Provoking Policy

Patriarchy and Women's Sexuality It's an interesting artifact of patriarchy that women's sexuality is prized. Thus ruining it in any way ruins the woman. The words whore and slut  become weapons that have no equivalent in the sphere of males. In honoring a woman's 'honor' we revisit the impact that this honor has on the reputation of a family. In the most extreme cases a woman is killed in order to protect the honor of her family and rape during conflict is not just about the violation of self and person but of reputation that ruins a woman's life chances. Rush Limbaugh and Sandra Fluke So Rush Limbaugh understood that there was no power in attacking Sandra Fluke's intelligence or her looks. Instead, he went for what would be the most inflammatory: an attack on her sexual 'purity'. Some anachronistic notion that should women have many sexual partners they are morally inferior and less worthy. Or that should they accept money for sexual pl...

Women and Access to Executive Boards The Brits and the EU are contemplating and implementing quotas for board representation of women. A very lofty idea that will bring women into the rooms of power where crucial business decisions are made. The issue at hand is that women need to have more access to power and also boards and companies need the diversity that women bring. But this presumes that power is male-defined and that only male definitions of power have validity. What is it about women's power that has no validity? The Power of Being Female Is the power to gestate a human being and feed them from their body for months not power? What about the power to raise children that then rule the world - both male and female. Women start more small businesses and is that less power than running GM? Is the power of running a home when the head of GM is at work not power? Is the power of being the majority of the world's consumers not power? Is it not power to maintain rel...