I don't want to write this post, because I am the type of person who finds verbalizing my anger to be exhausting, but I feel somewhat obligated, since I am supposed to be blogging "regularly", whatever that means.
First of all, some news: The Israeli Supreme Court ruled it illegal for the Toldos Aharon synagogue to gender-segregated parts of the Hassidic "Meah Shearim" neighborhood in Jerusalem. Unfortunately, the synagogue proceeded to do so despite the court's ruling, and police refused to actively intervene. As a matter of fact, when a man tried walking through the neighborhood with his female friend and they ignored the barricade meant to separate the genders, they got hit, at which point they called the police, which still refused to take down the barricade.
For more on this issue, please check out the following website: ישראל חופשית
You can click for English. This organization fights for religious freedom and gender equality within Israel.
Next: 3 women were arrested in Zimbabwe for raping men, perhaps to use their sperm in a religious ritual, in which sperm is viewed as the life force. Viewing sperm as the life force is nothing new (see ancient Indian sources, as well as the Rambam) but recognizing female-on-male rape is. On the other hand, I am so skeptical of anything to do with the Zimbabwe justice system (if you're wondering why, just google Robert Mugabe) and this seems so "stereotypical witch-like-women sexually preying on men for weird cultish purposes" that I am slightly skeptical - then again, that stereotype is a Western stereotype, so I shouldn't assume it exists in Zimbabwean (Shona, mostly)* culture.
There is a cool series airing on PBS called "Women, War and Peace", which I highly recommend.
There is also a rather bland article by William Saletan on slate.com about oral sex - it basically confirms that oral sex is considered part of casual hookups by much of today's youth, whereas once it was reserved for more intimate relationships.
I am not into uploading condom pictures (you can google "Obamacondoms" should you so desire) but I did find the picture above to be funny ( a friend posted it on Facebook). Also, porn hackers uploaded X-rated material onto the Sesame Street Website, for those who care.
Now a note on gender: I was recently with a male cousin four years older by myself, yet his parents kept on telling me I needed to get married and have kids - not a word to him! As a matter of fact, they even joked I should take care of their grandchildren (ie 4-years-older cousin's nephews and niece) as practice! I don't care, in the sense that I don't actually feel pressured because of what they said, but at the same time - it is so unfair, and just goes to show how society pressures women into marriage and kids and judges their worth by their ability to attract a mate, in a way that it does not do for men. I was tempted to point out to my relatives that I've worked as a babysitter, but in the end, I decided it wasn't even worth it. I have no immediate plans for kids - I am not even sure where and when marriage fits into my agenda - I believe that whenever you fall in love with the right person, that's the right time - and currently, I am not in love with anyone.
Anyhow, just needed to point out the injustices of the patriarchy. Chag sameach.
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