Ms. Ignatin,
Thank you so for sharing this letter and your perspective here. as well as the almost unfathomable bravery and inner fortitde of your friend who is not only saving her own life but now, I am sure, countless other victims.
I think it's crucial that, as Americans, we preserve our right to freedom of expression which clearly so many of our sisters are lacking in many parts of the world. By continuing to discuss these issues we become part of the solution, not part of the problem; we bring things out of the darkness and out of the closet and into the light.
I appreciated the fact that while the HBO series "Big Love" may have been controversial at best and loathed at worst, it truly did open the eyes of many people who hadn't even considered the very confusing and often stark and abusive realities that so many women live with day in and day out.
Polygamy is an extremely emotionally charged topic and that is what I was attempting to tap into in my article... my own very deep emotional reactions to men with multiple partners due to my personal experiences and those of my friends for countless years, as well as women in my family who have been devastated by adultery have been stifling at certain times in my life. Watching that series prompted me to really take a look a the issue; not only as a feminist and as someone who has lesbians and political activism for generations in her family; who had a subscription of Ms. Magazine and was reading about the abuses of the Taliban toward women since she was 17 years old, but also as a woman who thinks and feels, who is trying her best at growing sexually and in all other ways and who questions not only her own motives and fears in her relationship, but those of her partner and of all men and women.
The blatant subjugation of women is alive and rampant in many subtle forms that certainly do not come across as obviously as it does in 'Big Love.' Modern polygamist women will certainly argue that they are not abused and that this is their choice.
For some of us struggling to wrap our minds around the issues of fidelity, monogamy, adultery, polygamy, polyandry, intimacy and sexuality, there is not a lot of differentiation. These issues all interconnect. Women throughout time have been used and kept in poverty. Clearly we still have mountains to climb in our own country, in our own lives and in our willingness and ability to stay connected with women who need our help.
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Ms. Ignatin,
Thank you so for sharing this letter and your perspective here. as well as the almost unfathomable bravery and inner fortitde of your friend who is not only saving her own life but now, I am sure, countless other victims.
I think it's crucial that, as Americans, we preserve our right to freedom of expression which clearly so many of our sisters are lacking in many parts of the world. By continuing to discuss these issues we become part of the solution, not part of the problem; we bring things out of the darkness and out of the closet and into the light.
I appreciated the fact that while the HBO series "Big Love" may have been controversial at best and loathed at worst, it truly did open the eyes of many people who hadn't even considered the very confusing and often stark and abusive realities that so many women live with day in and day out.
Polygamy is an extremely emotionally charged topic and that is what I was attempting to tap into in my article... my own very deep emotional reactions to men with multiple partners due to my personal experiences and those of my friends for countless years, as well as women in my family who have been devastated by adultery have been stifling at certain times in my life. Watching that series prompted me to really take a look a the issue; not only as a feminist and as someone who has lesbians and political activism for generations in her family; who had a subscription of Ms. Magazine and was reading about the abuses of the Taliban toward women since she was 17 years old, but also as a woman who thinks and feels, who is trying her best at growing sexually and in all other ways and who questions not only her own motives and fears in her relationship, but those of her partner and of all men and women.
The blatant subjugation of women is alive and rampant in many subtle forms that certainly do not come across as obviously as it does in 'Big Love.' Modern polygamist women will certainly argue that they are not abused and that this is their choice.
For some of us struggling to wrap our minds around the issues of fidelity, monogamy, adultery, polygamy, polyandry, intimacy and sexuality, there is not a lot of differentiation. These issues all interconnect. Women throughout time have been used and kept in poverty. Clearly we still have mountains to climb in our own country, in our own lives and in our willingness and ability to stay connected with women who need our help.
Thanks
June 16, 2009 - 5:51pmAimee
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