While just this morning I was frustrated by a WaPo report that Afghanistan government may be reviving the Taliban approach via a "Department for the Promotion of Virtue and the Discouragement of Vice", I was aware of this trend for some time. I have a dear friend that has a friend doing UN work in Kabul helping them set up their legal systems. I get forwarded emails of his adventures, written with world class snark, and always howl with laughter, although there's nothing funny about vodka thieves.
I even have a cousin in Afghanistan, allegedly up for a General's slot, right now so it is interesting to have some personal insights into the country. I think he arrived about two months back, roughly the time the latest flareup happened. While I'm furious that Bu$hCo essentially abandoned the nation that we had a legitimate reason to invade for his misadventures in Iraq, the idea that these people, and thousands more, have served and suffered to have the Taliban step back in bothers me. I understand women are slightly better off but I do worry that setbacks are looming. Chances to create real change for these people, and even our world in seeing a true shift from a fundamentalist theocracy to a somewhat democratic and open society, I fear have been wasted.
That being written, let me now get to the reason for the post. I felt I needed to contrast the above with what troubles me about our culture. I have not done as much posting on feminism as I should have. I've been exposed to enough that I've plenty to share and will try to do a better job.
As a mitigating factor, I've often had the opportunity, while teaching teens these last five years, to confront the work of Joe Francis, the "brain" behind "Girls Gone Wild". My kids often referenced his trash. I don't like the idea of censorship and don't want to appear "Talibanish" in my views but there can be no doubt the "rape culture" is alive and well here in the United States. Shilling the liberal agenda in our public schools perhaps, I talked briefly about the way our society sexualizes women and the idea of the "lie of entitlement" that my friend Red Crowley wrote of. I'll even confess that at times I left a Dworkin or similar book like "Tranforming a Rape Culture" on my desk for kids to note and thus provide a springboard for a quick talk. "Mr. (Captain Plaid), what's that book about?" beats studying history or government or geography or ... I guess.
Jessica Valenti at Feministing serves up commentary and links that stand alone in her "Rape culture gone wild". Read it (and certainly the LA Times reporting of Claire Hoffman plus the images provided) and weep!
Maybe we ought to call "Comedy Central" but I'm not optimistic they'll pull ads for GGW. What we should certainly do is talk to the young people which we might influence. Making our society aware of how this trash shapes these kids' identies is workable. It is hard work, and we've got plenty of barriers in this often worthless mass culture, yet personal contact is effective. I'm betting that I was likely the first person, most certainly adult male, that some of my kids had ever heard talk this way. A token liberal in a sea of conservatism? My angle was hardly Puritan so I think some responded. I shared how marketing and popular culture was not always providing the best examples in many areas yet I expect that sleazy profiteers such as Joe Francis are about as poor excuses for humans as they come. Peace ... or War!
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