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jeremy's Reviews > A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power
A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power
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president carter himself describes a call to action as the most important book he's ever written (having authored 28). his thesis is lucid:
carter's book considers many ways in which women (and girls) are systematically abused, neglected, exploited, and debased throughout the world. chapters on prisons, executions, sexual assault and rape, violence and warfare, genocide, slavery, prostitution, spouse abuse, honor killings, genital cutting, child marriage, and healthcare form a troubling portrait of the reprehensible treatment of women the world over. with staggering statistics and disturbing first-hand accounts aplenty, a call to action is at once heartbreaking and infuriating.
carter calls to account religious leaders, politicians, governments, and others for not doing more to oppose the pervasive mistreatment and enforced inequality of women. of particular note is his characterization of the oft-utilized practice of selectively quoting, misinterpreting, and misapplying religious/sacred texts to justify such treatment as divinely inspired. throughout the book, carter highlights groups and individuals leading the efforts to combat inequality and abuse.
patriarchy, quite obviously, has wrought a world wherein women are often considered and treated as second-class citizens (or worse). president carter, rosalynn carter, and the carter center have worked tirelessly on a host of human rights, public policy, and peace issues for over 30 years now. a call to action may well be the summation of a life spent in service of humanity - with its aim of bringing attention to the often horrific treatment endured by half the world's population.
yet although economic disparity is a great and growing problem, i have become convinced that the most serious and unaddressed worldwide challenge is the deprivation and abuse of women and girls, largely caused by a false interpretation of carefully selected religious texts and a growing tolerance of violence and warfare, unfortunately following the example set during my lifetime by the united states.one could easily make the case that humanity has a deep hatred, loathing, and contempt for womankind - as evidenced by their treatment across centuries and cultures. a westerner would perhaps be likely to point their accusing finger at third world nations and decry the many abuses suffered by women there, yet industrialized nations often treat their women as degradingly (albeit with less overt barbarity - having long since refined and institutionalized the practice).
carter's book considers many ways in which women (and girls) are systematically abused, neglected, exploited, and debased throughout the world. chapters on prisons, executions, sexual assault and rape, violence and warfare, genocide, slavery, prostitution, spouse abuse, honor killings, genital cutting, child marriage, and healthcare form a troubling portrait of the reprehensible treatment of women the world over. with staggering statistics and disturbing first-hand accounts aplenty, a call to action is at once heartbreaking and infuriating.
carter calls to account religious leaders, politicians, governments, and others for not doing more to oppose the pervasive mistreatment and enforced inequality of women. of particular note is his characterization of the oft-utilized practice of selectively quoting, misinterpreting, and misapplying religious/sacred texts to justify such treatment as divinely inspired. throughout the book, carter highlights groups and individuals leading the efforts to combat inequality and abuse.
patriarchy, quite obviously, has wrought a world wherein women are often considered and treated as second-class citizens (or worse). president carter, rosalynn carter, and the carter center have worked tirelessly on a host of human rights, public policy, and peace issues for over 30 years now. a call to action may well be the summation of a life spent in service of humanity - with its aim of bringing attention to the often horrific treatment endured by half the world's population.
what prevents us from... taking action to secure basic human rights for women? some of us are paralyzed by the extent and complexity of the problems. some of us have become desensitized by societal violence and no longer recognize it when it occurs. some have misinterpreted holy scripture and believe god has ordained a lower status for women. some men are afraid of losing their advantages in a paternalistic society. but these two simple success stories illustrate how the suffering of women and girls can be alleviated by an individual's forceful action and how the benefits of such actions stretch out into the larger society. political and religious leaders share a special responsibility, but the fact is that all of us can act within our own spheres of influence to meet the challenges.
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April 1, 2014
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perhaps especially as he describes it as the most important book he's ever written.
Have you ever read any of the excellent books by acclaimed radical feminist psychologist Phyllis Chesler? When I wrote to Gloria Steinem when I was 22 she wrote me back a great response and suggested I read Women And Madness by Phyllis Chesler and that I would find that it made me feel less alone.I had never heard of her, so I read it and it's great powerful information as are her other books that I went on to also read, her great book About Men, which came out in 1978, and (Gloria also gave a great review on the cover) and I read it about 15 years ago for the first time. She interviewed 100's of men and many of them were married. In her chapter called Wombless Men, she has pictures of sculptures and paintings by famous male artists like Salvador Dali, and Michaelangelo etc and she demonstrates and talks a lot about men's subconscious fear and envy of the womb and men's (crazy!) hatred of women. 1 of her references in her extensive bibliography is psychiatrist Wolfgang Lederer's 1968 book, The Fear Of Women in he which explained the same things.
She also has a chapter called Phallic Sexuality and in the beginning of it she has a little boy interviewed by a Dr.Richard Green about Sexual Indemnity Conflict in Children and Adults and he was asked if he ever wished he had been born a girl, and he said yes. Dr.Green asks him why does he wish that, and the little boy says, girls they don't have to have a penis. The doctor says they don't have to have a penis? The little boy then says they can have babies. The doctor then says to him why do you think girls don't have to have a penis?
And the little boy says Cause they have to have babies ... and babies can't come out of a penis... babies come out of a vagina... The doctor then says to him , your penis gives you a nice feeling doesn't it? You're not scared of it when it gets big and stiff are you ? The boy says no. The doctor says good ! It's supposed to do that when you tickle it. That's one big advantage for being a boy cause girls can't do that you know. The boy says Um hum. The doctor then says to him, sure they can have babies but only boys can have a penis stand up like that.
In the beginning of her chapter Wombless Men she has woman hater Freud interviewing a 5 year old boy patient and Freud says to him, But only women have children. Hans the little boy says he's going to have a little girl. Freud says you'd like to have a little girl.Hans says yes next year I'm going to have one. Freud says to him but you can't have a little girl. Hans says, Oh yes boys have girls and girls have boys. Freud says, boys don't have children only women ,only Mummies have children. Hans says, but why shouldn't I ? She also says in the chapter,On having A Penis and she interviewed 100's of men about having a penis,that female blood regularly shed,reminds men of their "castration" fear,and that it also reminds them of their deeply repressed desire to *bear* children and of their inability to do so.She also says in the chapter,Wombless Men that male science,male alchemy,is partially rooted in male uterus envy,the desire to be able to create something miraculous out of male inventiveness. However,men in science have carried us all to the brink of total planetary,genetic and human destruction,repressed and unresolved uterus-envy is a dangerous emotion.
She also has a chapter on Pornography and Other Male Sexual Fantasies. And she says in the chapter Wombless Men that it is no accident that books of pornographic or erotic art are also the source of many expressions of womb envy. In Dr.Chesler's great 1994 book, Patriarchy Notes Of An Expert Witness she explains that both wife beaters,pedophiles serial killers of women were addicted to pornography. She also explains that serial killers are mainly white male drifters obsessed with pornography and woman-hatred who sexually use their victims, either before or after killing them and who were themselves *paternally* abused children, and as adults they scapegoat not fathers but mainly women , sometimes children , sometimes male homosexuals who are seen as "feminine" or vulnerable. She then says that serial killers may be responsible for the daily and permanent , disappearance of 1000's of prostituted and non-prostituted women each and every year all across the US.
She also talks a lot about how sadly, women have been taught to hate themselves and each other because of the crazy male dominated woman hating society! She has many good reviews for her book, Woman's Inhumanity To Woman which I also want to read.
Also in 1997 ( I also wrote to Dr. Chester at this time and she wrote back a note and sent me some articles she had written) I spoke with her secretary who was in her 50's or early 60's and she told me that she read several chapters in one of Dr. Chester's books, and that it was very interesting. I told her that I read several of her whole books. I said to her how unreal and crazy it is that men hate women for *no* rational reasons and that they are born and nurtured by *women* that their mothers are *women* and that most women have been kind to their sons, husbands and to men in general even though they have hated and discriminated against us, and have been doing all of these horrible injustices to women for 1000's of years ! And she said, it's crazy and unreal but it's true!
than you - it's a book that deserves to be read by everybody.