Violence Against Women

By Angie

There are so many women in this world that are treated so badly. Now I'm not saying men are not treated badly as well, but for the most part it's women being abused rather than men. Why? Society has placed women in the home for the past how many years, saying we should be looking after the children and our husbands, taking care of the house, working to make sure the family is taken care of. At all costs. Sure the Women's Movement changed a lot of that, but not so much that we are always treated as equals.

I was at home last night, about to do some writing, when I heard a blurb on a tv show about women and girls being circumcised. I was disgusted just thinking about the torture these women and girls go through. Who thought of a girl being circumcised? Certainly not another woman. No woman would come up with the idea that this had to be done, either for religious reasons or any other reason. It's ridiculous. I have read however that women have performed this procedure. Obviously not one that had had it done to herself. No anesthesia is used during this procedure, and it's done to inhibit a girl's sexual desire. How wrong is that? The health risks alone are staggering. With the women's movement it's shocking that we, as a society and gender, would allow this to still be practiced.

Such a thing is one example of violence against women. There are so many examples it's difficult to know where to start to address them all. Women are abused due to being seen in the past as the nurturers, the 'weaker' sex. We have been seen as being lesser than men.

I am amazed by this train of thought. My family heritage is Mennonite. Talk about women being seen as the lesser sex. At least in my family. We were raised that the women were to cook all of the meals, raise the children, dote on the husbands, clean the house, sew the clothes, spoke when spoken to, and be docile and defer to our husbands at all times. This, to me, is another way women are belittled. I see it as another form of violence against women. Women are at times treated no better than dogs, so how is a girl raised in this kind of environment to grow up to be strong and confident and stand up for herself? And it's not just my heritage that teaches this way of living. So many women raised this way pass it on to their daughters, in all societies, so how are we ever to change that way of thinking, or raising our children? Awareness, self esteem, self respect. Women all over the world need to realize that we are not the lesser sex, we are able to have a child grow and thrive in us, to give birth, the most painful thing we can go through, and yet still survive. We are able to feed that child with our bodies, help it grow, nurture and teach.

I honestly believe that I was born stubborn, the black sheep. Being sexually abused as a child growing up helped me form my own opinions of who I am and what I should allow myself to put up with as a grown woman. And let me tell you, I am not willing to put up with a lot, not anymore. I think being abused has helped me respect myself as an adult enough that I would never allow someone else to belittle me ever again. It was a tough way to learn, but in time I think society can and will have women standing up and saying Enough! Thanks for reading my article on Violence Against Women.