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VISIBILITY? IT DEPENDS
Did you notice when you read about the murder of Ennis William Cosby?
Lots of us didn't because we are so used to it, but here is part of what Camille Cosby wrote: "When reporters wrote or spoke about our son's murder on January 16, 1997, Ennis William Cosby did not have a mother.
"I was a nonentity, a non-person. Yet when my husband made his more than famous confession to the public about a 1970's brief liaison, my name was printed everywhere. Suddenly I became well known; not as an intelligent person, but for reasons obviously undesirable."
One of our readers sent us the following information:
"On 52 weeks of Sports Illustrated (2/93-2/94), six women were awarded cover shots. The first was in a bathing suit. The second, Monica Seles, was wearing tennis whites and a knife in her back. Numbers three and four were the widows of baseball players. The tennis player, Mary Pierce was number five because she feared her father. The sixth was Nancy Kerrigan after she was clubbed on the knee (New York Times, February 20, 1994.) Last time I looked, lots of women play sports, too!"
(Thanks for sending
this on, Lisa)
Have you noticed that you are hearing more women's names mentioned and written in the media? Don't get too used to it, it only happens during March, Women's History Month.
It has been only recently that medicine recognized women. Before this, all prescriptions and treatments were based on the average male weight. Even now, most of the studies are based on males -- the results may be applied to females and may be dangerous. It has been known for some time that cancer leaves a marker in the blood. The marker for prostatic cancer has been identified and now there is a simple blood test for men.
Research to find the breast cancer marker in the blood has not been funded or pursued so women are still forced to depend on the archaic x-ray which may give many false positives and negatives. X-rays are one of the causes of cancer and their effects are cumulative.
We hear and read from the media that children are being killed by air bags in our cars when it is more than children being killed; it is also women. The air bag is constructed with the force to protect yup, the average male. Small women, short women may be harmed by them.
Think about it. Bags are engineered for the height and weight of the average male who because of his height sits further away from the bag than most women. Our, on average, shorter legs put us closer to the air bag so the force that hits us is greater. We, on average, sit lower so the bag hits us differently than the engineers designed it... differently and sometimes fatally. Who cares. Women are disposable, right?
On the other hand, we are told that we really are not left out of our culture's language. This is because, we are told with a straight face, we are man and men. Yes, indeedy, mankind means woman. All men created equal means both women and men. Really? Try sometime using this generic language on an employment application. Look on any birth or marriage certificate and see if the male has the equivalent of a "maiden name."
In case after case, the law is applied differently to us men of the female persuasion. Think about this:
In several states, drug addicted, pregnant women have been incarcerated in hospitals because they are putting the fetus they are carrying in danger. That's only humane, right? It has nothing to do with depriving her of her constitutional rights. She is visible and our culture simply ignores due process.
Now consider the drunk driver who has been nabbed for a 7th D.U.I. or consider the child molester who has been released from custody for the 6th time, or the husband or boy friend who stalks and threatens a woman over and over again despite judicial warnings. We know these individuals repeat their acts and that their acts put people in danger.
Did you ever hear of ANY multiple offender such as the examples above that have been incarcerated in a hospital because of the danger to others that they represent? You won't. That would be unconstitutional.
1997-008
Copyright 1997 Renee T. Louise and Ruth M. Sprague, Ph.D. These articles may be republished for noncommercial use only, provided that they are copied intact, and that this copyright notice is attached. Address all queries to: TWANDA@ConnRiver.net.
G e n d e r G a p p e r s T M
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