A new 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' for a new social cause
Fiction and preaching once helped liberate slaves. A hot mystery series from a deceased Swedish writer and some well-known journalists may be about to break some chains of trafficking and oppression for women.
Two of the forces that were vital to the 19th century American anti-slavery and abolitionist movement were fiction and the pulpit. I see some parallels to that time and to those forces today in a new social movement, a movement to end oppression of women and make headway against global poverty.
For the American anti-slavery cause, the fictional work that changed minds and hearts was Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriett Beecher Stowe. Meanwhile, her brother, Henry Ward Beecher, was preaching the gospel of abolition from his pulpit at Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims in New York City and with preaching tours throughout the country.
Times change and these may be only rough parallels, but I wonder if the Swedish writer, Stieg Larsson, and his series of phenomenally successful novels (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and the newest, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest) might not be the Uncle Tom’s Cabin of the new emerging movement?
The hero or anti-hero of Larsson's series is a skinny, 4'-11" tattooed young woman, Lisabeth Salandar, whose character has been forged in the fires of domestic violence and abuse. She also happens to be bi-sexual, adept in martial arts, and a world class computer hacker. The villains in Larsson's novels are "men who hate women,” of whom there seem to be plenty. They murder, rape, torture and dismember women. They run sexual trafficking rings. They hate and they fear women.
The rough parallel to the pulpit in this analogy is the pulpit which New York Times columnist, Nicholas Kristof, mounts several times weekly on the op-ed page of the newspaper. From that influential perch, Kristof brings us the world beyond our borders, and in particular, the world of global poverty and those who who doing something, often in small targeted ways, about it.
In 2009 Kristof, with his wife, Sheryl WuDunn, published their Pulitizer-Prize winning Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. In that best-selling book, they expose and argue the case against three terrible social ills. These are "sex trafficking and forced prostitution; gender-based violence, including honor killings and mass rape; and maternal mortality, which needlessly claims one woman a minute."
WuDunn and Kristof do more, however, than document and deplore these social ills. They argue that in ending or reducing them and increasing the opportunities of women and girls for education and full social participation lie the real key to reducing global poverty.
Taking their title from the Chinese proverb, "Women hold up half the sky," Kristof and WuDunn argue, with case study after case study, that oppression of women is not only wrong in itself, but deprives the most needy societies in the world of a huge, really the decisive, resource for social change and societal health.
Of course, many others have been working in these areas of concern, and related ones, for decades, leading movements against sexual and domestic violence. But that's the way it is with movements. They reach a "tipping point," when things begin to move and change. Are we nearing such a tipping point?
For some in the western world the idea of a new "women's movement," may elicit a been-there, done-that response. While this new movement owes something to the women's movement that began in the U.S. in the 1950s, it is different. It is global in focus and awareness. It understands that violence against women is a very deep and very widespread social pathology that is all-too-often regarded as normal or acceptable. It sees the link between these pathologies and rapid social change. And it sees that societies that systematically oppress women are, or soon will be, failed societies.
Nor should the global and developing world focus of Kristof's pulpit be taken to mean that similar ills do not also confront the western world. Larsson's novels are set, after all, in Sweden, even though it is a Sweden impinged upon by the more marginal societies of the Baltic and former Soviet states.
Another recent writer who shines a light on one element of this problem in the United States is Chris Hedges in his book The Empire of Illusion. Hedges, the author of the 2004 best-seller War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning, and then a study of the religious right, titled American Fascists devotes a full chapter of his new book to the American pornography business, seeing it as one expression of a broader social crisis. While some would debate whether porn involves oppression and abuse of women, that’s not an open question for Hedges, as his case studies and interviews indicate.
Annually the porn business in the U.S. yields an estimated $10 billion or higher. Moreover, it's not something involving marginal business interests. AT&T Broadband and Comcast Cable are the biggest on-line players. "AT&T and GM (General Motors, owner of Direct TV) rake in approximately 80 percent of all porn dollars spent by consumers,” reports Hedges.
Are we at the next stage, the global stage, of the women's movement? Or are we at the early stages of a new social movement altogether?
Kristof and WuDunn are clear that they are in the movement business, writing in the introduction to Half the Sky, "We hope to recruit you to join an incipient movement to emancipate women and fight global poverty by unlocking women's power as economic catalysts." Moreover, they write, "This is not a drama of victimization but of empowerment, the kind that transforms bubbly teenage girls from brothel slaves into successful businesswomen."
Both literature and the bully pulpit have driven social movements in the past. Maybe it’s happening again?
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Comments:
Posted Fri, Apr 30, 1:49 p.m. Inappropriate
Hmmm, let's see what the bible says about the treatment of women....
Posted Fri, Apr 30, 11:21 p.m. Inappropriate
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (aka the Gospels), are remarkably fair about women, considering the culture of the times and places in which these chapters were written. Then Paul weighed in ...
Asking "what the Bible says about ____" suggests that the asker holds a literal belief in the Bible and is unaware that its contents are compilations of writings by human beings with varied temperaments and views.
Posted Sat, May 1, 1:56 a.m. Inappropriate
A "pastor" supporting the work of a hardcore Communist atheist...
Some Christian you are, Tony.
"It understands that violence against women is a very deep and very widespread social pathology that is all-too-often regarded as normal or acceptable."
Objectively speaking, violence against men is a bigger problem, and more likely to be viewed as "normal" and "acceptable."
"This is not a drama of victimization but of empowerment, the kind that transforms bubbly teenage girls from brothel slaves into successful businesswomen."
Sheesh. I knew Kristof was a lousy, self-righteous journalist, but I didn't think even he was that full of it.
Posted Sat, May 1, 3:21 a.m. Inappropriate
I wouldn't expect much more in the way of commentary on this one -- we'll probably be the only two to read this piece all day.
Posted Sun, May 2, 8:01 a.m. Inappropriate
Nicholas Kristof has done a lot of good work on this issue. I can scarcely think of a worldwide problem that would not be ameliated by promoting women's rights and women's education.
Washington State Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles has been a leader on human trafficking. A bill in the last session (or maybe two sessions ago; it's hard to keep track) targetted the mail-order bride industry in particular (often called the bride trafficking industry due to the pattern of abuse). When I heard her speak a few months ago, I was astonished to learn that we have a human trafficking problem in Washington state; I always thought of it as a problem that was far away: Central America, Indonesia, the former Soviet Republics, etc.
Posted Sun, May 2, 2:43 p.m. Inappropriate
"I can scarcely think of a worldwide problem that would not be ameliated by promoting women's rights and women's education."
How about the dearth of boys and young men enrolled in universities in Anglo countries? I'd say that's a problem that couldn't be helped *at all* by promoting women's rights (i.e. privileges) and education.
"Washington State Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles has been a leader on human trafficking. A bill in the last session (or maybe two sessions ago; it's hard to keep track) targetted the mail-order bride industry in particular (often called the bride trafficking industry due to the pattern of abuse). When I heard her speak a few months ago, I was astonished to learn that we have a human trafficking problem in Washington state; I always thought of it as a problem that was far away: Central America, Indonesia, the former Soviet Republics, etc."
Mail order brides have nothing to do with human trafficking. To suggest that when women voluntarily come to the United States to get married is human trafficking is to say that foreign women lack any decision making capacity. Additionally, it is a slap in the face to people who are truly enslaved, a group that includes boys as well as girls.
In fact, the opposition from American women to mail order brides is all about loading the dice for American women in the marriage game -- it is essentially marital protectionism. It is laughable to see it portrayed as a matter of slavery, especially to those of us who have spent significant time abroad and have seen how mercenary foreign women can be when it comes to American men.
As for Kristof, he is just a gussied up version of Steve Wilkos, Phil Donahue and the like.
Posted Sun, May 2, 10:09 p.m. Inappropriate
The mail-order bride industry is not as benign as wfprice suggests. The women transported are often not well-informed and generally have no say in or even knowledge of the men they will end up with until after they are transported. These companies' marketing materials often make references to "traditional values" such as domesticity and loyalty; one need not strain one's imagination too far to see that these arrangements have higher rates of domestic abuse than most marriages.
Throughout the world, women suffer from nearly twice the illiteracy rate as men, own far less property, and do a larger share of the household work. In the United States, we generally consider basic education to be a right, not a privelege, and for hard-working individuals to have ownership in their homes and lands to be a right, not a privelege. We generally think of the ability to choose one's spouse, and not to be sold off in marriage at the age of 13 (still a common practice in many countries) as a right, not a privelege.
Posted Mon, May 3, 3:17 a.m. Inappropriate
The mail-order bride industry is not as benign as wfprice suggests. The women transported are often not well-informed and generally have no say in or even knowledge of the men they will end up with until after they are transported.
Are you using the word "transported" to suggest they are shipped like canned goods? This is a dishonest phrase, as the women in question must obtain a visa and an airline ticket, then "transport" themselves, under their own power, through the terminal, walk onto the airplane, go through customs, etc. Each of these steps requires a an individual choice, and none are made with the benefit of baggage handlers, freight forwarders, or even a porter.
I'm not sure whether you know what it requires to obtain a visa to the US, but I can guarantee you that illiteracy or misunderstanding of the rules cannot do anything but hinder such an endeavor. In fact, these women know exactly what they are doing, and given your wildly inaccurate statements, are probably far better informed about international marriages than you.
These companies' marketing materials often make references to "traditional values" such as domesticity and loyalty; one need not strain one's imagination too far to see that these arrangements have higher rates of domestic abuse than most marriages.
But that's just the thing: it's only in your "imagination" that this higher rate of domestic abuse exists. The highest rates of domestic abuse are found in lesbian partnerships -- not marriages characterized by "traditional values."
Throughout the world, women suffer from nearly twice the illiteracy rate as men, own far less property
This is patently false. Women in America are as literate and well educated as men (better educated among younger cohort), and have more property in their possession than men. This is the case in a number of Western countries, which are certainly part of this world.
We generally think of the ability to choose one's spouse, and not to be sold off in marriage at the age of 13 (still a common practice in many countries) as a right, not a privelege.
In arranged marriages, common in South Asia, it is often the daughter's parents who pay a dowry, and the boy, who is also being set up, has no more choice than the girl. Traditionally, it is women who broker these deals. Where bride price is paid (e.g. China, Thailand), the prospective bride usually has veto power. In Islam, the wife receives a direct payment from the husband, and both bride price and dowry are contrary to Islamic family law. In our own culture, the female receives direct payment from the husband by luring him into marriage, and then hiring an attorney after a few years if he isn't forthcoming with the desired amount of money. It is the American female's desire to have this payment transfer from the American man all to herself, and to shut off competition from foreign women for male resources.
Frankly, that you cloak this base competitive instinct to hoard all American men and their property to yourselves in some fraudulent form of "altruism" simply explains why so many American men feel it necessary to seek wives from foreign cultures. It is, in fact, a thinly veiled expression of entitlement and Western privilege, and could be called Western feminist Imperialism.
Posted Mon, May 3, 9:39 a.m. Inappropriate
Check the CIA World Fact Book or another reliable source of information; you will find that worldwide, the literacy rate among men is 87%, and among women it is 77%. Also, for the record, I am male.
Posted Mon, May 3, 1:16 p.m. Inappropriate
"In our own culture, the female receives direct payment from the husband by luring him into marriage, and then hiring an attorney after a few years if he isn't forthcoming with the desired amount of money."
What a load of meanspirited, hateful sexist garbage!
Posted Wed, May 12, 8:02 a.m. Inappropriate
wfprice is so hateful and prejudiced against women, it is no wonder he supports buying women, i.e., mail order brides. He likley can't get a woman any other way.
Posted Wed, May 12, 8:07 a.m. Inappropriate
Will add that the third book in the Swedish series, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, will be out on May 25.
The information on importation of women (and forced prostitution) is woven into the story in the trilogy.
Posted Wed, May 12, 8:08 a.m. Inappropriate
See my typo: meant to say "likely can't get a woman any other way."
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