Addictive Poison or Freedom of Expression?

Two days ago, I watched a programme on the BBC called Hardcore Profits. It discussed the porn industry and how company investments, such as pension funds as one example, were directly placing money into organisations that had links with pornography. Vodaphone, BT, Google and the Christian Brotherhood- a Catholic organisation and investment fund were a few named in the programme. The ethics of their involvement and investments were discussed.

This blog is not concentrating on this isssue specifically, though it will be touched on, but instead I wanted to share my feelings centering around the women who work in this industry. This blog has not been researched from an academic view point, as conducting a search on porn was not something I felt I wanted to do, because of obvious safety and decency reasons.

A friend told me once that porn was addictive poison and it polluted the Internet. Yet, 70 million searches for porn are done everyday in the UK on Google alone. People who are accessing this material are clearly wanting to see this type of poison, if that is what it is? And they do this for all sorts of reasons. I stand in no judgement here.

Few of us can claim that we have not seen an adult content film. Sex is dished out in spade fulls on main stream TV. I for one have enjoyed seeing TV programmes  like Rome, and I have stumbled across what would be viewed as soft porn, when scanning the hotel TV channel on a trip to Holland. But what is the dividing line between what is viewed as a nice bit of hot sex on TV and what is seen as pornography?

For me, my definition of porn is where the film has been made just for the sex it shows and is explicit content. The problem for me surrounding the ethics of porn is where a cut off is made between a sexual act which is considered normal human behaviour and where abuse, unusual acts and sexual violence begins. This conondrum then left me with several questions and a complex process of thinking began.

During my reading around woman’s human rights, I have encountered many stories of women selling their bodies in prostitution, and being forced into sexual slavery and the porn industry, in order to feed their families and help educate their children. It is not done through choice and it is often the only means they have to afford even the basics to survive. My heart goes out to them in their plight, knowing the dangers they face, the risk of HIV and the dangers of assault and even death.

So you can imagine my reaction when, in this programme, I saw a woman, young, not poor and educated deciding to become a porn star because it was easy money and a way to earn enough for the luxuries and a nice holiday. I frankly wanted to slap her. Indeed I was angry. Here, I was trying to do something in the world to act as a catalyst for change and to protect such woman. Yet, before me on TV, was my own kind, throwing this effort back  hard in my face. And for what, the nice extras and a holiday. Fueling an industry becoming ever more sick and evil?

I don’t know the figures nor hard core facts- excuse the pun,  but it is argued that  pornography is forging ahead in more and more extreme acts of sex, which is degrading and de-humanising. This being directly influential  in today’s world of rape, sexual assault and violent crime to both woman and men. I have indirect contact with people who work in this field of violence and who are here to pick up the pieces that such crimes create. I admire their work immensely.

So my arguments/questions are  these:  For women who decide to fuel this industry by actively taking part, are they indirectly harming their own female gender? And does their right to do with their bodies as they please, for profit, overide any fundamental  human right for the protection of women against sexual violence ? Do we have a wider responsibility to society to deter such actions? And do these women who choose really know what they are signing up for?  Should we just turn a blind eye, or actively do all we can to prevent this activity, by legislation, education and any other means? Does that censorship of action in turn take away  liberty; which human rights activists argue is fundamental to humanity and freedom of expression? The right to choose!

In another programme watched, a woman frankly told how porn work had left her in her thirties with urinary incontinence. Certainly for her, where she worked, six weekly check ups were necessary and a certificate to prove infection free status was vital for her to star in another film.

 In Hardcore Profits, women admitted that the use of condoms were discouraged. I have also seen documentaries where the pressure of a woman to look like a porn star for their partners encouraged them to have painful labia reductions and other types of cosmetic surgery. Young men readily admitted that the woman they viewed in porn were what they considered normal in real life. Their sense of what a normal female looked like was completely distorted from reality.

In this programme, the lady concerned had little or no knowledge of porn and had only seen and participated in one film. In my naivity, I was shocked at what is seen as entertainment. In fact, I had to ask my husband what the act of a double anal was because I had no idea. The sex acts discussed were frankly, in my view, disgusting and were such a million miles away from any basic human rights and dignity I believed in. I was appalled. 

I know porn is here to stay. Yes, my sweeping statement would be to shut the lot down and to do that people would have to stop investing in companies that has links with it and individuals would have to stop watching it. The film makers would then have no audience and no income. But I know this thinking is all pie-in-the-sky stuff. The product is there and people want it.

The tentacles of pornography is everywhere and even I don’t want to stop using my igoogle or my gmail. I have used services from phone companies. It is impossible to avoid. So I am left with many unanswered, unsolved and awkward questions.

 The purpose of this blog is to raise awareness, encourage debate and look at the wider issue of women who participate in this industry by choice, against the moral and ethics of those choices, when comparing woman forced into this industry, who have no voice or say in their decision making. Also, for the general public, how our choices in what we invest in and what services we access can indirectly feed such a industry and what we should do about it, or not?

Is porn a poison or a legitimate right to express our desires and needs? Given all that I have said I believe it is the former.  But you may argue otherwise. How can we deter it’s growth or stop it if we can and should we?

Discussion and comments please. Thanks for reading.

My Definition of Poverty

I have been truly shocked in my recent new readings about poverty. The words from the pages of my book, testimonies from real people with real hunger, have left me unable and inadequate to describe on here how I truly feel. Thinking about this subject, I soon found myself scribbling in my notebook my own definition of poverty and one which I would like to share with you. My definition will still lack in words and knowledge much about what poverty actually means. But here goes:

 

It is a state of mind and body where the priority is simply survival for that day. A gratitude of the miracle and blessing of having a meal to eat, however small. Energy is focused in just living and reaching out to this next day. All energy- the little there is, is spent up absorbed in the toil and grind of living, to see a day’s end and being alive the next.

A concentration of being able to be the provider and to the share the provision to the family around. For the woman, it is seeing her husband return alive for that day, his appearance meaning that her children will eat tonight. The incredible imagination and desperation of cooking with often nothing of any substance. An existence to provide food and the longing for it, which overshadows all other meaning and purpose.

This definition, in my own thinking at least, appears to be the reality of living in poverty, as my understanding of it grows but in my naivety is still being developed.

• Half the world live on less than two dollars a day.
• There is enough food in the world to provide 3,500 calories to each individual person. More than enough to go round for all. 

So what is going wrong?

People need security and safety more than anything else which includes economic growth. I foolishly believed that a key area of change was access to better family planning and contraception, crucially being one way foreword to ease poverty by population reduction. This in essence is true,  BUT, security for these people are the large families produced, that helps earn a coin and who work to bring in the harvests and food. The rock and only support in advancing years when there is nothing else to depend on.

One way in which the rich nations respond, is to give aid, cheques and handouts. How can we eliminate poverty when such actions give some immediate relief, yet fail to give nourishment and life to those in want in the long term? The solution appears to be more complex than I had ever imagined.

What do you think would help? Anyone out there who cares enough to comment?

Discuss!

Reference:

Seabrook, J. ( 2007) The no-Nonsence Guide to World Poverty. 2nd edition. Oxford: New Internationalist.

The Abusing Silence

 

This post is from my friend athinkingman. He has kindly given me permission to re-post it on my site here as I feel it needs the maximum exposure for what is a scandalous event. The people concerned have not been brought to justice and is one example of how human rights are violated in a momentous way. The blog brilliantly written captures the suffering well and with excellence. One voice will say no more. The blog speaks for itself.

 

The following is from the author athinkingman, linked above, and is his latest blog post. Thanks for letting me show this on here.

 

To deliberately malnourish and beat children so that, in some cases, their bones are broken, is bad.  To systematically sexually abuse them over a number of years is evil.  And for some remote, generalized individuals years later to say “Sorry” is not good enough.

The physical scars of endemic emotional, physical, and sexual abuse of thousands of children may have healed (though in many cases the victims of that abuse will carry physical markers with them for life), but clearly the psychological damage will remain unhealed for many of them.  The recent report into Child Abuse within Catholic Institutions in Ireland (Executive Summary of the five volume report HERE), although exposing the staggering scale of the problem, will not help many to heal.  In fact, the failure to name the perpetrators and bring them to justice, will do nothing but twist a brutal knife into a very painful wound.

A child growing up in Ireland several years ago knew two things: 1) adults were always right; 2) adults who were priests and nuns were especially always right. So, when a priest or a nun abuses you part of you thinks that he or she must be right and that you must be wrong.  And you must be very wrong and dirty if they are doing these things to you.  Years later, when you began to question that and found the monumental courage to speak about the obscene acts that took place, hardly anybody listened to you, hardly anybody believed you. Pressure was put on you at parish level.  You were told not to raise the past for the good of the church.

In order for the healing process to continue and not be sent into almost terminal decline, many of the abuse survivors need something more.  From working with several abuse survivors, I suspect many of them might want:

• an acknowledgement from the abuser that what the survivors said happened did actually happen and was very wrong;
• a sense that the abuser has started to try to grasp the depth of the psychological trauma that his or her actions caused;
• an apology.

For many, justice will also need to be seen to be done.  Actions speak louder than words, and the failure to bring the perpetrators to justice says loudly and clearly: “What happened to you is less important than the reputation of the people and institution that did these deeds.  What happened was not significant enough for people to be punished.  You are still not important enough to take seriously.  You can still be abused with impunity.”

No real names, whether of victims or perpetrators, appear in the Irish Report, and the findings will not be used for criminal prosecutions – in part because the Christian Brothers successfully sued the commission in 2004 to keep the identities of all of its members, dead or alive, unnamed in the report.

The document concluded that church officials encouraged ritual beatings and consistently shielded their orders’ paedophiles from arrest amid a “culture of self-serving secrecy”.  It also found that government inspectors failed to stop the chronic beatings, rapes, and humiliation.

It is difficult not to conclude that the evil culture of “self-serving secrecy” and deference to the church is continuing.  Whose interests are being served by the secrecy?  Certainly not those of the survivors.

I will let some of the conclusions from the report speak for themselves:

Cases of sexual abuse were managed with a view to minimising the risk of public disclosure and consequent damage to the institution and the Congregation. This policy resulted in the protection of the perpetrator. When lay people were discovered to have sexually abused, they were generally reported to the Gardai. When a member of a Congregation was found to be abusing, it was dealt with internally and was not reported to the Gardaı´.

The damage to the children affected and the danger to others were disregarded. The difference in treatment of lay and religious abusers points to an awareness on the part of Congregational authorities of the seriousness of the offence, yet there was a reluctance to confront religious who offended in this way. The desire to protect the reputation of the Congregation and institution was paramount. Congregations asserted that knowledge of sexual abuse was not available in society at the time and that it was seen as a moral failing on the part of the Brother or priest. This assertion, however, ignores the fact that sexual abuse of children was a criminal offence.

The recidivist nature of sexual abuse was known to religious authorities. The documents revealed that sexual abusers were often long-term offenders who repeatedly abused children wherever they were working. Contrary to the Congregations’ claims that the recidivist nature of sexual offending was not understood, it is clear from the documented cases that they were aware of the propensity for abusers to re-abuse. The risk, however, was seen by the Congregations in terms of the potential for scandal and bad publicity should the abuse be disclosed. The danger to children was not taken into account.

When confronted with evidence of sexual abuse, the response of the religious authorities was to transfer the offender to another location where, in many instances, he was free to abuse again. Permitting an offender to obtain dispensation from vows often enabled him to continue working as a lay teacher.

Men who were discovered to be sexual abusers were allowed to take dispensation rather than incur the opprobrium of dismissal from the Order. There was evidence that such men took up teaching positions sometimes within days of receiving dispensations because of serious allegations or admissions of sexual abuse. The safety of children in general was not a consideration.

Sexual abuse was known to religious authorities to be a persistent problem in male religious organisations throughout the relevant period.

Nevertheless, each instance of sexual abuse was treated in isolation and in secrecy by the authorities and there was no attempt to address the underlying systemic nature of the problem. There were no protocols or guidelines put in place that would have protected children from predatory behaviour. The management did not listen to or believe children when they complained of the activities of some of the men who had responsibility for their care. At best, the abusers were moved, but nothing was done about the harm done to the child. At worst, the child was blamed and seen as corrupted by the sexual activity, and was punished severely.

Delara: a prisoner of Colours

The injustice of the sudden death of Delara Darabi on May 1st 2009 prompted me to write this first post, after quite an absence. Having wiped my intended post last week, this was not what I was expecting to write about, but here it is and all the more pressing because of this event.

 Some of you would have read in the newspapers at the shocking execution of an young, innocent, Iranian women named as the above. The message is not only to protest my outrage at this sentence, carried out hastily and in secret, but to state in my own words how it would appear that in some countries a women’s life has an unfair disadvantage. The right for a women to exist appears to be cheaper than for her male counterparts.

Delara took the blame for her boyfriend’s crime of murder of a relative during an attempted burglary in 2003. Her parents said that as a child she would often take the blame for others actions. She was persuaded to do so, because believing she was a minor she would escape the death sentence and save her boyfriends life. Delari was just 17 at the time of the incident. This tragically proved not to be the case. The execution- by hanging went ahead anyway. The Head of the Judiciary had granted a two-month stay of execution on April 19th. Her lawyer was not informed either, despite a legal requirement that he should receive 48 hrs notice.

The courts had refused to consider new evidence that could have exonerated her. It would appear that once she had confessed her fate was sealed. Even though she retracted the confession. As I understand, from the information I have read, her boyfriend received a 10 yr jail sentence.

Whilst Delara was in prison she painted many paintings, depicting her life and agony of what had befallen her. In particular I feel for her parents, who, when the police knocked on their door, let Delara go into police custody believing in the laws of their land would give their daughter a fair trial and hearing. They are understandly devastated and crushed by what has happened. My heart goes out to them in very way imaginable.

For me, it just speaks so powerfully of some women being second class citizens in their own homeland and where their human rights are considered second best and cheap.  The male dominated courts and society in which they live gives them no proper and fair justice.Were there any women judges on this panel?

Delara’s family has to live with this tragedy for the rest of their lives and while the paintings I hope will live on as a symbol for the need of justice and fairness in society, especially when conducting a trail and hearing evidence. I fear this  could easily be repeated  again and is likely to be already doing so. What can we do? I feel so helpless in this. My hope is, at least by writing about it I have done something rather than sitting and doing nothing. 

The video shown here is an extract of the one I saw, which was linked on twitter by Amnesty International -Canada.

Please look. Also, If anybody knows of any other action being taken do let me know.

Thanks.

The Vision

No, I haven’t by any means abandoned this blog site. I know I have been absent on here for a while since its creation, but while the stats have been few, I have had very meaningful contact with lovely caring people who have seen this site with heart lifting comments on here and on e-mail.

You see this site is so important, it’s like a fine wine or a wonderfully prepared meal, it’s all in the timing, the maturity and the planning. Because this site is not a five minute wonder but here to stay, as long as my life and writing ability remains, (and of course while wordpress have a site), I will refine and develop this little page of cyberspace.

Time is always precious and these blogs needs research and planning. Not a collection of short stories or postings that comes simply from the imagination or happening of the day. The vision is simple in both the short and long term.This site must be all about promoting other websites concerned with human rights, not just with links but with advertising and promotion. A collection of facts and information, sources from as many corners of news as possible. I would like theme months, blog series and in some cases, if appropriate where one blog can feature on both of my sites under onethoughtfulwoman.

All the time I am thinking. How can I attract people to this blog? This is where I am asking anyone to give me ideas. You see I am not doing this for some ego trip -look at me and my ideas ride. I believe that as long as you are the facilitator to aid and get things done, even if those ideas are to other people’s credit, then that’s great because if a job gets done or a cause promoted then the end result is there. That is what I care about. This is what I am about.

As my computer knowledge becomes better so I might be able to make this visually more appealing. Widgets to be added. I would love to see shared reads, book titles, and international days recognising a cause. I need to know how to do all this and I need people power. I NEED YOU.

Send me any ideas or anything you want me to go off and find out about. If you want a charity promoting tell me and I will do my best to do it and find out about it. There must be so much that can be done. Commitment on my part and imagination is the key. 

Please continue to watch this page. It is very important to me.

I wanted to give you an update to let you know what my intentions are.

Keep watching and reading Please.

The Day that Counts.

December 10th 2008.

The 60th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights.

For those of you who know me, I am writing a simple personal message.

I had hoped to write a powerful piece of work concerning this subject, but perhaps just a few words may be just as meaningful. Today, please spare a few thoughts to ask yourself what human rights mean to you. Somewhere deep inside you mind, you may remember something which you read which touched you and would not go away. The plight of a nation, one person, one Charity or one cause.

My own causes are many but to be specific four things come to mind which concerns me regarding the rights and dignity of people:

1) The prevention and eradication of female circumcision ( Female Genital Mutilation).

2) The prevention and treatment of obstetric fistula.

3) The world wide issue of adequate and proper maternity care, as highlighted in the Millennium Goals.

4) Domestic violence and other forms of abuse done both to women and men.

My list could go on and on: so much need, so many concerns, so many violations of human rights.

Please, at least think about how human rights are violated and all the work that is going on by so many organisations all over the world, to offer hope and justice where there may be none, and dignity and compassion to those who have often desperate needs.

Better still, think how you might make a difference, if not now in the present time, but may be in the future.

Speaking truly as Onevoice1 freedom and also as onethoughtfulwoman my ability to serve is certainly weak at the present time but overall, my will to do something meaningful and significant is like a candle which will never be diminished.

For those of you with faith, then please go and pray today for the worlds poor and suffering.

For those of you with money then please consider making a donation large or small to an organisation you are interested in.

For those of you with power, then speak out and try to have a say, an influence in present day thinking, use you status to highlight a cause.

For those of you who feel you have few gifts, talents or presence to offer consider how you might rise to the challenge and become an agent for change.

What will I do?

Something spontaneous perhaps. I shall pray for an opportunity. Let’s see what I can find. I know what I can do tomorrow if not today, but today is here and the need is now.

Thanks for listening.

Somalia. The Nation of poets

 

I wanted to find a video which would best describe, in a few brief minutes, the history of Somalia and its many complex difficulties surrounding its human rights. To explain how and why this country has become  a violent and unstable place to live in. Before hearing of the terrible story concerning Aisha, Somalia wasn’t a country I knew anything about, and not a African country that would normally spring to mind. The news has focused in the past on other African nations, such as Ethiopian famine back in the 1980’s, or more recently the humanitarian crisis in the Congo.

News reports are quick to report large scale famine and disaster but I never saw one news report concerning the dreadful events concerning Aisha’s death. I suppose with famine, the international community can just get us to throw money and boxes of blankets, grain and food on a plane to help ease the situation and our conscience. Famine, hunger and extreme poverty does affect Somalia today. However, with something so terrible as this young woman’s death, it is not quite so easy to solve the root problem of why this murder happened: largely because of a country open to extremism and having no stable government for many years.

What is the world going to do about Somalia? Probably nothing or very little. After all what real threat is it to the west and of course it is not a oil rich state either. Aisha was just another poor young women, unknown, poor and not an icon or celebrity. Her death, and the circumstances which lead to it, will already be forgotten about by many. She was not a Princess, unlike our beloved Diana, Prince of Wales, whose death moved a mountain of grief and remembrance and tears: mine included. However, when Aisha’s death became news to me, I wept in my teacup as I read the awful tale on here, more than I have done after reading international news.

I don’t know the answers to my many questions surrounding Somalia. But at least by showing this video we might understand the background a little to a country whose heart has been torn out of its chest, its blood shed still haemorrhages like a tide unabated. How can we stop it? In truth I just don’t know.

In the Beginning

I can’t tell you exactly when my interests in human rights began. Like many of us, our concerns, passions and ideas are like shoots from the ground. A seed of an interest is sown, usually from something we have read or heard, and then over the months and sometimes years ahead, these first shoots become stronger, as they grow towards the light of knowledge and truth. We feed our ideas with more reading and research. We refine our skills of making this concern, hobby or interest an even stronger plant. And soon enough, if we have cared about something for long enough, and have looked after this thinking and exploring of an interest or skill, then a flower may bloom from its body.

For me, this flower of interest in the rights, heath and dignity of mankind has just opened into a beautiful bud. Fragile in its in-experience, desperate to become a open bloom, this blog site is one start of a bigger picture, where human rights is fundamental and urgent. I am heartened and encouraged by the fact that soon on December 10th 2008, is the 60th  anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations. No better time then to start a venture such as this.

Please come and support me here on my new blog site. I already write under the name of onethoughtfulwoman and this will continue to be a site for other general work. To start this new venture I have used the above link to show my post again, which was the turning point for me to do more in this vital field of work. And from my header introduction, it links well to the young women, of whom this blog is dedicated to.