Kamakhya Temple, Guwahati, Assam, Eastern India. The Kamakhya temple is the most sacred temple for Shakti followers and is dedicated to the mother Goddess.
Today we are celebrating the one-year anniversary of "Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Accusers for Decades,"[1] in the New York Times on October 5th, 2017, an article Amy Goodman referred to as being the catalyst behind the #MeToo movement on Democracy Now live this morning in her conversation with internationally acclaimed playwright Eve Ensler, the celebrated author of The Vagina Monologues. This morning Eve Ensler talked about her conversation with Nobel Peace Prize recipient Dr. Denis Mukwege earlier this morning. Dr. Mukwege is one of the two 2018 Nobel Peace Prize recipients, both of whom are denouncing sexual violence. Dr. Denis Mukwege is a Congolese gynecologist, "founder and medical director of Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, Democratic of Congo (DRC)," [2] who has dedicated his life to stop sexual violence as a weapon of war. This morning Dr. Denis Mukwege told Eve Ensler that the Nobel Peace Prize was an award received on the behalf of all survivors of sexual violence. Eve Ensler explained that we need reparation and to end impunity. She declared that the absence of justice allows rape culture to spread. As was mentioned in the live Broadcast of Democracy Now this morning, the other 2018 Nobel Prize recipient was Nadia Marad Basee Taha, a young Yazidi kurdish Iraqi human rights activist who has been tortured and raped by the Islamic State ISIS. This is important considering the fact that Trump was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Norwegian lawmakers because of his de-nuclearization meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The Nobel Peace Prize committee’s decision to honor Dr. Mukwege, someone who repairs the mutilated sexual organs of woman rape survivors, as well as Nadia Marad a human rights activist, a rape survivor and advocate, really speaks to the cultural mood of the moment and the political dynamics unraveling internationally.
The truth is that the way we treat survivors is unacceptable. The pain of women matters. Kimberlé W. Crenshaw, a Professor of Law at Columbia Law School and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), director of the Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies (CISPS), and co-founded the African American Policy Forum, has mapped the intersection of sexual, gender, and racial violence. Kimberlé W. Crenshaw has coined the term intersectionality to describe patriarchal and colonial power, as it intersects with identity politics, and its role in perpetuating gender violence, as the underlying dynamics allowing a deeply rooted rape culture to spread.
"1 in 4 North American women will be sexually assaulted during their lifetime." [3]
Survivors of sexual violence deserve dignity and justice. When women’s stories are not being heard, a cultural tendency well portrayed in the news today by the motion to vote on Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination for the supreme court of the United States tomorrow Saturday October 6th, 2018, we have to ask ourselves what are our North American social values? What values are we teaching our children? As a Canadian citizen, I understand that it is my duty to contribute to public health and act in ways that improve the social fabric of our society.
Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures.
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/us/harvey-weinstein-harassment-allegations.html
[2] http://www.panzifoundation.org/dr-denis-mukwege/
[3] https://www.sexassault.ca/statistics.htm
The truth is that the way we treat survivors is unacceptable. The pain of women matters. Kimberlé W. Crenshaw, a Professor of Law at Columbia Law School and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), director of the Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies (CISPS), and co-founded the African American Policy Forum, has mapped the intersection of sexual, gender, and racial violence. Kimberlé W. Crenshaw has coined the term intersectionality to describe patriarchal and colonial power, as it intersects with identity politics, and its role in perpetuating gender violence, as the underlying dynamics allowing a deeply rooted rape culture to spread.
"1 in 4 North American women will be sexually assaulted during their lifetime." [3]
Survivors of sexual violence deserve dignity and justice. When women’s stories are not being heard, a cultural tendency well portrayed in the news today by the motion to vote on Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination for the supreme court of the United States tomorrow Saturday October 6th, 2018, we have to ask ourselves what are our North American social values? What values are we teaching our children? As a Canadian citizen, I understand that it is my duty to contribute to public health and act in ways that improve the social fabric of our society.
Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures.
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/us/harvey-weinstein-harassment-allegations.html
[2] http://www.panzifoundation.org/dr-denis-mukwege/
[3] https://www.sexassault.ca/statistics.htm
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