I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Uzbekistan in 2000. I saw women being beat up in the public square by their husbands. The women whispered, “She must be a bad housewife.” Domestic violence was the norm, not the exception. No 911 or battered women’s shelters. We held various girls camps and taught micro finance to women; ultimately I realized I was only a cruel reminder that as an American woman, my life was my own, and it was unlikely those girls would ever have that. It’s been 18 years, I hope that there has been some change beyond some feel good art.
Note how a very limited definition of courage is so often accepted without question: courage as taking up arms and inflicting violence on others. It is not only women who take up arms who should be recognized as courageous, but the much larger number of women (and men) throughout history who have resisted, successfully or unsuccessfully, violent aggression by other means, including aiding at the risk of their own lives those who do take up arms or who seek refuge.
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Many a feminist is the father of a fierce, yet loving daughter. God help him if he were not a feminist!
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"Men and women should be equal, but men still try to stand a step above us." That's the quote I want to amplify, rather than the director's misguided take on feminism. Despite her assertions, she seems like she is a feminist. The story itself seems to have nothing to do with me too and HW (I won't write his name) so why mention it?
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Thank you for this article. For too long we have been living under the oppression of the patriarchal narrative, and it's time to put things into balance. There are many examples of female warriors in history, Boadicea is one of many, and Joan of Arc immediately springs to mind. Notwithstanding, the pantheon of Greek and Roman warrior goddesses that testify to the fact that not all women were destined for the home and the hearth. Nor for many is it their natural demeanor to do so. Women hidden away in the service of men became the mandate of a patriarchal cultural and religious imperative. Nothing more.
I just hope I get to see this play, please come to Canada! And well done for putting this on! May other articles appear about the heroic exploits of women..
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Yes, I'd love to see it.
But Ismailova's sayiing men's domination of women is too complex for the "metoo movement's interpretation is way off. It is not complex, it is simple. Men dominate women.
There's no complexity there. And she insists she's not a feminist. All people who support women's equality are feminist. That's what feminism means - equality for women.
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