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The sexual sadism of our culture, in peace and in war
by Sisyphe
Tuesday, Jul. 13, 2004 at 11:08 AM
The Abu Ghraib images have all the hallmarks of contemporary porn.
I received some horrific photographs by email yesterday. Purporting to be from Iraq, they depicted the sexual abuse of women by US servicemen. On some, chadors were hitched up over the women's heads. On others, the women were naked while they were raped by groups of men. It is impossible to tell whether the photographs are real - those images we know have been seen by American senators - or faked. They make you sick to your stomach. And they look strangely familiar - like the XXX films in hotel rooms, like those "live rape !" emails sent to internet users, like porn. If the photographs are genuine, they are the visual evidence of the sexual abuse of Iraqi women - abuse which we already know is common, with or without these grotesque images. We know that such images exist, because a US government report confirmed it. And we know that Iraqi women are being raped throughout the country, because both Amal Kadham Swadi, the Iraqi lawyer, and the US's own internal inquiry say that abuse is systemic and widespread. We also know this because all wars feature the abuse of women as a byproduct, or as a weapon...
Sexual Domination In Uniform: An American Value, by Linda Burnham
The Abu Ghraib portraits of sexual humiliation and submission have exposed the unbelievably tangled strands of racism, misogyny, homophobia, national arrogance and hyper-masculinity that characterize the US military. Militarized sexual domination is neither "contrary to American values" nor simply the work of a few "bad apples." It is, rather, a daily practice. The "bad apples" defense is both unspeakably inadequate and completely disingenuous. While narrowing the scope of inquiry to individual transgression may provide a convenient protective shield for the military, it also deflects attention away from very troubling realities. The photos of Abu Ghraib reveal as much about our nation as they do about the soldiers of the 372nd Military Police Company.
Globalization and the Sex Trade: Trafficking and the Commodification of Women and Children, by Richard Poulin, professor, Ottawa University
As countries are considering legalizing and decriminalizing the sex industry, Janice G. Raymond urge us to consider the ways in which legitimating prostitution as "work" does not empower the women in prostitution but does everything to strengthen the sex industry.
The Legalisation of Prostitution : A failed social experiment, by Sheila Jeffeys
Sheila Jeffreys shows that the social experiment of legalising brothel prostitution which took place in Australia in the 1980s and 1990s has failed in all of its objectives i.e. stopping the illegal industry and police corruption, reducing the harm to women, stopping street prostitution.
"Legitimating Prostitution as Sex Work : UN Labour Organization (ILO) Calls for Recognition of the Sex Industry (Part One and Two)", by Janice G. Raymond.
Janice G. Raymond analyses a controversial 1998 report of the International Labor Organization (ILO), the official labor agency of the United Nations, calling for economic recognition of the sex industry. Citing the expanding reach of the industry and its unrecognized contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) of four countries in Southeast Asia, the ILO urges official recognition of what it terms "the sex sector."
- Ten Raisons for Not Legalizing Prostitution, by Janice G. Raymond
- Legitimating Prostitution as Sex Work: UN Labour Organization (ILO) Calls for Recognition of the Sex Industry- Part One and Two, by Janice G. Raymond
- The Legalisation of Prostitution: A failed social experiment, by Sheila Jeffreys
- Prostitution: Rights of Women or right to women ? by Elaine Audet
- Elisabeth Badinter distorts feminism the better to fight it, by Elaine Audet
- A report from Status of Women Canada about the discursive denial of gender inequalities, by Micheline Carrier
-The "Stolen Feminism" Hoax: Anti-Feminist Attack Based on Error-Filled Anecdotes, by Laura Flanders
- Friendships between women good for health, by Gale Berkowitz
- Canadian Women's Health Network, by CWHN
- Good clone, bad clone?, by Abby Lippmann
-Hormone Replacement Therapy, the "Magic Bullet" Ricochets, by Abby Lippmann
- Children of divorce need our protection, by Michele Landsberg
- Divorce Bill's flaws inadvertently aid abusers, by Michele Landsberg
- Problem isn't little boys, it's little minds, by Michele Landsberg
- Poem for Peace, by Elaine Audet
- Peace Rally Speech of a 12 year old American Girl, by Charlotte Aldebron
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