The Newsier Sex

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The Dalai Lama says it’s the Western woman who will change the world for the better. How is the Western woman faring? If Mama ain’t happy, Mama Earth may never be happy either, and right now, Mama’s calling hypocrisy.

This week in lady news, the Vatican equates ordination of women to sexual abuse of children, France bans the burqa and Whoopi “It’s not Rape Rape” Goldberg moves on from defending Roman Polanski to defending Mel Gibson. (Disclaimer: coming to a paragraph near you, controversy!)

A Grave Crime

By pope-ular demand, no humans of the female variety shall yet be ordained in the Catholic church. According to Vatican leadership, female ordination is “a grave crime” tantamount to their ongoing child sex abuse scandal.

Ever been in one of those relationships where you’re always wrong?

From the Huffington Post: “At a briefing Thursday, [the Vatican] defended the inclusion of both sex abuse and ordination of women in the same document as a way of codifying two of the most serious canonical crimes against sacraments and morals that the congregation deals with.”

The Church has a long and documented tradition of reminding us that the ladies are inherently impure defilers of all that is male and sparkling. The Church, to international uproar, isn’t big on punishing some crimes: the sex abuse reporting policy remains essentially unchanged in this latest ruling. Yet women with ambitions to the cloth face excommunication and eternal damnation. I’m still working out how wanting to become a priest and serve your church is worthy of hellfire while abusive bishops get a bag of shush and a hall pass to Heaven.

I’m Racist, You’re Racist, Everybody’s Racist…Except Mel

Whoopi Goldberg is taking heat for her statements about Mel Gibson on The View this week, in which she said she doesn’t believe he is racist due to her personal acquaintance with him over the years. She added in a follow up response to the press that as an African American woman, she ought to have some authority on the topic. And, fairly, she acknowledged that this is technically racist, allowing that she herself has had racist thoughts about those who are different from her. Points for honesty?

While she didn’t condone Mel Gibson’s alleged heinous verbal and physical abuse of his ex-girlfriend – including physically assaulting her while she held their child in her arms – calling him a “bonehead” for such behavior isn’t exactly my idea of holding someone accountable. Bonehead is forgetting to pay your electricity bill. Bonehead is texting while driving. Bonehead is not literally breaking bones in someone’s head.

Goldberg has demonstrated curiously generous standards for what constitutes abuse. In her infamous defense of the unrepentant Roman Polanski, she said that drugging and sexually abusing a young girl wasn’t “rape rape”, which is apparently different from regular old nice rape, which is practically the same as tickles! I do wonder about Hollywood’s support of le artiste. If the child Polanski raped had been a boy instead of a girl, would celebrities still be demanding we look the other way? It’s probably a silly question, since everyone knows only girls are slutty.

Does it even matter if Mel Gibson is racist or not? What does that have to do with the price of a foaming cell phone call in Malibu? When it comes to the widespread abuse and hatred of women, we seem quite happy to accept any and all irrelevancies so we can deny misogyny’s existence: faith, tradition, the woman’s character or sexual history, Art, money, and subjective personal experience with a person about a completely unrelated issue – in this case, race.

Freedom Fashion

Face coverings of all kinds have been banned in secular France in a 355-1 vote, but for practical purposes this really means burqas. No one in France seems too worked up about this violation of the right to personal expression for Muslim women, but Stateside we’re kind of freaking out.

Irony of ironies that covering one’s entire face save for the eyes to uphold a conservative religious cultural tradition is an act of “freedom,” but it is. You know, choosing your choice to let someone else make choices for you. Well, that’s not so new for women, is it?

Still, France’s decision is controversial. Your opinion probably depends upon your beliefs about the proper role of government, familiarity with Europe’s identity crisis and views of Islam and perhaps religion generally.

Here’s a fun fact: There is actually no technical Qur’an requirement for women to cover up, but it’s an established practice in Muslim communities, one that is encouraged and in many cases expected.

To enforce the burqa ban, the French government plans to fine offenders $200 and anyone forcing a woman to don a veil a considerable 40 grand. No word on if they’ve forgotten about bridal veils at weddings. Nuptials are expensive enough as it is.

Editor’s note: Fantastic feminist writer Naomi Zeveloff is taking a much-needed break for the summer, so I’ll be covering women’s issues as they relate to culture and the environment here at EcoSalon until she’s back in action. – Sara

Image: Sthetic