From the beginning of time, according to the Bible, women were made from the
body of a man, were created to help man, to give birth to men and to serve men.
Women were a mere second thought in the plan, according to the Bible. Even though
there are many Atheists, many people who don’t believe in the Bible, and even say
they believe in women’s equal rights, these are some of the same people who
subconsciously see women as inferior to men. The woman remains on the bottom
pole of most countries, they are still fighting for their rights to be seen, heard and
acknowledged as an important piece of society.
From the beginning of time, women have been treated as sexual objects, with the
responsibility of providing sexual favors to men. They have been traded off as
“prizes” during war times, they have been sold as sex slaves, they have been
beheaded and stoned to death for committing adultery while their husbands have
openly had mistresses. Women and young girls have been raped, tortured, and
murdered by family members, friends of the family and people unknown.
Rape laws from the ancient near east, in areas such as Babylonia and Assyria,
punished the woman if she was raped. If she was married and raped she and the
rapist would be stoned to death. The father of a rape victim could rape the rapist’s
wife as punishment. The Israelites had a rule that if the rape occurred in the city
limits the woman was at fault because “she could have yelled for help”, but if she
was raped in the fields she would be blameless since no one could hear her cry for
help. And, she was forced to marry her rapist.
How many times have women been questioned on the witness stand and asked,
“Did you cry out for help?” How many times have the women been asked “Why
were you there?” And how many times, have the women been disgraced, scorned,
made out to be liars and at fault for their being the victim of rape? Women have
been conditioned to not speak out. Women have been conditioned to suffer in silence
or suffer the negative consequences of speaking up and out about their rape. Women
have been conditioned to weight their future in their career versus their future in
unemployment or lack of promotional gain.
Men, especially men that have been raised in religion, have been conditioned to
believe that women are property and that they are to be used as men see fit. Men
have been conditioned to see the woman as the attacker out to “destroy” their
standing in the community when they “cry” rape. Men have been conditioned to
believe that “No means yes” and that women are sexual creatures and that they were
made to please men sexually. Men have been conditioned to believe that they have
not committed sexual crimes against women, and therefore should not suffer any
negative, especially legal, consequences for their actions.
The whole world is watching to see the results of the State Hearing for Judge Brett
M. Kavanaugh, who has been accused, as of this writing, of engaging in sexual
misconduct in his past by three women. The media has made frequent reference to
the Anita Hill accusations against, then, Judge Clarence Thomas. The similarities are
somewhat the same, except Anita Hill was alone and didn’t have any other women
come out and support her as also being victims. And she was Black. The situation
with Kavanaugh is that he has more than one woman, all White women, accusing
him. Both men were being nonanimated for the Supreme Court Justice. Clarence
was appointed. Hill was not believed.
The remaining factor is that no matter what color or race the accusers are, they
remain women. So the question becomes what it has always been, and it appears will
always be is will she be heard and will she be believed. Anita Hill stood alone. Stood
alone against the county, against her own race of people who accused her of trying
to “keep a Black man down,” Hill stood alone against the political machine of white
powerful, men, who saw her as a piece of property, that broke the code of silence.
Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick have each other and
the entire Me-Too movement behind them for support.
So, we watch, and we listen, and we wait for the verdict. Will she be heard? Will
she be believed? Or will the conditioning of how men treat women and how women
see themselves continue and the men still rule the world and win, and women still
fight to be heard and lose.