Epidemic of acid-attacks on Islamic women

Originally Submitted by Barbara Bassett 7/25/10

I recently received two emails containing some very horrifying stories along with even more horrifying pictures. One was entitled “Epidemic of Acid-Attack on Women in Pakistan”, the article is about women who volunteered to lift their veil and show their burned faces and let a picture speak a thousand words and tell their truth. These women are courageous because they are Muslim women and under Sharia law the act of showing her face is a crime, even if it’s burned and no longer resembles a woman’s face.

I want you to think about this — these women are victims of a heinous crime. However, the heinous crime is not considered as such, it is considered an act of defending ones honor. A man whose marriage proposal is refused is defending his honor by throwing acid onto the body of the woman who refused his proposal. How dare she refuse him, his feelings are hurt and he is just so pissed off. But hey, we are talking about Islam, where men whose feelings are hurt by a woman get to act out their anger.

Yep, in Islam Mr. Refused is told not to seek counseling but seek revenge –throw acid in her face, you can even make a human torch out of her, you need to defend your honor man and we will back you up –you are the victim and she wears a veil that covers her face so we can hide our methods of peaceful honor defending. That is until she decides to lift her veil and show the world the horrific barbaric truth of what really goes on within the walls of the honorable religion of peace.

Warning the following photos are graphic and horrifying and real!

Story of Irum Saeed

Irum Saeed, 30, is a resident of Rawalpindi. She recalls how 12 years ago, when she was only 17, a boy, whose marriage proposal she had rejected, followed her to her college. The street he chose for the scene of crime was narrow, and Irum was unable to escape his hot pursuit of her. The rejected boy proceeded to throw a jug full of acid on her. As she turned to avoid this, he threw the remaining acid onto her back and shoulders, badly burning them. The photograph was taken at her office at the Urdu University of Islamabad, Pakistan, on Thursday, July 24, 2008. She has undergone plastic surgery 25 times to try to recover from her scars.

Story of Shameem Akhter

Shameem Akhter’s face was mutilated with acid when she was only 17. Now aged 20, she is still unable to comprehend how she fell victim to criminals, who kidnapped and raped her for revenge. Then they left her face mutilated, hoping her appearance would silence her forever and ensure that she would never marry. They have succeeded in destroying her life and much of her spirit. Shameem has undergone plastic surgery 10 times to try to repair from her scars.

 Story of Najaf Sultana

Najaf Sultana, now 16, of Lahore, was burned by her father at the age of five while she was sleeping, apparently because he didn’t want to have another girl in the family. The burning left Najaf blind. Abandoned by both her parents, she now lives with relatives. She has undergone plastic surgery around 15 times to try to repair her scars.

 Story of Shehnaz Usman

Shehnaz Usman, now 36, of Lahore was burned with acid by a relative due to a family dispute five years ago. She has undergone plastic surgery 10 times.

 
Story of Shahnaz Bibi

Shahnaz Bibi, now 35, of Lahore, was burned with acid ten years ago by a relative due to a family dispute. She has never undergone plastic surgery.

Story of Kanwal Kayum

Kanwal Kayum, now 26, of Lahore was burned with acid one year ago by a boy whom she rejected for marriage. She has never undergone plastic surgery.

 Story of Munira Asef

Munira Asef, now 23, of Lahore was burned with acid five years ago by a boy whom she rejected for marriage. She has undergone plastic surgery 7 times to try to heal her scars.

 Story of Bushra Shari

Bushra Shari, 39, of Lahore was burned with acid thrown by her husband five years ago because she wanted to divorce him. She has undergone plastic surgery 25 times.

 Story of Memuna Khan

Memuna Khan, 21, of Karachi was burned by a group of boys who threw acid on her to settle a dispute between their family and Menuna’s. She has undergone plastic surgery 21 times.

 Story of Zainab Bibi

Zainab Bibi, 17, of Islamabad was burned five years ago by throwing acid on her face a boy whom she rejected for marriage. She has undergone plastic surgery several times.

 Story of Naila Farhat

Naila Farhat, 19, of Islamabad was burned five years ago by throwing acid on her face by a boy for rejecting his marriage proposal. She has undergone plastic surgery several times.

The case of Naila Farhat was brought to the Supreme Court of Pakistan in November 2008 and received great publicity. The perpetrator was sentenced to 12 years in prison and ordered to pay Rupees1.2 million in damages. This represented a landmark decisions in dealing with gender violence, but the judgment could hardly stem the menace of acid-throwing. This was also somewhat exceptional case in the landscape of acid attacks in Pakistan. In most cases, measures, if at all taken, are still disproportionately low as compared to the sufferings inflicted by the attacks.

 Story of Saira Liaqat

Saira Liaqat, 26, of Lahore was 15, when she was married to a relative. The families had agreed she would join him only after finishing school. But then he demanded her to live with him after the marriage and eventually attacked her with acid when his demand was not met. Saira has undergone plastic surgery 9 times.

 Story of Zubaida Khatoon

Zubaida Khatoon was burnt by her husband to resolve an argument. Her husband had made it a hobby of frequently marrying women from families to lower economic groups. When she discovered this, Zubaida protested his actions. He tried to settle the argument by setting her on fire after pouring kerosene on her. Raising an objection to his lechery was all needed for her to bear these scars.

 Story of Nasreen Sharif

Nasreen Sharif, 23, was once a beautiful girl. When she turned 14, her cousin poured a bottle of sulphuric acid on her face as she slept. His excuse was that he couldn’t stand other boys whistling at her (because of he beauty) when she crossed the street. She no longer bears any resemblance to that youthful beauty. “My skin melted and my hair burned away. I am now blind, I have no ears and I have no sense of smell”,
says Nasreen.

 Story of Parveen Akhtar

Parveen Akhtar, 38, from Jehlum found her life changed when her husband asked her for her written permission to allow him to remarry. Her refusal to it angered him and he tried to murder her by dousing her body with kerosene and setting it alight. He portrayed the incident as an accident and told people that he wanted to remarry because she cannot bear children.

 Story of Bashiran Bibi

Nearly 25 years ago, newly-married Bashiran Bibi (now 57), a resident of Sukheki, Pakistan, was pushed by her mother-in-law into a coal stove. The family proclaimed it to be an accident. Her husband blamed it on a fit of epilepsy that she suffers from. Resolved to her fate, Bashiran continues to live with her husband and in-laws and gave birth to 5 children after this “accident”. Whatever money is donated to Bashiran’s cause, her husband uses it for himself and doesn’t spend any on her treatment.

 Story of Mumtaz Bibi

Mumtaz Bibi, 39, from Khairpur, Pakistan, came under her husband’s wrath while trying to protect her daughters. Her offence was that she refused to let him selling off her girls, shielding them with her life. Because of her lack of compliance, her husband poured acid all over her body, then proceeded to divorce her.

 Story of Tasneem Shahzad

24-year-old Tasneem Shahzad’s story is repeated all too often. A girl, too poor to bring much demanded dowry, she bore the wrath of greedy in-laws. Tasneem’s ex-husband was an addict. It was left to her to support her own household as well as that of her extended family. Tasneem worked in several homes to support all those who depended on her. However, that was not pleasing enough for her greedy in-laws. One day, her clothes were set on fire by her rapacious in-laws and she suffered severe burns. They then proceeded to try and prove that the incident was an accident.

  Rays of Hope

Amidst this grim state of affairs for the unfortunate women of Pakistan, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is working to expose the extent of the gender-violence in Pakistan and the misogynist mindset behind it, which is spreading within the Pakistani Middle Class. The AHRC is working closely with acid-attack victims as part of its involvement for denouncing human rights violations across Asia. 

The Depilex Smileagain Foundation is another organization, which is working with victims of acid-attack to help them smile again, however impossible a task it may appear: they are trying to make impossible possible. In fact, DSF is working in partnership with the Italian NGO Smileagain Foundation that believes, “There is every possibility that these survivors can manage to live the rest of their lives with dignity, with some help.”

A team of Italian doctors, linked to Italian Smileagain Foundation, visit Pakistan every three months to conduct operations on those victims in an effort to give them back as normal a life as possible.

In September, 2008, the team visited Lahore where they carried out two operations and then proceeded to Multan, where surgeries were carried out in Bakhtawar Amin Memorial Trust Hospital. Some 60 patients were evaluated and 8 surgeries carried out.

The stories from Mutlan were strangely different. This is an area where people have property and the disputes often revolve around inheritance. Here wrath knows no gender. Whereas in other parts of the country it is often women who are burnt by acid or fires, here there are as many male victims as well. Those who have been working with Smileagain Foundation, say that what they have seen in Multan is very similar to what occurs in Bangladesh. Property encourages men to lead an idle life, it leads them to indulge in pursuits of personal pleasure, and when they see a chunk of their means of this blissful idle life slipping away, their greed turns them into violent criminals.

Undoubtedly, the life of misery and horror the victims of acid-attacks have to live on is hard to comprehend. While organizations like Smileagain Foundation works toward giving these devastated victims as dignified and normal a life as possible, let us hope that works of Human Rights groups, such as AHRC, of the media and civil-society groups help expose and discredit the Islam-motivated misogyny that is responsible for the malaise, which only can cure this problem and help restore women as a dignified and equal part of men in Pakistan and any other society

Women settle for crumbs at the liberals table as Dems continue war against women.

BettyJean Downing

VAWA watered down as part of the war against women, Democrats set the table and Republicans drink the kool-ade!
100 Years Ago, women took to the streets and demanded the right to vote. What will you fight for this year? We the women of the free world are the majority, and yet not only are we not covered under the Constitution of the United States, but we ostensibly need a Violence Against Women Act to protect us. Yet with the new act, we are forced to share what little funds we have with Gay men and non-citizens, as well as with any other peoples our government can find to share the already paltry sum amongst!

Still hanging after all these years? Free us now! ERA to free women – we are the niggers of the world!

How disgusting that we, the women of the greatest country on earth, need an act specifically created to address the violence directed against us in the first place. But now, to have to share it with others totally negates the reason we fought for specific protection in the first place.
Is there nothing our government holds sacred for the female majority of the population? Are there not hate crimes in effect for gays? Are there no other recourse acts to be drafted for others in need that we women, who die at the rate of 4 a day, need to share our pitiful sum, stretch our already overtaxed resources to the breaking point, when not even a dent has been made all these years in lowering the staggering numbers of women who suffer and even die from gender related violence?
What was wrong with the Violence Against Women Act before the Democrats decided to alter it and force the Republicans to sign on or risk being held responsible for denying women protection? Once again, women are being used as pawns. And once again, we settle for crumbs at the Liberal table!
Where oh where were the women while this travesty against women was going on? How many of our own daughters must be slain, battered, and raped before we realize that we have once again laid down for the man and his political machine rather than for our own benefit?
CRY for the women who are dying so that the Liberal can continue to allow havoc to be wreaked upon women and blame it on a war coming from someplace else, when it actually comes straight from the liberal table set by the Democrats and their molls!
Shame on the conservative men and women who refused to step up and fight for all women—who refuse to expose this travesty for what it is. Shame on all those who repeatedly sell out women in the name of government!
Give us an Equal Rights Amendment. Free Us Now!

Title IX, Title X, ERA, Equal Pay, PP & Abortion, Liberals political football !

BettyJean Downing

To hear the Democrats tell the story – you would never know that Title IX, Title X, pledges to support the ERA, Equal Pay, Planned Parenthood funding and Abortion were all started and/or passed under Republican administrations! That’s right they were 70’s advances signed into law that the dems takecredit for today!

When leftist women gather to talk to women about women’s rights – they rarely talk to all women about all women and clearly they are not about uniting women for the benefit of all women. Instead they take over women’s groups and radicalize them around issues that turn away the majority of women and turn women against each other using rhetoric that convinces women that we are enemies. These so called feminists insist women should have a choice- but it damned well better be the choice they have listed on their agenda- – you had better be Pro-abortion- pro gay rights- and a Democrat! What could be more anti feminist than that?

They have no intention of being ‘national women’s organizations’ speaking for all women. They rely instead on the divisive issues that tore the woman’s movement to shreds. The “lib” movement that both parties supported and would have secured equal rights for women in the 70’s , even included a woman’s right to choose abortion- was usurped and turned into a bra burning, man haters club that created a civil war between the sexes instead of equalizing the sexes. What could be more anti feminist than that?

Do a little homework and see what the radicals did to the ERA movement and how they keep the majority from coming together for all women by obfuscating the truth and playing games with semantics rather than finding common ground. See how they work for their own good at the cost of the good of all women. What could be more anti feminist than that?

See how they infiltrated the movement pitting woman against woman, against man and even against children. If you are invited to a women’s group – they will mask it with talk of ERA but all you will see and hear about is abortion, birth control pills and same sex marriage. Is that all women are about? What could be more anti feminist than that?

Can’t we have a group where women are seen as complete entities beyond their reproduction? They ask “if we can’t control our bodies- what can we control?” I respond- control your bodies, you have been since the 70’s- now shut the hell up and let the rest of us have speak our minds too without being ridiculed by the likes of you. You do not speak for 40% of America’s women and I sure in the hell want my rights- my choices, my voice which does not include being called a slut or a voting vagina!!

These radicals have us all painted as man hating, sexual wacko’s who care about nothing but same sex marriage and abortions! What could be more anti feminist than that? The very word feminist which should suggest appreciates or respects females instead connotes radical man haters. Thank you very much, now there is no word for those of us who simply want equality and reverence!

In case you think I am stretching the truth about the radical wacko’s hijacking the movement and tearing it apart-  read this major feminist’s work and see why so many women left the movement.

Shulamith Firestone “The Dialectic of Sex”

Published in 1970, her “The Dialectic of Sex” was a key feminist work that presaged today’s issues surrounding birth and science. The book influenced her feminist contemporaries as well as those who followed behind her.

“No one can understand how feminism has evolved without reading this radical, inflammatory, second-wave landmark,” said Naomi Wolf.

According to Amazon.com, “The book synthesizes the work of Freud, Marx, de Beauvoir and Engels to create a cogent argument for feminist revolution. Identifying women as a caste, she declares that they must seize the means of reproduction – for as long as women (and only women) are required to bear and rear children, they will be singled out as inferior.”

According to Wikipedia, “She advocated the use of cybernetics to carry out human reproduction in laboratories as well as the proliferation of contraception, abortion and state support for child-rearing; enabling [women] to escape their biologically determined positions in society. Firestone described pregnancy as ‘barbaric’… . Among the reproductive technologies she predicted were sex selection and in vitro fertilization.”   Firestone wrote in “The Dialectic of Sex”: “…[J]ust as to assure elimination of economic classes requires the revolt of the underclass (the proletariat) and, in a temporary dictatorship, their seizure of the means of production, so…the elimination of sexual classes requires the revolt of the underclass (women) and the seizure of control of reproduction… . The reproduction of the species by one sex for the benefit of both would be replaced by (at least the option of) artificial reproduction: … [T]he dependence of the child on the mother (and vice versa) would give way to a greatly shortened dependence on a small group of others in general… . The division of labour would be ended by the elimination of labour altogether (through cybernetics). The tyranny of the biological family would be broken.”

I personally don’t give a fig who you sleep with or what you do with your body- but I care how you present the rest of us. SHUT UP and stop dancing around in front of the white house dressed up as a vagina! That is a pitiful representation of women- and you do not represent me!

Men have been running this country for hundreds of years and have yet considered it necessary to dress up as PRICKS and dance around Washing DC to elicit support or votes!

Lowering ourselves with “I am more than a VAGINA” shirts or “Vagina’s Vote” umbrella’s does not bode well for womankind, it makes us look ridiculous and unintelligent. Alice Paul was Intelligent- as was Susan B. Anthony and many other suffragists who these Janey come lately’s have a lot to learn from.  Displaying a little more class and a lot less crass would go a long way to earning the respect needed to be taken seriously and to win elections!

The last time I attended the “We Are Woman” rally for women’s rights on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol in Washington – See more at: http://2passera.org/#sthash.dmIrZvaF.dpuf , I left disgusted and ashamed to be photographed or associated with the likes of some of these women who claim to represent America’s women. Further, Apparently we disagree on What women’s rights mean. I am looking to pass the ERA for Equal Rights. They DO NOT have it on their table. This was a DEMOCRATIC political rally ! These LIBERAL activists came dressed up as fallopian tubes and vagina’s shouting obscenities on the West Lawn, cursing men and Republicans while insisting there is a right wing war on women conveniently forget to mention where all the women’s rights and advances of the 70’s originally stemmed from.

Sandy Oestreich, Pres., National Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) Alliance http://2passera.org/ and myself were the only two of a thousand or so who came to discuss rights of the whole woman. We had 5 minutes out of 5 hours to do so. http://2passera.org/

They forget to tell you – women from both sides of the aisle were once united. AND they forget to explain it was not the Democrats that passed these advances they brag about attaining in the 70’s. Instead they lead you to believe ( see pic left alluding to 73 as if Republicans were not the ones who passed these laws for women!) Instead they would have you believe- The republicans do and have always hated women and kept them “in their place” while the Democrats have always been the party of women. Yeah that was real obvious when they skewered Hillary in 2008 but that is another story. And they are about to uncurl Debbie W S’s hair next!

Before you believe the drivel from any party about the other party – do your research- and stop believing what the media tells you. Either be informed or stop voting. Ignorance is not bliss and the rest of us are paying for voter ignorance! For those of you who give a damned – read on!

The Republican Administration gave women Title IX, Title X, the ERA proposal, Equal Pay, Planned Parenthood funding and Abortion. That’s right — it was passed by a Republican administration!

“Why were we lambasting Romney about birth control and abortion during the 2012 election ?”

For Example: Former Senate candidate, Mrs. Lenore Romney, whose son has accepted the Republican Party’s presidential nomination 2012, was part of an effort to get a plank in the platform calling for legal abortion., as was Mrs. Eisenhower.

It was the Republicans’ “four more years” gathering for President Richard M. Nixon, Watergate was a break-in not linked yet to full-on corruption… It’s right there in the papers!… What’s also right there is a snapshot of women’s roles and rights under revision in society — we called it “women’s lib” back then — and the Republican Party’s response to the change underway.

“The Administration will . . . continue its strong efforts to open equal opportunities for women, recognizing clearly that women are often denied such opportunities today,” it begins, and then pledges to support passage of the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution, fight against sex discrimination and for equal pay, and appoint women to positions of greater power, including to the Supreme Court.

For the GOP in 1972, these were not just promises: The ferment and bra-burning of the 1960s were consolidated into real change in the ’70s. The executive and legislative branches already had written historical gains for women into policy and law, and the Supreme Court the next year would make equal job access and the right to abortion the law of the land.

By the time of the convention, the Nixon administration had passed and implemented Title IX, which expanded educational and athletic opportunities for millions of girls and women, and Title X, which made federal funding available for family planning for the first time. That funding, which House Republicans keep trying to strip away from Planned Parenthood, passed the Senate unanimously and the House with broad bipartisan support in 1970.

The Nixon White House required government contractors to use affirmative action to hire women; more women were in management in federal Washington than ever before.

Read the story from one who was there: A look back at 1972 GOP convention, and emergence of ‘women’s lib’

By Ann Gerhart: Forty years ago, I went to my first political convention as part of the official delegation from Pennsylvania.

The advances we need will not come from division, and don’t be fooled neither party wants us, the Majority united, but united we will accomplish all that we need. What we need is Equality under the Constitution. All else will come when we have full citizenship and most of all RESPECT!

IMAGINE what we can accomplish united into the majority we are instead of divided into 2 political minority camps?

The ERA = “EQUALITY OF RIGHTS UNDER THE LAW SHALL NOT BE DENIED OR ABRIDGED BY THE UNITED STATES OR BY ANY STATE ON ACCOUNT OF SEX.”

“It’s about EQUALITY “

BettyJean Downing

I get weary trying to figure out a new and different way to say – “It’s about EQUALITY”, How many different ways can one present such a simple concept? If you are a liberal you claim to understand this principle,  yet you are intolerant of a multitude of persons and ideals of half of your countrypersons.  If you are a conservative, likewise you claim to know God and follow his precept that All Men (and women) are created equal, yet you treat the majority of our citizens as beneath you at best.

What a conundrum the two party system has inflicted upon our nation, successfully offering a supposedly free nation two options and only two, which are diametrically opposed yet the same in terms of standing as an antithesis to the precepts the Constitution was written to promote. Such is the frailty of mankind. Womankind, on the other hand, seems helpless to grab the brass ring.

I must admit, when I witness the vote results, I often ponder why we allow everyone to vote, and I can easily understand why the founders elected to restrict the vote to those with enough sense to understand what they were actually voting for. Initially, the founders were interested in creating a country greater than the sum of its parts, a country free from oppression, freedom to worship so that no one would be burdened by the religious dogma of another. And yet here we are with part of the country hopelessly liberal and another part that tries to bully everyone into practicing their religious, personal, and moral beliefs. Our Constitution states that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion—that means either for or against. Congress and the legal process is to be silent regarding religion! Only then are we guaranteed freedom from government sanctioned religious or anti-religious oppression.

Neither side will change the other so why are we fighting losing battles? We do it for the sport of the political parties and for no other reason. In these battles only the politicians get fat! In terms of good for the country, we need to go back to the basics. The founders understood that mankind, if left to their own devices, is selfish and would vote for themselves rather than the good of the country. I will not bore you with a lengthy list of quotes to that effect nor will I remind you of the promises politicians make just to win elections.

Let’s consider for a moment America, the land of the free, two hundred years ago verses 2014. Briefly, the freedom desired was from the oppressive reign of a King, freedom of religion, and freedom from the oppression of an almost caste system that prevented upward societal mobility. Learned men fought and died to form a more perfect union offering opportunity to all. But where blacks, women, and Indians etc., were concerned, the Constitution did not apply at that time. But, the American Constitution, presented by brilliant men, formed a Republic that gave citizens an opportunity to evolve and perfect over time. The framers of our Constitution warned of greed and included checks and balances to protect American rights and freedoms. They warned that freedom would be hard to keep because mankind is (in my words) selfish!

America was the first successful Revolution to remain free to date, and just as freedom was difficult to gain and keep, many Americans have continued to fight for equality, and we are making slow gains. What part of equality do we still not understand that we understood when we passed the 13^th amendment?

To say that black men were entitled to the same status as white men but to totally ignore all women—the majority of the population—was ludicrous at best. Then to wait 50 more years to give women the vote and still not spell out they are citizens in that Constitution is criminal, and to deny women equality under that Constitution, even as it has been amended to include all others besides the majority, is unfathomable.

Our discrimination laws do not include sex! In other words, there are serious legal consequences for discriminating against anyone, unless she is a white woman. Ironically, if she is black, gay, Latino, Islamic, or some minority she may—and I say MAY have some recourse, if she is fortunate enough to catch the eye of the ACLU—If not, she, like the rest of the majority of our nation, is out of luck. Why? We women—52% of the population—have no Constitutional rights! Our government forced Iraq to set up equal rights for women in their Constitution but does not grant America’s own women the same. Our government forced Japan to do the same, in 1945, but has refused American women since we asked for ERA in the 1970’s.

If you think the ACLU is on your side—think again! If you think either political party is on your side, think again. If you think a woman’s group from either side is on your side, think again! Where are they when women need them to save lives? Where is either side when women need them? Who is standing up against violence against women in a meaningful way? Have the death rate from Intimate violence dropped in all these s years? It has not! Is that the banner they carry? Was it front and center on anyone’s platform lately? Which party is promoting ERA on their platform? Which party is promoting stronger laws to protect all women or educate them about all of their rights in matters of life and death? Who is educating mothers on our rights to our children in our courts? Who is helping us when we are destitute and facing divorce against a powerful abuser who wants to take our children and a corrupt court system that turns a blind eye?  I say we need more than just birth control pills and abortions—we need equality. We need for abusers to know they will be prosecuted. We need stronger laws and equal pay, not just the right to sue if we find out we were not paid fairly. Power still lies in the hands of male lobbies in our family courts. Our women and children are still the most vulnerable and the least protected in this the 21^st Century.

The ones who stand up and fight for their rights are the only ones who are heard:

An example of what is in Congress right now:

– Gang of Eight Framework for Immigration Reform

“The framework is designed to satisfy the demands of illegal aliens and their advocates, and business interests that want more cheap labor. It includes nothing that would benefit law-abiding American workers and taxpayers. American taxpayers will be saddled with staggering costs in the future as millions of poorly skilled illegal aliens become eligible for government services and programs.   PR Newswire (http://s.tt/1z3ym)

In the news right now:

 “The pulse of equality is strong in America, and today it beats a bit faster with news that the Boy Scouts may finally put an end to its long history of discrimination,” said Chad Griffin of the Human Rights Campaign, a major gay-rights group.

While there is still a long way to go for many others, we women have stepped up over the centuries to work toward equality and civil rights for others. Isn’t it time that we step up and ask that we as a group, be counted, and ask that others support us?

We are the majority, and yet, we as “women” we are the only group that is not covered under the Constitution nor protected from hate crimes, or protected from discriminatory language. That means we just don’t count in America! Whose fault is that? It is our own fault. As the majority we have successfully fought for, and won, many battles for minority groups—now it is our turn to stand up and ask for our equal rights too! Women, we must stand up and demand that we will no longer tolerate inequality on any level.

We need 3 more states to ratify the ERA—get involved. It is about EQUALITY! We have been complacent long enough. ERA now!

Bergen County Let Me Down: Violence against Women Ignored and 4 Women a Day Die

BettyJean Downing Kling

Today as I sat in court awaiting my case I was shocked to see no less than 7 DV cases go unheard because the women did not take the case forward. Whatever happened to the state proceeding without the woman because she may be afraid to testify? I saw officers agree to allow the state to drop the case.
Some abused women came in but said they did not want to proceed, a few called in saying they wanted to drop the charges and some simply did not appear. A parade of men came and went in and out without a care in the world, allegedly having violated the women they are intimate with.
What a horrible shame on two counts. First that the women let these men get away with violating them physically, but what about these punks that hit women and walk in here as if they are not the least bit ashamed of their behavior. I saw one man fondling and kissing her after the court and thanking her- she didn’t look happy about it at all. I saw another woman sitting there looking scared to death and she didn’t leave his side for a second. I could not help but look at these gems and think – gee what a prize that lady just saved from his consequences so he can be free to hurt her again!
On the other hand, I was there to see my case through. Having procured a final protection order from the county seat a few months back after the Judge found him guilty of terroristic threats, I was surprised to learn another county division downgraded the threat to kill case to a simple harassment and sent it back to Lodi to be heard. Funny no one spoke to me about that to be sure I wouldn’t drop the charges – or to be sure how much danger I was in. Did they think a protection order would keep me alive from a lunatic? In any case I was blindsided by that move but I proceeded to trial.
The defendant, my son, was found guilty but because the charge was downgraded he got what amounted to a slap on the wrist and a minimal fine compared to the seriousness of the crime he should have been found guilty of. The judge could only find him guilty of the charges before her and no more.
Downgrading a threat to kill to simple harassment is a serious injustice against me by the county. I did not get my day in court- and if anything happens to me – it is blood on their hands. I did not drop charges – I followed through – the county let me down. This is the reason 4-5 women a day are found dead in the USA- even when they don’t drop the charges and they are willing to show up – they do not get the justice and protection they deserve. Wake up America- a protection order is not a guarantee on saving a life!

Mah Gul Was Beheaded

Contributed by Barbara

By Noorjahan Akbar, Afghanistan Correspondent for Safeworld

Folks just walk by as if she is a piece of litter on the road!

of us will never learn about Mah Gul, or we will forget her soon. Mah Gul was a 20 year-old woman in Herat, Afghanistan. She was beheaded by her husband’s family, in October 2012, for refusing to be a prostitute.

The World Did Not Shake

When Mah Gul was beheaded, no one lit a candle. No one prayed for her. No one took a photo of her. No one installed billboards with her name and photo in the city. No one recorded her life story, dreams, happiness, sadness, smile or the way she gazed.

When Mah Gul was beheaded, no one praised her integrity, her bravery, her morality.

When Mah Gul was beheaded, my Facebook friends were writing about their favorite foods and difficult days.

When Mah Gul was beheaded, carefree Afghan boys were calling a young woman a “slut.”

When Mah Gul was beheaded, the Taliban were using women as cover-ups to take their injured to the hospitals.

When Mah Gul was beheaded, fatigued Afghan policemen were smoking on the top of Maranjan hill.

When Mah Gul was beheaded, a poet was writing about the taste of his beloved’s lips.

When Mah Gul was beheaded, reports were discussing the presidential debate in America.

When Mah Gul was beheaded, a soldier is Afghanistan was composing a letter to his son.

When Mah Gul was beheaded, Afghan teachers were re-writing boring, skewed history on the blackboards.

When Mah Gul was beheaded, a Kabuli prostitute was lying beside a cold wall and crying out of hunger.

When Mah Gul was beheaded, Afghan television stations were airing Indian soap-operas.

When Mah Gul was beheaded, our neighbor was beating his siasar* again.

When Mah Gul was beheaded, Herati women were hanging shirts on the clothes line, hoping that at least, they would feel freedom.

When Mah Gul was beheaded, American women were practicing yoga to decrease their stress.

When Mah Gul was beheaded, an “intellectual” in Afghanistan commented on how women wear smaller scarves now, and a local mullah was preaching about labour girls promoting prostitution.

When Mah Gul was beheaded, Angelina Jolie didn’t know.

When Mah Gul was beheaded, our school girls didn’t wear black scarves to mourn her.

When Mah Gul was beheaded, the President was a busy man.

When Mah Gul was beheaded, the world did not shake. In every part of the world, people follow the assembly line of their lives.

When Mah Gul was beheaded, her mother smiled, for her daughter was at last free.

Related Article: Mah Gul: Beheaded for Refusing to Be a Prostitute

Women’s Issues Ignored: ladies oblivious to the facts!

Survivors Justice begging for attention to women’s plight right here in America  has caused me to rant again: Author asks ” What are we going to do for them???” http://survivorsjustice.com/2012/10/31/what-are-we-going-to-do-for-them/ I responded and am posting my reply as an article- if you agree please let her know suou side with survivors!

Note- this is not about abortion- I am pro-choice for your personal rights! Tthis is about all the other rights that every other woman also has a right to demand and whose choices are not considered as important and whose life , liberty and pursuit of happiness depends on more than reproductive rights! There is more to life then the right to end it- some of us are struggling to live it!

Apparently the war on women has nothing to do with beating them, raping them, abusing them , starving them, or taking away their children to award them to the batterer who wants to avoid child support and alimony. It has everything to do with dividing women into two political groups; those who want children and those who want the right not to have them! In the process the majority is split into minorities without enough power to affect change for womankind but enough power to sway elections. We are being USED ladies and abused. WAKE UP!If you ask me – ignoring all the things that we really need- like the litany of problems I mentioned above and jobs, education, the debt, war, economy: price of food and utilities etc. etc. is the war on women.IGNORING all of US- is the war!

When is the last time you needed an abortion more than food, safety for yourself and your children , a place to live, a job, your batterer jailed for his crime, or a court to listen objectively before turning our children over to the pedophiles or batterers who abused them?

But what do we know – we are beaten, battered, stupid breeders who apparently don’t need equal rights, just a lot of rhetoric that reproductive rights makes us the most powerful beings on earth because we hold the power of life and death.

What a load of shit- we are being murdered at the rate of 4 a day by our intimate partners. We are beaten by those we love and trust every 9 seconds – we are raped every 9 minutes and they tell us all we want is to abort a possible pregnancy?

Gimme a break – I want the right to castrate the bastard who raped me and any other son of a bitch who rapes my child. I want these batterers locked away! I want pedophiles castrated and put on an island. I don’t give a rat’s ass about their civil rights.

I care about the civil rights of the majority – which in case you have not noticed – WE DO NOT HAVE! What we have is the right to abort and nothing more! I care about the rights of innocent children who have no voice and are victimized by adults, the courts, pedophiles and would be mothers who take their rage out on the child instead of the perpetrator.

Maybe you want to hear from other survivors? http://survivorsjustice.com/2012/10/31/what-are-we-going-to-do-for-them/

Ladies Choice: Girly Box or Bully Pulpit?

Get out of your “Girly Box” where you are being bullied and take you rightful place at the bully pulpit.  We are the majority and are being held back from breaking thru that glass ceiling! In order to do it we have to prove our meddle – its time to get out of the girly box- put on our women’s clothes we need to get out and vote on real women’s issues. I want to tell you what they are NOT. Its been a long time since someone has sat down and had a serious talk with us about what our issues are. the left has brainwashed into believing our issues are between our legs but I think they are between our ears, we just have to think about it  and the time is now because there is an election about to happen and we need to let the left know they counted us wrong! The far right has a few things to learn about us too but its the far left that is counting us wrong big time and needs to hear from us on Nov. 6 this year!

Please stay with me when I go thru serious sex crimes, rape and abortion for a few moments, as these indeed are everyone’s issue just as everything that goes on in our country is women’s business and not just man’s business or man’s work. We need equality let’s act like it. It is often said you get what you deserve-  do we deserve respect? Let me describe how the left has asked for respect and I will let you decide what we deserve for their effort! Stay with me for a few minutes – give me a soap box then tell me off when I am done- if you think I am wrong!

No they don’t and they don’t sit in the oval office either!

I am going to beg you to stop the carrying the liberal woman’s banner of abortion and Birth control pills as the women’s issues. We have many- and we need to have our issues addressed- we also have all the very same issues, as do the men. We work- we pay taxes, we have children in schools – they need fed- we need jobs, We buy gas- what exactly is it that we don’t care about- what is off the table that is NOT a woman’s issue? NOTHING- so let’s not let the left put us in a girly box! Empower yourselves by getting serious. If you want to kill someone to be strong join the armed services! Fight someone your own size- fight the bastard that raped you! Fight the judges and the assholes that allow these men to batter you. Do something positive! Stop victimizing the unborn in retribution.

I am accused of coming across as very angry on this subject- well I am. Every 6 seconds a woman is beaten. Every 9 seconds one is raped, 4 a day are murdered and I don’t see women marching on DC screaming about that! I see corruption in our family, domestic and in divorce courts. These are the things we should be screaming about.

One man bludgeoned my dying cancer ridden daughter’s head open with a hammer- they left him out without bail – he returned and blew her baby sister’s brains out with a shot gun. We need court reform and better laws against violence against women and children, these are things that matter to every woman and mother and father and sister and brother. Fight for this, fight for and bread and butter, gas and oil prices, and education reform, jobs and Equal rights for women to be added to the Constitution of the United States so that we have true parity in our workplace and in equal representation in all levels of our government.

We need equal rights under the law not women dressed up as pick dancing vagina’s on the DC Capital lawn screaming about abortion and birth control or

Dancing vaginas- And we want to be taken seriously?

wearing T-shits   signed Vagina’s vote! Ladies, for the love of the vote of foremothers fought to get us- grow up and act like educated intelligent beings shut the hell up about your friggen abortions after rape. For over a half century – you have had abortion rights for that same 50 plus years the GOP has had a platform against it and we have had Republican administrations and Conservative Justices and yet- not once- have you lost your abortion rights! BUT in all this time we have yet to gain our equal rights which every woman needs while you fight for something most of us will never use.

Abortion is the ending of a life. If a woman’s life is in danger- common sense dictates a life will have to be taken. Rape and Incest is the same thing, a hate crime has been perpetrated against a victim. That offender should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and laws should be revisited to ensure sex crimes are adjudicated as serious hate crimes.

Rape is the only crime that we have come to believe it is ok to seek retribution for. And if retribution were acceptable why do we feel taking it out on the unborn child is an acceptable remedy? I was asked, why should a women carry a child and be reminded for 9 months of the crime committed against her? A victim of every crime will be reminded for the rest of his or her life BUT never does that give her the right to victimize another in reparation for the crime done against her! While I understand this appears to be the only empowerment a women has in this world – it is a false power of one even less powerful than she and against the very nature of a woman. She has in fact been brainwashed into believing this is a right to her body while she lost that right to an intruder and cannot gain it back by taking the life of another.

Case closed. I have been raped and I have otherwise been victimized myself and it has continued to haunt me over a half decade. Fortunately, it did not result in pregnancy but if it had my choices would have been to keep or to give away the child; abortion cannot undo the act of rape. Instead, I have fought against many kinds of crimes against women over the past or 60 years inc. rape, incest, intimate abuse, family court abuse, poverty, and lack of education to name a few.  Since the late 60’s I have been fighting for equal rights and women’s liberation from sexualization in the media and for polarity and equality in representation in all levels of government. I have seen tragedy in my own family from being a victim to seeing my daughters victimized to have a son who is an abuser as was his father. Let me make the above point in a very crude but clear way– my daughter Louisa had her brains blown out — can I now go kill an unborn child to get even?

falopian tubes and ovaries- on the great lawn- at an ERA rally!

Stop the goddamned rape, the beatings, the humiliation and the child abuse! You want to be taken seriously yet when you get the chance all you want to talk about is abortion and BC pills? I have been going to rallies and demonstrations all my life, I remember the NOW march down 5^th Avenue inn NYC before NOW went radical- we wanted Equal rights for every woman- now when I went to DC and I was embarrassed to be associated with the dancing vaginas, fallopian tubes and ovaries that showed up on the White house lawn!

Rock the slut names all liberal women as sluts- so do the men- wake up! Be proud to be a woman in America vote for yourself and for dignity!

Seriously? Gimme a break- do you see the men running this country screaming about Viagra- dressing as pricks and dancing at the state house calling themselves dicks and balls. Get serious and you might be less than 16% represented. You are not seriously taken because you are not talking about serious things. WAKE THE HELL UP. You can continue to scream at me and accuse me of forcing you back into an alley – but I don’t see you getting any further toward the oval office at the rate you are going or from the road you are traveling. In fact we have seen and heard our former first lady and a would be female vice president called bitches, cunts and other candidates of late were called witches and whores BUT I have never heard a male called a Prick just for running for office.

Think about what I said. Call me names – tell me off but for God sake think about what I said! Father’s rights groups are winning because they do not appear to be hysterical – we do and it’s our fault that we appear hysterical. The left is responsible for this appearance when they name themselves “rock the slut vote!” think about it. Talk about common sense things and sound reasonable- talk turkey like the big boys or look  and act like silly little girls and stay bullied by the big bad wolves!

Author’s note* Thank science for RU486 which prevents pregnancy and the need for abortion of a fetus after rape and tell the church to stay out of a woman’s business she can decide is she want to take birth control or not and tell government to stay out of church business.

The real war on women: Dirty Words on Clean Skin

BettyJean Downing Kling

Up to now we’ve essentially heard from male authors writing from a male perspective. Dirty Words on Clean Skin, with courage and conviction, recounts the experiences that launched the REAL “War on Women.” Finally, after four years of silence, I am heartened that this woman author is coming forward to expose the truth as we actually endured it. This book is written by one who speaks for millions. Hat’s off to Anita Finlay and thank you for misbehaving! Afterall – Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History~ Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

A shocking exposé about the real war on women…who’s buying, who’s selling and why they get away with it. This eye opening journey chronicles both Hillary Clinton’s sexism-plagued historic run and the rampant denigration of women that rages on today with impunity. Dirty Words on Clean Skin transcends party politics. It is less about the treatment of one woman than the ramifications of denying equal respect to all women. This first person narrative will resonate with many who feel a burning frustration with mainstream media and the state of our political dialogue today. In 2008, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama waged an epic battle for the presidential nomination that captured the imagination and hopes of millions, but the joy of watching a qualified woman vie for the presidency was marred by newsmen and pundits calling Hillary Clinton a hellish housewife, Nurse Ratched, she-devil and bitch. DIRTY WORDS ON CLEAN SKIN examines the tactics that do damage to the credibility of powerful women and the cost to those watching from the ground. Anita Finlay’s shocking political odyssey travels beyond Hillary Clinton’s historic candidacy to investigate the media’s troubling influence over our electoral process and the behavior of a society not as evolved as advertised. Whether the subject is Michelle Obama, Sarah Palin or Elizabeth Warren, no woman is immune. The facts speak for themselves and drive this carefully researched, explosive and conversational exposé. For sixteen years, polls have named Hillary Clinton America’s most admired woman, yet when it counted, the media depicted her as a vile harpy standing in the way of history. Today, articles from The New York Times to the Huffington Post are encouraging her to once again stand for the Presidency, yet any prescription offered to a woman attempting to break the “highest, hardest glass ceiling” will be worthless without an honest discussion of the culprits and their methods. That discussion has yet to take place. Anita Finlay

Customer Reviews

Dirty Words On Clean Skin: Sexism and Sabotage, a Hillary Supporter’s Rude Awakening

Ms. Finlay’s book resonated with me on so many levels, especially the awakening to the rampant sexism and misogyny in the 2008 campaign. Once those two were out in the open, it was as if a sleeping giant had been awakened. Sadly, sexism and misogyny are still very much in the fore, especially in the political realm. Thank heavens Ms. Finlay chronicled this period in our history lest it be lost. This book is a must-read. The Rev. Amy J. Samonds

Dirty Words On Clean Skin brilliantly uncovers the dark side of our “beloved” patriarchal democratic system. Pro America through strength and conviction, Anita Finlay sheds light on our country’s internal war with feminism and its long hold on our “glass ceiling.” Despite the destructive mass media bias, Anita’s research, effort and awareness has given us a tool to discern the truth about our current political process. Dirty Words On Clean Skin reaches into the heart of America and reveals the upheavals and crisis women face in our current backward thinking political process. Anita’s responsive, investigative action into the injustices of our country’s media bias has awakened us that constructive change is needed and within our grasp. Shelby Heard

Thank you Anita Finlay for writing this book!!!! Our media has underreported (and that’s putting it kindly) the fact that 3.4 million diehard lifelong Democrats left the Democratic Party in 2008 over the disgusting sexism emanating from the “party for women.” It was such a shocking and unbelievable time and it was swept under the rug. Finlay’s book names chapter and verse of this awful saga in real time. Many of us are still as furious as Finlay as to what transpired, and the REAL magic of the Obama campaign was how it broke the bond between so many people and the party that they loved and considered to be “family.” It will be a good read for skeptics who still don’t understand what happened, and it will be a sad but important reminder to those who experienced the events the way Finlay did. Wherever a person stands on the historic election of 2008, this book gives a more complete picture of what occurred. A must read for all historians, history buffs, Obama supporters, and really anyone who follows politics. Well done Anita Finlay!!!! Cynthia Ruccia

Year of the Woman, not Title IX, and more than tits and ass!

BettyJean Downing Kling

Women triumphed at the Olympics this year by working hard and the ladies teams won by working together! Imagine how much more can be won so much more than a few crotchety items! A few less battered bodies, dead women, raped children, safer streets and schools perhaps? Look at the bigger picture- Imagine the Majority United?

Every country represented at the Olympics also brought women, please try to remember that all women count regardless of their ideology.  Interestingly – there is no Title IX in China or in Russia or in Romania but they send plenty of women and they have been winning since the very beginning because they train them well regardless of women’s lib. For Left leaning—err Democrat, moles disguised as national women’s groups to hail to the chief pushing Liberal politics as the reason for our women  winning this year flies in the face of all the countries who have sent women and who support them financially as well. Our Government doesn’t financially support our female athletes, so title 9 is less valuable compared to the full support even Commy nations give their women – so let’s get off of the right left crap about it! I am grateful T9 let gave females opportunities but stop exploiting everything for the Party’s sake and start working instead for all women. Geeze don’t we ever get tired of being party first — instead of all women come before either party?

Forget the politics and unite women behind an idea, that idea being that all women in the US are valuable regardless of left or right divisive issues that separate them. Bring FEMALES together rather than let the ‘all boys clubs’ – both of them pull us apart.

Stop with the right left division and let’s get the majority united. Try this for a change — appeal to women without alluding to party- right or left or their friggen vaginas or reproduction. Try appealing to the fact that 4 a day are beaten to death – or otherwise murdered t the hand of an intimate partner and we need stricter and enforceable laws. Let’s appeal to women who need our support in divorce and family courts- those who have their children stripped from their loving arms and placed in the care of their abusers or worse pedophiles. Let’s appeal to the indecency women face in our court systems and the plight of the poor in education and leave the birth control to another day. How about we appeal to life and our children and stopping the death of children and their mother’s lives for a change, more women and children face those needs on a daily basis. Can we speak up for safer streets, and food, and schools and jobs for just a few weeks here? Appeal to the fact that we need to make this a safer place for our daughters, a more equal playing field. Can you concentrate on that for just a few months- just long enough to get this bill passed or must you turn off half the women in this country to satisfy the other half?  Are thou really going to cut the baby in half over and over and over again?  What about the battered women- what about the mothers- what about the lost children? Does anyone else count anymore? Look at the bigger picture- Imagine the Majority United?

For those of you who get it and are willing to use a softer approach try this letter and send it to both R’s and D’s.

Good Luck and Thanks you so much for your common sense!

“I am calling today to ask that (Senator/Representative) ________________ give his/her support to resolutions moving through the House and Senate that call for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, Many organizations have been working on this since it was first introduced in the 1920’s by suffragist Alice Paul. I feel that the Equal Rights Amendment is important issue in this coming election and is bi-partisan.

There is no excuse for it not to be enacted in my lifetime. I want to see Equal Rights for Women specifically spelled out in The Constitution. Women comprise 52% of the electorate and in return for our votes this November we are asking for your immediate support on: H.J.Res.47: and S.J.Res.39:

No longer pacified by promises, we require a true demonstration of value for value. In return for votes from our large voting bloc we demand equal rights under The Constitution.

I hope I can count on (Senator/Representative) ___________’s support on this issue.

Thank you.”

H.J.Res.47: Removing the deadline for the ratification of the equal rights amendment. (aka: The Three State Solution)
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:H.J.RES.47:

S.J.Res.39: A joint resolution removing the deadline for the ratification of the equal rights amendment.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:S.J.RES.39:

The Text:

JOINT RESOLUTION

Removing the deadline for the ratification of the equal rights amendment.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That notwithstanding any time limit contained in House Joint Resolution 208 of the Ninety-second Congress, second session, the article of amendment proposed to the States in that joint resolution shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution whenever ratified by three additional States.