Some of the most dogged limits that bind us, that keep us
from achieving the fullness of a life most richly lived, are the boundaries imposed
upon us from outside forces. I’m thinking social injustice of all kinds, here.
But most particularly, I’m thinking of unequal access to things like food and
shelter, education, and of course, health care.
Indeed, in the US , the list
seems unrelenting and inexhaustible sometimes; and unless we simply haven’t
been paying attention, we know that the weights and shackles are tighter around
the necks of some of us than others. Think children. Poor folks. Sick folks.
People of color. And as crazy as it seems, given the reality that the starting
position for every human fetus is female, we know that girls and women continue
to struggle inordinately with these inequalities as well.
As far as US
culture is concerned, the current and ongoing right-wing conservative assault
on women’s reproductive freedom sharpens my point, don’t you think? Add to that
the globally situated atrocities against women’s bodies that continue across
the planet on a widespread scale. After all, there’s the reported increase in
rape in India ;
the ongoing horror that is female genital mutilation; the continued fondness
for infanticide of baby girls in some South Asian locales. And let’s not forget
the tireless use of rape as a weapon of war in Uganda
- and against female soldiers in the US armed forces as well - not to
mention the monstrous explosion of human trafficking that thrives as a result
of a sex trade wherein the largest numbers of victims world-wide are women and
little girls.
