complicité des femmes Haïtiennes

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Reply to Msg 2617

The state of women in most non-westernized countries is a sad thing.

Women in the Caribbean tend to have more freedom, power, and rights than women in many parts of Africa and Asia, particularly southwest/west Asia and East Africa, where women have little to no rights at all. However, within the Caribbean, Haitian women have less rights and are more often disrespected and violated than those of other Caribbean nations.

In Haiti, women--specially young girls of all ages--are prayed upon by adult males, who than boast about their sexual attacks to their male friends as if having sex with a female child is something to be proud of. The men in Haiti pounce particularly on young servants, but a high rate of rape and molestation of very young girls can be found throughout all of Haiti's social class levels.

Less horrific then rape but also damaging to a woman's soul is the Haitian male's freedom to verbally disrespect their women.

This I have to say mostly affects women of lower social stations.

But, there are many other crucial aspects to the problem, which have nothing to do with sexual predators.

Haitian men don't do long jail times for beating their women, even when it was proven that the act seriously injured the woman.

I'm not sure but I believe that under certain conditions in Haiti, women still need their husband's consent to acquire passports, etc.
Haitian women have done very little to change the current situation.

My mother always says that it is women who raise men, and if they want men to respect them they can make it happen.

Most times we women turn a blind eye to rape, molestation, or physical abuse situations.

We sometimes actively participate in the trashing of another woman's reputation, because at a subconscious level we are glad that it is not us who are being trashed.

So we are complicit in acts that denigrates other women.

Most times we think that the horrible things that happen to other women will not happen to our daughters, our sisters, our mothers or us. Because we do nothing, we actually make it easier for these things to also happen to us and those we love. For things to change in Haiti, we woman might start by not allowing men to trash other woman in our presence.

Realistically, when men are grouped together, they will always need to talk about women in a sexual way; and I'm fine with that--just don't trash them in my presence.

Furthermore, if I hear that a grown man has had sex with anyone under the age of 17, that man needs to stay very far away from me, because to me that's rape. If you did it to one kid whom I don't know, you will do it to one that I do know.

Linda, August 24 2007, 4:16 PM

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