[Day 5] Sexuality
One hundred and sixty one years ago, a group of women and men drafted the Declaration of Sentiments, stating that "The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman..." Their immediate goal of equal voting rights for women in the United States has long since been met, but this statement still rings with a tragic amount of truth.
Three years ago, when rageprufrock first began the project that would grow into 14 valentines, she spoke about how women are praised and worshiped, torn down and degraded. We live in a world where our bodies are revered for the ability to give life and derided for leaving behind the appearance of adolescence, where we can rise to the highest offices of power in some countries and are deprived of basic rights in others.
We are told to be strong, to stand up for ourselves, told that we can do anything, be anything - but only to a point, always to a point.
Around the world, women die from lack of basic medical attention, from infanticide, from starvation beyond their control, from starvation inflicted upon themselves in a twisted attempt to be beautiful. We are beaten, raped, murdered, told in so many horrifying ways that we are lesser that we don't matter.
Forty years ago we declared that Sisterhood is Powerful, and it still is. We must remember that, must continue moving forward.
It's 2009 and we've come so far, but there is still more work to be done. We deserve better, and we can do more. We're strong. The next fourteen days is meant to remind us of that. It's our time to take back our bodies.
V can stand for vagina, like Eve Ensler's groundbreaking monologues. V can stand for violence, under whose auspices all women continue to make a home.
V can also stand for victory.
Sexuality
The LGBTQ community is large with needs that are ever evolving. Lesbian women of color are creating media and art projects to better educate the public, around the country programs are being developed to help teens feel comfortable with their sexuality, and people are coming together to speak to religious groups and schools to increase exposure and acceptance of sexualities that aren't strictly heterosexual. These groups are important in both acceptance of women's sexuality and sexual choices, and in allowing them to communicate their experiences to the larger public.
The Horizons Foundation provides financial support to community organizations and causes in areas ranging from youth to elders, from LGBTQ arts and culture to civil rights advocacy as well as providing support and training to leaders of these community organizations.
[Today's essay is courtesy of vylit]