Indeed - American women are lambasted with the platitude - "See how much worse it could be for you? You should be grateful!" Well, what is gratitude? It is something you owe to someone who has given you something out of the goodness of their heart. To say American women should be grateful for the rights they have implies men just decided out of the goodness of their hearts to one day give women the right to vote, have abortions, use contraception, receive children and property after a divorce, and domestic violence shelters for women whose husbands are beating them. The reality is that American women fought tooth and nail for over 200 years to get every right we have and are still fighting for the things we don't have. We don't owe anyone a debt of gratitude except our feminist foremothers (and the small minority of men who helped them with their fight).
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timeasmymeasure
Re: I feel nauseous now.
Date: 2006-09-06 06:48 pm (UTC)