Only Men Are Heroes?
It's funny but now that I spend so much time watching the struggles of women in countries like Afghanistan as they go up against the men of their countries in trying to access the most basic of human rights, I have to wonder why it is that all the historical heroes world over are thought to be men. I mean, I can't imagine how brave the women of Afghanistan must be to demonstrate in the streets and agitate for their rights in a country that is defined by its misogyny, but clearly this isn't the first time in history women have risked life and limb to go up against the ruling patriarchy of the day.
But you'd think so, wouldn't you, judging from western history books. Gawd, it's tedious, and I hate to sound like a bitch, but women have always had to go through men to get somewhere from back of nowhere, but only men get to be heroes. Even now, western media reports of Afghani women demonstrating in the streets don't do their heroics justice - even though we all know these women are in mortal danger. Rather, they're portrayed as reckless, a benign version of the suicide bomber, because the myth is all over town like a cheap suit that the men of the west are there to liberate the women of Afghanistan.
I just hope those women don't know how brutally western governments put aside memories of Tiannamen Square to do business with the Chinese government. Or maybe I hope they do, so they don't harbour any illusions about what is to come. For that matter, why do we? We'll abandon the women of Afghanistan and we'll do business with whatever misogynistic government is there to do business with - that's our real history. We freely and willfully elect the sorts of male dominated governments that do that sort of thing.
I can't help but wonder, too, why it is we're not educating the men of Afghanistan about women's human rights while we're there arming and training them to fight the Taliban. Afterall, we have no real assurances that the Afghani men supposedly on our side (and hopefully not planting the roadside bombs that are killing our soldiers - but let's not go there now) aren't going to turn around and do worse to the women of Afghanistan than what's been done to them by the Taliban. Which makes me wonder why we aren't exclusively arming and training Afghani women to fight the Taliban. Afterall, it seems to me the men of Afghanistan, no matter which side they claim to be on, can't be trusted not to be against women's human rights as soon as they're in power - Hamid Karzai come on down.
Sexism and money, still running the world after all these years.
