Disturbing Reading

If you want some deeply emotional reading based on a true story, this graphic novel (available to read online) is the way to go. It's the disturbing story of a girl in Cambodia who unwittingly becomes a man's mistress and suffers the consequences. Very touching.

Honour her body by killing her

The 'honour' killing of Rand Abdel-Qader a short while ago makes me doubt humanity as a whole, it really does. I mean, it's bad enough that a 17-year-old girl was violently murdered by her father for some fleeting conversations with a British soldier, but for the father to then stand up and be proud of what he did is disgusting. The poor girl's mother attempted to help her, but the girl's two brothers just assisted their father in the murder.

(As a side note, to avoid ambiguity, when I talk about men here I'm meaning those who would behave like this or condone such behaviour, not men in general.)

The disrespect shown to this young woman is appalling. How dare she have a teenage crush? How dare she act like any ordinary young person? How dare she disobey the terrifyingly strong patriarchy of her culture?

Abdel-Qader, 46, a government employee, was initially arrested but released after two hours. Astonishingly, he said, police congratulated him on what he had done. 'They are men and know what honour is,' he said.

Perhaps what the bastard is trying to say here is that honour is pulling apart your daughter's life and throwing it unceremoniously into a grave because you're slightly embarrassed that she was doing something against the rules you put in place. Perhaps honour is just a word, to them, for keeping in line with the harsh system they've built up around them. I suppose they've got to be pretty careful because once women realise how powerful we are, there's no stopping us.

What really got to me, though, was this quote from the father:

People from western countries might be shocked, but our girls are not like their daughters that can sleep with any man they want and sometimes even get pregnant without marrying. Our girls should respect their religion, their family and their bodies.

For a start, 'your' girls are their own person, and us Westerners are our own people too. Quit with the possessive language; it's disturbing and weak. Moreover, though, how can this utter idiot say that a woman should value her family and body when he's just stomped a member of his family to death? How is that respecting her body? What has her body got to do with talking to a British soldier? (Another side note; I bet that soldier is utterly disturbed by this).

One last snippet that made my stomach turn:

Speaking with a foreign solider, she lost what is the most precious thing for any woman.

Yes. Her life.

The Ova Vs. The Sperm

My entire life, I've had this image of the placid little egg laying in wait in the uterus for the mighty sperm to fight their valiant way to find it. I've imagined the little sperm shoving itself into the egg triumphantly, a sign of its strength. I know I have this image because that's what's been fed to me all through school and all through anything I've read about it until now.

Because apparently, it really doesn't happen like that.

The sperm is a weak swimmer and the egg actively draws the sperm closer. The ova is certainly not passive; the link above suggest eagerness if anything. How was I so completely unaware of this?

Yet another example of man's inability to see the world how it really is while they're wrapped up in their bigoted little life. And yes, I know I'm generalising, and no, I don't care right now.