There is No Grey Area for Abuse & Misogyny
There has been a lot of talk about women in the news lately.
The Women's March in DC (and other sister marches around the country) and the March for Life shortly afterward. Then of course there are all those disgusting things the President has said about women. #gross
Women's rights, empowerment, and equality are certainly not bad. Some of it is awesome and really good stuff. I am all about the empowerment of women today.
But let's not be all about championing women's empowerment and then waltz over to the theater to see 50 Shades Darker opening tomorrow.
We live in a culture that is horrible confused and screwed up when it comes to a healthy understanding of love, sex, and relationships.
Apparently the sexual revolution of the 1960's was to make us happier and more free.
From where I sit, I don't see much more sexual freedom.
What has it gotten us?
A pornography EPIDEMIC.
1 in 3 women is a victim of sexual abuse.
50% divorce rate.
Crude sexual humor is tolerated, widely accepted, and deemed as "mere locker room talk."
Women and children are bought and sold into sexual slavery.
Terms like "Mommy Porn" in relation to movies like Magic Mike (aka stripping men).
Movies like this illustrate to me how wrong we've gotten it.
Sexual abuse, manipulation, coercion are never something to be tolerated, let alone glamorized. Misogyny and mis-treatment of women (and children) is something we as a culture should not settle for.
We don't know what the Hell we are doing. And maybe as a society we haven't for a long time.
All the sexual pain, brokenness, and abuse we see play out in the world is connected and it affects us all.
In our own way, let's not be silent about it.
Let's not support it.
Let's not tolerate it.
Because "that stuff" never empowers women.
And it certainly does not honor the dignity and beauty of woman.
I don't know what your plans are this weekend. Personally I need to tackle two baskets of laundry that have been staring at me for a week.
Whatever your plans, please don't confuse talk of empowering women and marching in the streets to watching this movie or supporting this attitude at large in the world.
Because crap like this doesn't support or honor all that women have and are in the world...
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Amen!!!!! I'm so horrified that this book & movie franchise exists (and others like it). Recently, I was reading a book about modern slavery, and it featured a woman who had been enslaved in a BDSM contract-and I thought about how movies like this must be so traumatizing and disgusting for her because she used to live that horror every day.
ReplyDeleteYep. When I was getting my tattoo a few weeks ago I was subjected to a few hours of comedian videos that the shop artists were watching. (The artists were fabulous people whom I enjoyed immensely. We clearly have very different taste in entertainment, however.) I was horrified by the jokes that were made - by both male AND female comedians - regarding some of the 50 shades type stuff. I can't believe that people are not making the connection between that garbage and rape/trafficking/porn addictions/misogyny/etc/etc/etc. Even Christians! It's appalling.
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