Question for Liberal Women of Western Nations?
By ParaTed2k
@ParaTed2k (22940)
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
November 9, 2008 12:11am CST
Why do many liberal women of western nations consider Western Culture the enemy of women?
In African cultures The mothers of female babies hold them down while men cut out their clitorises with rusty, unsterile knives. Raping virgin women is considered a "treatment" for HIV/AIDS. In many areas of Africa, women are still bought and sold into slavery.
In Arab nations, women have no rights. They can be beaten at will for doing nothing more than having noisy shoes. A woman's family can take her from her husband simply because they no longer approve of the marriage, even if she dearly loves her husband. A husband can kill his wife for almost any reason imaginable.
Chinese parents kill female babies.
Western Culture alone teaches respect for women. Western Culture alone has emerged as the home of rights for women.
Yes, we have individuals who would prefer we accepted the ways of other cultures, and we still have laws that need to be done away with, but we are the culture where the common women have rights.
This is not to say that no one in the other cultures wants or fights for women's rights. Many have sacrificed life, career, social standing and freedom to help their cultures rise out of the muck and mire of vile ways.
It's sad that feminists cling to another tradition of Western Culture... never appreciating what we have.
6 people like this
10 responses
@xParanoiax (6987)
• United States
9 Nov 08
Hmm, I dunno any liberal women who think this, and the whole thing that culture's to blame is new to me. I know a few feminists on the other hand (some of which, like me, prefer not to take a political affiliation) who believe that our entertainment (part of our culture) has a nasty habit of being demeaning to women.
I may agree or disagree depending on the case, but everyone has their own problems with the entertainment we have here in the West. (Movies, books, music, etc)
I do agree that there's a few things left to conquer...like equal pay, and ousting gender roles which still persist (however ghostly, a person believes them to actually be).
But that's all I've seen. I haven't heard that our culture is the enemy of women..so I'm afraid I'm woefully uninformed on your question (even not being a liberal lady, lol).
You live an interesting life, Para!
3 people like this
@Latrivia (2878)
• United States
9 Nov 08
Western feminists are running out of things to complain about. Of course, they can't complain they're being mistreated by society by using women from another country as an example.
Case in point - my second mother complained about how Obama's election was an insult to women. She really believes that a group of men (the Super Delegates, which was composed of men AND women) came in and took the vote from Hillary because they wanted a man. I have to wonder if the only reason she was voting for McCain was because Palin was the VP. Actually I'm 90% positive that was her reason.
It's really kind of sad. Legally women are ALMOST equal to men. In fact, we women are actually kind of held above men in importance. For all our "equality", we still don't have to register for selective service at the age of 18, and the courts tend to side with the mother in custody cases. Do you ever hear about male rape victims or male spousal abuse victims finally bringing their female abusers to justice? No, and do you know why? Because men are the bad guys. They're big, and strong, and they can victimize women easily. Women could never victimize men - they're too fragile.
That was all sarcasm, for those who didn't pick up on it. It's like a bad soap opera from one of those women channels like Oxygen. There are people who actually believe this stuff. It's a sick societal joke, and it needs to die.
2 people like this
@sharra1 (6340)
• Australia
9 Nov 08
Well I may be wrong but you appear to be criticising western women for complaining about rights that they still do not have when there are other cultures where they are treated worse than they are in the west. I find that a very strange attitude as it appears that you are telling women that they have no right to complain about anything.
Just because someone is worse off than you does not mean that you should not continue to fight to improve your quality of life and the lives of others. Women in the West do appreciate what they have and they wish that women in other countries were as well off but there are still a lot of inequalities and as long as they exist then women will fight to change these.
@kdhartford (1151)
• United States
9 Nov 08
It is a shame that many people (women included), in the west, do not have a clue about how they actually got it. I have travelled all over the world and it saddens me to see the condition that people are living in. The problem is that we in the west are pretty selfish, even though we give a lot to charity.
2 people like this
@nadooa247 (1096)
• United States
9 Nov 08
Umm i can't defend women from other nations except of my own i am a woman from an arab nation and my parents don't nose into my marital issues. Murder is murder and a husband is not exempt. I vote, i Rollerblade, im Muslim, i do anything my heart desires. Injustice is in governments not in a group. You are speaking against certain groups why im not really getting..
Western Women have rights... yeah... that's why most rape cases don't see the light, a beaten wife who shoots her husband in self-defense gets locked up and he takes the kids. Yup yup reaaaal perfect society.
There is no such thing as a perfect culture, a perfect society. If it were in existence it would be called Utopia and everyone would move there as fast as they can.
2 people like this
@thedogshrink (1266)
• United States
9 Nov 08
I am very confused by your response, and hope you can enlighten me. You say you're from an Arab nation, and can't say about any other country. Well I wanted to know which country you are from -- because I have not known about where women can roller blade as Muslims, except in the US. I thought you were going to tell us all new info about Arab countries , different from what reporters and others have told us (I have never been to any Arab nation). I looked at your profile, and it says you are in the United States.
So were your parents from Arab nation, and you were born here, or came here as a child (it also say your only 25)? Or did you just recently move to the US yourself? Since you live in the US, how come you can't comment on Western Culture - you live in it? And if you really have lived in an Arab nation, where you were allowed to vote, roller blade, marry whomever you chose, walk freely in any part of the city -- please tell us which country that is? I believe Saudi Arabia is more liberal than most, but I'm not sure if the women can vote there.
Anyway, he didn't say every single Arab nation -- he was GENERALIZING.
I am not meaning for my post to sound mean -- I'm just trying to understand the parts in your response that don't seem to make sense to me. And I also would like to learn more about being a woman in an Arab country.
@nadooa247 (1096)
• United States
9 Nov 08
Yes i was born and raised in the states. I am married to another Muslim, my parents are Arabs, they were raised in an Arab culture. (In Jordan and Palestine alternating since the more direct and bigger war that was going on in Palestine when they were children, mass forced migrations)
So wouldn't it suffice it to say they would instill their believes on me and my siblings?? They obviously (especially my father) wouldnt let me vote or register to, nor chose my life partner, nor do anything if it were how our faith, our culture would deem awful.
Some people in Arab/Muslim countries are uptight that is all it is. Some try to justify putting down a woman by pinning it on others... people would not approve.. that sort of rubbish..
I believe i HAVE commented about Western culture, you insinuate it's perfection and i pointed out it's imperfections. No culture is perfect. No nation is perfect. You have those ignorant few in every culture every nation that distort the image of everyone else lopped into the same category, Arab, African, Westerner... and so on...
I am currently in Palestine. The only injustice i have here is from the soldiers that insist on treating me like crap (another topic wont get into detail about it) because im female and Palestinian. (My parents are as well clearly)
I always welcome questions and if i seem like im responding a bit rudely don't take offense... im real hormonal and it's only my 4th month =P
2 people like this
@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
10 Nov 08
"that's why most rape cases don't see the light, a beaten wife who shoots her husband in self-defense gets locked up and he takes the kids. Yup yup reaaaal perfect society."
That's just made up garbage. Rape cases that don't see the light are a result of women who don't report, women who lie, or cases that simply lack the necessary evidence to convict or even go to trial. Those issues happen with all criminal cases due to the "innocent until proven guilty" system. The prosecution always faces an uphill battle in ANY crime.
As for your beaten wife shooting the husband, you'll have to give a REAL example of that happening. It sounds like something you made up. By the way, did you forget that the woman who the woman who severed her mans equipment while he slept got away with it? All she had to do was claim he was an abusive husband even though he was asleep when she attacked him.
@irisheyes (4370)
• United States
10 Nov 08
Come on Ted, not being persecuted on a daily basis is not the equivalent of being treated equally or given first class citizenship. Many women in the USA have been the only breadwinners for their families and have had to raise children without husbands on salaries that were 40-60% lower than men doing the same work. It doesn't make their plight or the deprivation of their children any better to stand in front of them and tell them about the horrors committed against women in other cultures. How would you like it if someone told you that your income was being decreased by 40-60% and you should not complain because some guy in a third world country does the job for half of your reduced salary? Would you meekly accept that and tell your children they would have to just suck it in and do without?
1 person likes this
@urbandekay (18278)
•
9 Nov 08
Whilst I agree with much of the tenor of your discussion, I must draw you attention to one glaring error you make.
"In African cultures The mothers of female babies hold them down while men cut out their clitorises with rusty, unsterile knives."
I think you will find that this mutilation is usually carried out by a woman.
all the best urban
@CarlKnittel (692)
• United States
8 Jan 09
Freedom as well as racial, cultural and gender equality are ideas unique to western, and more importantly, Judeo-Christian societies. No other religion or culture has provided so many law and traditions protecting the rights of those traditionally oppressed by this world.
@murderistic (2278)
• United States
10 Nov 08
I'm sorry, but there is nothing wrong with women trying to strive for improvement in their hometown. Feminists (which are actually separate from "Liberal Women") don't complain about the western world and then say that they wish they lived in Africa where women's rights are so great. I agree that we need to have a greater concern for human rights in the global world. But if we ignore the problems in our own country who are we to criticize the problems in others?
1 person likes this
