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Monday, July 30, 2007

If Ever a Reason There Was

This year, our boss decided to give annual bonuses at the end of the fiscal year instead of at Christmas. It was a bit of a pseudo-profit sharing sort of deal, but never mind that. It's really not the point. The point is that I was able to look into a few worthy non-profits that were not taking advantage of the holiday season to get in my face for donations.

That said, there were a few lucky candidates in my junk mail at just the right time. CARE, in particular, hit me with a good one. I'd actually been wondering if any of all that money going to Africa lately was actually addressing an issue that's been particularly disturbing to me since I was horrified to learn about it over a decade ago - female genital mutilation, also known as female circumcision, clitorectomy, female cuttng, FGM, FGC, etc.

It's just about the worst thing I can imagine. I would be disturbed enough to know that this exists as a method of torture (which I'm sure it does), but in reality, it is equated to male circumcision in Muslim African communities and is performed on young girls, ages 4-12. Given that I even take issue with male circumcision, I find this practice on women to be absolutely outrageous and the vilest expression of the monotheistic and/or patriarchal need to control female power. (On the other hand, I'm not sure what the excuse is for male circumcision...but if the theories are correct, women end up being the victims of that practice, as well.)

In any case, any global non-profit that focuses on empowering women and children is a-okay by me. As a side note, Bono doesn't talk about it, but George W. will not give international aid to organizations that educate women about abortion. Therefore, women also lose all kinds of opportunities for birth control and proper health care. Two words. Planned Parenthood. Despite my latest radical rant that the pill might have made me less of a woman - perhaps by controlling my hormones and therefore controlling my moods, sex drive, and other natural instincts - I suspect that birth control is still probably a good idea. The Democrats are trying to help. Thank you.

Labels: sex, women