prying eyes and judgmental stares.  A woman is able to manage her fertility with complete and utter agency.

This is of course scary to so many.  But let the reins go, people, and let women take control of their own bodies for god’s sake. Read the rest of this entry →

"Bound" by Hayley Rose

Although the subject of rape rightfully garnishes much attention, the aftermath of such a trauma, and its long-term psychological effects, are often less discussed.  Being a victim of rape myself, I still relive the terror and shame of being raped even though it occurred ten years ago. To this day, my emotional and mental well-being is still affected.

Although the term “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder” typically connotes images of war veterans who live an existence tormented with nightmares and flashbacks from their days in combat, it is not unique to this group of individuals. In fact, 7 – 8% of Americans will develop PTSD in their lifetime. Along with combat veterans, rape victims are common sufferers of PTSD. In fact, one third of all rape victims will develop PTSD in their lifetime, and 11% of all rape victims continue to suffer from it.

Women are twice as likely as men to suffer from PTSD, a relevant statistic considering that 91% of rape victims are female. It’s not hard to imagine that both male and female victims of rape often suffer from PTSD, a disorder that occurs after a person witnesses or experiences severe trauma. There are many types of reactions to traumatic events, such as anxiety, depression, and other troubling emotions. PTSD is different in the sense that it lingers on for many months and sometimes years after the traumatic event occurs.

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The Non-Religious State in Brazil

In Brazil, abortion is a crime not only for the doctor who performs it but also for women having the surgery. It’s not a crime for men who got these women pregnant and often run away. The Brazilian government is supposed to be non-religious where political decisions are not supposed to be guided by religious values and beliefs. When representatives who discuss abortion issues by debating the notion of “life” according to Christian values and therefore as a gift to be preserved no matter what, they’re in fact being unconstitutional. In Brazil, we do not have a non-religious culture and a State that works to improve citizen’s lives. This is somewhat recent in Brazilian history. Sérgio Buarque de Holanda and Darcy Ribeiro, two important Brazilian sociologists, have described in their works how the old colonialist plantation mind shaped Brazilian political culture. We even had a president who used to openly say: “To my friends, everything. To the enemies, the law.”

A bit of theory

Political theory, according to sociologists, political scientists and philosophers, says that the State is a structure created to maintain a certain ideology. It is a domination structure where a certain social group rules over others. It’s easy to prove that when we look at who’s ruling the State: men who are white and usually from families who have had money for centuries. Both sociologists Louis Althusser and Pierre Bourdieu have described how education, religion and other social institutions work to keep things working in this domination structure. Read the rest of this entry →

This post is by Regina Yau, Founder and President of the Pixel Project. Please find the original post in its entirety below, and check out the Pixel Project’s website to learn more about this organization that works to end violence against women.

Aisha was sentenced to brutal disfigurement after fleeing her abusive in-laws. Image credit: Jodi Bieber-Institute for TIME

Time magazine’s most recent cover picture is possibly the most eloquent piece of journalism of 2010 and it is fitting that this portrait is one of the clearest illustrations of the global pandemic of violence against women.

As Richard Stengel, Managing Editor of Time magazine writes:

Our cover image this week is powerful, shocking and disturbing. It is a portrait of Aisha, a shy 18-year-old Afghan woman who was sentenced by a Taliban commander to have her nose and ears cut off for fleeing her abusive in-laws. Aisha posed for the picture and says she wants the world to see the effect a Taliban resurgence would have on the women of Afghanistan, many of whom have flourished in the past few years.

While Mr Stengel explains his decision to run Aisha’s portrait within the context of Time’s commitment to providing a truthful window into the war in Afghanistan, we can also extrapolate a different and more urgent set of messages from Aisha’s portrait:

Aisha’s courage and determination in the face of dangerous odds to share her face with the world highlights the urgency and importance of addressing and ending cultures that perpetuate violence against women, not just in Afghanistan, but around the world in all its forms.

Aisha’s face also offers irrefutable proof that violence against women has very real and damaging consequences for women’s health. It should be seen not just as a socio-economic issue, but also as a preventable global healthcare issue. As Mr Stengel reports, Aisha is currently in an undisclosed location undergoing facial reconstruction courtesy of the Grossman Burn Foundation. This extreme surgical operation is something that she would never have had to undergo had she not been subjected to the horror of having her nose and ears chopped off as punishment for being a woman who fled her abusive in-laws.

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This post is cross-posted with Transatlantic Sketches and Redheaded Shenanigans and co-authored by Emily and Kate Wiseman.

What a revolutionary concept. And yet—I bet you would find a lot of people out there, adults and young adults alike, who instinctively disagree with the statement that “shaming teenagers about sex is a bad idea.”

Think about it this way. Teenagers are in between childhood and adulthood, and they are gradually learning to make their own choices and assert themselves as individuals separate from their parents and their peers. There are a number of issues that parents and teachers have to talk to teenagers about openly and honestly, including, for example, health and nutrition, drinking, and drug abuse.

In this critical period for teenagers, when they are vulnerable to so many influences, why would you bring shame into the mix rather than encouraging open and honest dialogue?

Open and honest dialogue doesn’t have to mean condoning teenage sex, if that’s where your morals lead you. My parents and I could have open and honest dialogue about drinking. Their stance while I was in high school was basically this: “If you drink, we will ground you for life and that’s that.” But we could still discuss the issue, and shame was never part of the equation. Read the rest of this entry →

Photo - SANGRAM

The Chinese Government has called for an end to the public shaming of prostitutes in China by police, the New York Times reports this week.  Those suspected or accused of prostitution are regularly shackled and paraded in public by law enforcement, exacting the ultimate price for their crime – public humiliation and identification.

Just because the government calls for an end doesn’t mean it will come – law enforcement officials all over the world regularly exploit and abuse sex workers whether they are authorized to do so or not.  But the move is a commendable one, since the institutionalized practice of prostitution parading, like a nationalized form of slut shaming, is gross, abusive, and absolutely no doubt hypocritical.

On the other hand… righteous groups of sex workers continue to organize and demonstrate worldwide in an empowered twist on the slut-shaming parade convention.  Sex workers demonstrate to call attention to themselves, that they exist as humans with rights and dreams, and to advocate for better services and policies globally.

Just last week, as Emily wrote about, sex workers from all over the world descended on Vienna for the International AIDS Conference to demonstrate, including against the anti-prostitution pledge in PEPFAR, which withheld services and information from sex workers if countries received funds through the program.

I think the demonstration of sex workers is one of the most powerful acts of social justice since one of reasons sex work remains so taboo and sex workers so often marginalized is the secrecy of it all.  Demonstrating sex workers are parading themselves, showing their identities and publicizing their professions as a way to call attention to the lower than low treatment most regularly receive. Read the rest of this entry →