Violence Against Women As Violence Against People

Redundant? Perhaps. Or perhaps not. USC Law Prof Ann Bartow points me to an interesting post at terrorism directed at women:

Unfortunately as women, we have no nation, we have no police force, we have no military and so we cannot launch any war on this terrorism which is waged against us every day, every night, and has been for millennia. More unfortunately, these acts are not even recognized as terrorism. But that is precisely what these acts are. They are acts of terrorism intended to subjugate the people of women and to keep us enslaved, intimidated, silenced.

This violence is pervasively underreported and underestimated. Bartow quotes prominent feminist Catherine MacKinnon in her book Are Women Human? as saying that as many women are murdered by men as were killed in the 9/11 attacks. Yet there is little outcry beyond the individual incident, or demand for systematic reform.

In the same vein, I highly recommend this article by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, on the virtual enslavement faced by many Muslim women in Europe. Ali calls on a long overdue effort by government to stamp out this brutal and oppressive practice, where even stepping outside the home is grounds for an "honor killing."