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Dear Friends,
We have some disturbing news.
The New York Times is reporting that the American Association of Pediatrics (“AAP”) condones genital circumcision on our shores. Yes, that’s right! A dangerous step towards tolerating genital cutting in the United States of America!
Not on our watch! Not without a fight!
READ: Clitoral Relativism: A “Nick” at The New Agenda Blog.
READ: AAP Condones Genital “Nick”: What Happened to “Do No Harm”? at The New Agenda Blog.
READ: Why Are American Doctors Mutilating Girls? at The Daily Beast.
TAKE ACTION!: Join The New Agenda and tell the AAP that genital cutting has NO place on our shores.
Call the AAP today:
National Headquarters (Elk Grove Village, IL): (847) 434-4000
Washington, DC Office: (202) 347-8600
Email the women leaders in the Congress and Senate and tell them to protect our girls.
I am almost speechless. For weeks, I have been not only shocked by how few are aware of this, but too many reactions are even more nauseating — “… doesn’t sound like a big deal …,” “… part of cultures you don’t understand …,” “… seems safer than ….,” “… you read too much …,” “… not any of your (male) business …,” “… not the proper place to discuss ….”
These are terrible times! Be sure to check out the politics of the deniers and excusers.
You might also try contacting the AG’s office in your state. I emailed the link to the AAP’s policy paper to the California AG’s office and asked for a public policy ruling on this and pointed out that this is would be a reason to pull a physican’s medical liscense in the state and could be classified as child abuse. If and when I receive an answer from the AG’s office, I will post it. But because we are suffering from such a severe financial crisis in the state, I may receive an answer when hell freezes over.
I told people out loud that when American women turned their backs on women in politics the way we did to Clinton, it would be the start of a long, ugly slide downward. I got laughed at, eyes rolled at me, and dismissed.
Well, this is how it starts. And supposed liberal women don’t even seem to care. This is how things get bad — women cooperate with it. Then, we all act shocked when it gets so bad that they are chopping us into pieces in the road. Then, we complain. But we push the boulder downhill at the top along with everyone else.
This whole thing makes me want to puke. This is fucking repulsive. God damn every doctor who argued in favor of this to hell, and god damn the liberal feminists who excuse it and pretend it’s empowerfulating along with them. People like that make this planet a hell, and condemn us ALL to living in it.
I don’t see anyone excusing this. What I see is a bunch of outraged people who don’t want to work on the one solution that could make the most difference and that is working within the narrow culture that does this to girls to find a substitute ritual and then pushing that ritual hard. What do you want to do put everyone who has any part in this in jail and pronounce them 100% evil or do you want to end the procedure.
Actually I think you should check out the politics of the people who push genital mutilation, abortion and lesbian marriage as the main agenda for women’s orgs. Because I think you will find that their never ending list of outrages against small groups of women is designed to keep women from conquering the real issues that affect all of us. Three things that affect all women are equal opportunity and pay in the work place, images of women in media/lack of genuine female voice in media, parity in government representation. When these issues that affect all women are dealt with, women and girls will have enough power in society to stop individual outrages that are the symptoms of not having power in society. I plan to spend my limited energy working to change the underlying disease of inequality for women and not be focused on symptoms of that inequality.
called AAP today. they deny that they condone the nicking. heard that they got a lot of phone calls. they have not objected to the NYtimes report yet. just a denial on their own website.
i wrote to my congressman. assume that will be none of his priorities.
Bes I think it does not matter how small or large the number of affected girls in this country is. it means that respect for the female body is relative to all kind of other “big” issues. the word circumcision is falsely applied here. this nick is no equivalent to the male circumcision, which does not have effect on sexuality but is a hygienic matter.
If AAP condemns nicking, you think it would object to the NYTimes article. I am certain they are aware of the article.
Actually I would not toss the genital mutilation, abortion and lesbian marriage causes out of women’s orgs. I would have front page style web design that tabs these issues so that people can find them easily if they look for them and they can also find news and actions regarding the larger picture issues. Otherwise women’s groups will become the same fringe issue groups who can’t see the forest for the trees that they have been for the last 20 years.
The ONLY issue for women is GET IN POWER. Period. All women, any women, everywhere. When we are 100% of the United States government, then we work on taking over the rest of the world.
THEN, we can enact change and decide for ourselves on all that laundry list. Period. That’s IT. Put women in power, and HAVE WOMEN DECIDE. Until then, we’re like a bunch of people who bought a lottery ticket and already started spending the million dollars.
But we keep stabbing each other in the damn back to convince men that we’re good sports and great bed-buddies and have a “good sense of humor” and won’t look unattractive to potential husband material — and because that chick we just stabbed might be competition. It’s nauseating. I’m sick of seeing it happen, I’m sick of watching it all progress like clockwork, and I’m sick of listening to women whine and piss over the prospect of voting for women exclusively regardless of ideology, when it is the easiest, most guaranteed way to ensure everything we’ve ever dreamed within one generation, completely nonviolently and legally. Heavens, can’t have THAT! You mean I can get total equality for women but I have to vote for some bitch with stupid hair who reminds me of my mother? Like, SO not worth it!
It’s obvious what we need to do to fix this problem, and that doing it will take less than 20 years, be completely nonviolent, totally free, and absolutely legal. If it doesn’t get done, then it’s because women don’t find equality worth the horrors of supporting That Other Bitch and maybe making boys not like them.
And I AM seeing and hearing cutesy-pop liberal pole-dance feminists excusing this. They are so cowed and terrified of being accused of *R*A*C*I*S*M* or not being “culturally sensitive” that they will turn aside and say nothing to this sort of garbage. Funny, they wouldn’t dream of pulling that “it’s part of their culture” garbage to excuse apartheid, or rationalize that yellow stars weren’t all that bad compared to what could be done to Jews. (And we all know that those yellow stars were the precursor to far worse, not a stopgap solution that made things better over time.)
Bes has hit on what has been my big disappointment with The New Agenda: ironically, the lack of a substantive and focused agenda to correct the root causes of women’s low status in society. A plan to create local chapters was alluded to early on, but then went nowhere. Many of the issues written about seem random and even trivial – not advancing a coherent theme. If these issues were being accounted for in some way to clarify the escalating pattern of attacks on women’s rights so as to raise awareness, TNA would at least be providing much needed perspective. But topics come and go, apparently driven more by their “outrage quotient” than their connection to a specific action plan.
I realize TNA needs to generate interest in order to raise funds, and that some amount of rabble rousing can be effective in doing this. I realize also the importance of TNA proving that it can mobilize members in protest, thereby creating a record of accomplishments as testament to its organizational strength. But without the underlying agenda that The New Agenda promised, we are all sound and fury, signifying nothing.
*****A
Well, Janis, the women you describe who are stabbing each other in the back (and I do see what you are referring to)are not politically minded women. They are women who are seeking their little niche in the Patriarchy. Most women in media are this way. As soon as someone besides The Patriarchy holds power these same women will be right there sucking up to the new power structure. These are the type of people who would be absolutely devout Jewish if they lived in Jerusalem, devout Catholic if they lived in Rome or Atheist Stalin worshipers if they lived in Moscow. You don’t have to convert this sort of person they are sheepole and will follow as soon as they are lead. And since we are dealing with Patriarchy meaning MEN women will need to get over squeamishness about violence. Violence is an effective form of communication which men can process yet it is clear they often have trouble processing language. That has been our mistake, we women talk and talk and talk at men thinking they will eventually “get” it. Well the ones who haven’t gotten it are not going to get it, they can’t process language.
Meanwhile I think the best way to deal with genital mutilation is to give the victims the power to talk about it (being women they will be able to process language). Give them a place to post their stories, Give them a place to talk together. Help them come up with a different ritual and support their own daughters. Talk to the Jerkoffs who are imposing this ritual on them and find out what they need from the ritual (and I doubt they will say “power over girls and women” so the substitute ritual can fill the needs. And give women and girls more power and value in general. We can do that by focusing our limited energy on causes that affect all women because then we empower the most women and bring about the greatest change.
Adrienne – if you wish to hear our vision – as well as some of our major accomplishments in our first 1.5 years, please listen to my keynote speech on home page.
Amy, I did watch the speech several days ago, and parts of it raised my hopes that TNA is on the right track. Supporting women and finding common ground sounds great — but that’s a policy, not a plan. Telling friends about TNA is a reasonable way to increase our numbers, but what can we tell them? Are the list of accomplishments you cite the limit of agreement we can find among women?
Protested Chris Matthews’ Senate run
Condemned Obama’s speech-writer’s groping Hillary
Spoke out for Brooksley Born, Sarah Palin, Sonia Sotomayor, Blanche Lincoln
Decried gender-based violence and teen dating violence
Pushed for NY Senator Monserrate’s expulsion
Two years in, I feel like we should see a more fundamental and substantive vision, mission, and goals. My next post will be an example of what I’m looking to see from TNA.
*****A
We are half of humanity. You’re right about avoiding anger, but at the same time, we need to avoid timidity. We need to think big and make our demands clear and unequivocal. Some months ago I put together this simple framework I think could encompass and market the points on which women across the political spectrum can agree (at least until we get them):
Respect Women – Protect Women – Elect Women
Respect Women
• Women deserve respect for our dignity and common humanity in all media. Just as one would never see the N-word or blatant racial stereotypes used publically without consequence, so must woman-demeaning words and images be purged from socially acceptable discourse.
• Freedom from discrimination protected under the Constitution
• Equal pay for equal work
• Fair pay for “women’s work”
• Equal access to health care
• Governmental action to reverse gender stereotypes that have historically oppressed women, including:
(1) Education for children and the general public on women’s positive contributions to humanity and our rightfully equal role in society, and
(2) Training in how to recognize and reject speech, images, and behaviors that subjugate women.
Protect Women
• Women deserve to live, work and travel without fear of violence or intimidation. Government must ensure adequate legal penalties, vigorous enforcement, and investment in research and remedy of root causes to:
(1) End rape and incest
(2) End violence against women
• Women deserve the right to protect ourselves and our loved ones from violence and intimidation without fear of unjust legal reprisal.
Elect Women
• Women deserve the right to fully realize our citizenship through equal representation in government.
(1) Women are more than half the population, receive more than half the college degrees, and perform as successfully as men in leadership positions. To be represented proportionally, half of all elected and appointed government posts, including the highest leadership roles, should be women. Less than half is indefensible.
(2) We demand that our government take affirmative action to close the gender gap in every public and private sphere over which it can exert influence.
*****A
The New Agenda is a movement – a way of changing our society. The speech was highlights but we change the country all the time. Concrete things like in the speech and not (more recently getting the DCCC to back off from endorsing Hanabusa’s Dem foe, etc., etc.), apologies for sexism (and making folks change their willingness to continue bad behavior and so on…but more importantly we have started a national dialogue on promoting women in leadership – of both parties – and we are winning over allies day after day. I can’t tell you the number of women leaders and candidates that have written to thank us and for having their back.
TNA’s goals:
What about:
-creating common ground among women
-erradicating sexism in society
-erradicating violence against women (based solidly on the previous two)
-achieving political power for women of any party through the first two?
these seem pretty specific, focused, ambitious, challenging, and achievable goals.
Bes – how can you think its our responsibility to reform their effed-up torture ritual? Since when have those cultures welcomed our input on their religious or cultural practices? G-d, if we had that much influence on their culture we could change a whole BUNCH of pernicious shit – but we don’t. What we CAN do is say NOT IN THIS COUNTRY!
Janis is right – this is a dangerous and slippery slope. I never thought in my life I would see an American institution advocating for the genital mutilation of girls. Makes me wonder what’s coming next. Our society is getting sicker all the time – we need to stop this infection before it spreads.
Bes,
If you think nicking girl’s genitals in the USA, versus speaking out and throwing every single person connected with this practice (parents, doctors, etc., etc) in jail for battery and child abuse is your agenda than you are part of the problem.
This approach of pandering to the worst and allegedly doing just bit of harm to keep child and women selling misogynistic cultures happy in the USA is horrifying. Can you imagine–and just try to imagine–this scenario. We just want to sell a few black people as slaves to keep the racists happy or we just want to segregate a few fountains. But for women we can make exceptions for who gets to be treated like a human.
The entire “nick” premise fails to address the the underlying reason women have their genitalia cut out and sewn up and it has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with controlling women. A ‘pinprick’ solution is not a solution because a pinprick does not control women but yet it is very very offensive and speaks to the continuing treatment of women as chattel to be owned, cut up, killed, sold, etc., etc., etc.
The AMA should speak to the condition of women worldwide using words that accurately describe the problem and the solution should involve an end to anything that subjugates and destroys women’s bodies and souls. Anything less is simply unacceptable.
In the brilliant movie “A Time to Kill” a white attorney argues on behalf of the black man who killed the men who raped and brutally attempted to murder his young daughter. He argues that if there was a time to kill it was this time and then he asks the jury to imagine if the little girl was white. I am sobbing now because I am asking you to imagine that the crime(s) that I speak of were done to men instead of women.
EVERY SINGLE ACT of Terror against women and children should be an agenda item for TNA, and if it is not because it is not politically correct to speak the truth than the TNA is just another organization that isn’t going to do a darn thing for women.
Has Hillary Clinton said anything about this? No? I didn’t think so.