Received today from the remarkable artist, Susan Plum. Don’t miss the links below the image:
Susan Plum’s website has unforgettable images from an exhibition for the women of Juarez:
This exhibition honors the families, particularly the mothers of the 430 young women and children who have been murdered and the 600 who have disappeared in Juarez during the past 13 years. The practice continues. http://www.mujeresdejuarez.org
The families have found little justice in these tragedies.
Reader S. has passed on to me this proposal, from a letter to the editor of the Toledo Blade. Could be really good for getting some in-class discussion going!
Control men’s bodies as well as women’s
I want to know why it’s viewed as OK for government to control women’s bodies, as proposed by some, and yet we don’t propose that government control men’s bodies. There would be no fertilized eggs without sperm.If it’s OK for the government to tell women that they must carry a fetus to term, whether or not she wants to do so or even if the pregnancy threatens the woman’s life, then why is it not OK for government to tell men that they must have a vasectomy, whether or not they want to do so?Vasectomies control pregnancy and are cheaper and easier than abortions or children. Actually, we could put a great number of issues to rest by controlling the original cause of all pregnancies. We could just nip this thing in the bud.Vasectomies are reputed to be reversible. So, a man could be given a vasectomy when appropriate, at puberty, and then reversed once he and a like-minded female are ready to have children. The government could mark a man’s driver’s license with a special V, so that when asked, a man can identify that he has had the procedure. Of course, vasectomies are not always reversible, but we can hope. Just as we hope that pregnancies work out well for the female, which they don’t always.I thought what was good for the goose was good for the gander. We could start the “V” campaign, V for vasectomies and V for victory over unwanted pregnancies. Men could be pro-V or anti-V, but that really wouldn’t matter as the government would have the control and final say. Let’s hear it for equal opportunity.
Jane Lynam
Feminist Philosophers 