|
|
 |
Topic for discussion
|
|
 |
|
Posts (Latest First)
| Vagina - a good word authored by Gndungi on 1. May 2005 at 21:44 |
Isn't interesting that most of the people posting their opinion about the VAGINA monologues are men? Thank you Sebas n other guys who seem to be on womens' side!!!
Women, where are you?
For centuries women have been told
"sex is bad"
"your vaginas are dirty and gross"
"you cannot enjoy sex or the pleasure it gives coz you're not supposed to. You are a woman"
"you will never amount to anything or be anyone coz you are a woman born with a VAGINA and not a penis."
Don't knock the Vagina Monologues till you have seen them. It is very sexual but doesn't end up with women all over the floor in some kind of twisted lesbian orgy nor does it promote lesbianism in any way. Go see it. You may end up a very liberated man.
Most men are so afraid of women enjoying sex, exploring their sexuality and becoming the potent godesses that could very possibly take over the world. So they tell women all these things to KEEP THEM DOWN.
Why wouldn't you want a woman to know about her body, acknowledge it's power, unleash it and make herself happy?
I AM a feminist. How can I not be? I want equal rights and don't want to be held back by men's laws that only serve to propagate the oppression of women. Just because a woman doesn't KNOW her rights doesn't mean she isn't ENTITLED to them. Just because I don't know that my land has treasure hidden in it doesn't mean it ain't mine!!!
Get over yourselves men. Immorality is already in your midst... only you want to be the only ones engaging in it.
*rolling eyes*
Allow your woman to believe in herself, to understand that she can receive pleasure in bed as well as give it. You'll hit the roof and have a happy woman in your home with rosy cheeks. Don't hold her back. Let her become who she was meant to be.
And if you are one of those wierd people who still think sex is bad and dirty and shouldn't be enjoyed I pity you.
|
| Psst! Abbey is All Over the Map! authored by Sebas on 22. April 2005 at 13:59 |
We used not have ‘one-night stands’ in Africa
Abeey’s argument is ntellectually all over the place. The kind of licentiousness we see all over the world is a product of the swinging sixties which unleashed free love and expression on the whole world. Even in the West there wasn’t the kind of wanton sexual freedom we seem to have today until that period. Were people having illicit sex? Of course; just as they were in Africa. How else do you explain children that ended up resembling the neighbour? But Africa had even more pernicious evils such the impregnation and/or marrying off of pre-teenage and teenage girls to dirty old men? Or of married women being returned to their birth homes because they were “sterile?” Can one even begin to compare this to mutually consensual one-night-stands?
Yes, black Africa has borrowed from the West and mostly good things; education, freedom for men and women to choose their sexual partners, wearing shoes to avoid being inflicted with jiggers, running water to ease the burden of those going to the water wells and so on.
We can’t turn back the clock as some might want us to. In fact we must NOT turn back the clock. There is nothing terribly special about African cultures in comparison to other civilizations (actually, there is no such thing as an African culture so Abbey is off beam here, too) and, in fact, there is a lot to be said for the discarding of many aspects of tribal African rituals. The virginal arbiters have been done away with (what a silly and intrusive practice!), female genital mutilation is left in only a handful of stubbornly foolish outposts and so on and so forth.
Human freedom and self determination is the only game in town and Abbey might do well to start running on it’s treadmill else he and those who think like him will be trampled underfoot – and rightly so.
|
| WOMEN &FREEDOM authored by abbey on 16. April 2005 at 20:16 |
HELLO JOWYN
I think you misunderstood me. First of all, am not oppressive when it comes to women. However, I support the position of women if I think it is going to be good for the society and UGANDA as a whole. For instance, they are so many people who support ‘girls education’ because it has proved valuable to the whole world. Women have become reliable human resources , despite some pitfalls still going on like ‘pregnant discrimination’.
You talk of men like me being scared of women having freedom, but I still think you are wrong. Women freedom does not scare me but it depends on the way one defines and interprets it. For Example, in the west, there is a view that Muslim women in the middle east/I Islamic countries are suppressed by wearing ‘Hijjab’ or headscarfs.But those women in the middle East do not look at it as some form of suppression. So this reveals a deep and growing misunderstanding between Muslim women and the rest of the world. Western feminists fail to understand that, in some Muslim societies, gender inequalities have much less to do with the religious requirements of Islam than with old cultural traditions. If headscarves were inherently linked to female suffering, then women would probably have experienced particular hardships in the earliest days of Islam, during the life of the prophet Mohammed in the 17th Century.
The views of women like yourself are often supported by secular states, Western feminists, and some human rights groups –which display the worst kind of backwardness. Rather than celebrate or promote Muslim women’s Liberation/African Women Liberation, such positions reveal a deep and growing misunderstanding between Muslim/African women AND THE REST OF THE WORLD. In February 2004, the French lawmakers approved a ban on headscarves and other religious imagery from public schools; German and Belgian politicians may follow suit. Human Rights watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth has criticised the French policy, insisting that ‘’ for many Muslims, wearing a headscarf is not only about religious expression, it is about religious obligation.’’.This same situation can help explain why majority of the women in UGANDA may feel uncomfortable watching the play entitled ‘Vagina Monologue’. The play is not good for the society, and I believe if the west had not allowed too much of such things in their society, women would be better of.
Laws concerning women should be judged not by their words or intentions, but by their effects and consequences. When government of Uganda enacts laws designed to benefit one group, society should judge those laws first by examining whether they have, in practice, provided a net benefit to the law’s intended beneficiaries. Next, any such benefit must be weighed against the costs imposed on the rest of the society. If the benefits outweigh the costs, this is a socially efficient law. The government of Uganda should repeal a law when the costs it impose outweigh its benefits. When laws do not provide a net benefit to the group they are designed to assist but nonetheless provide an overall social net benefit, these laws may be retained. These laws, however, can no longer stand on the discredited proposition that they benefit the intended group.
Feminism, or Individual feminism, is a branch of feminism based on classical liberal philosophy. Feminism advocates repeal of many laws concerning women’s issues. Feminism view individual autonomy as paramount and believe that laws restricting women’s choices do more harm than good. In some cases, empirical ,and historical evidence support such a belief. These are the easy cases. In other cases, however, the evidence is weaker or unavailable;there,feminists can only support their positions by relying on the dogma of individual rights.
Feminism is based upon the belief that all human beings have a right to the protection of their persons and property. It consistently applies the principle of ‘’a woman’s body, a woman’s right’’ to every issue that confronts women today from reproductive choice to pornography, from economic opportunity to prostitution.
Above all, feminists believe in self ownership. An individual has a fundamental right to use ‘’his or her own body’’ and ‘’ his or her capacities’’ to maximise his or her own welfare. Each individual- regardless of gender, race, national origin, sexual orientation, etc.-possesses this right.
Well, I agree with some issues raised by feminists like you but not all of them. In Africa Smoking is Marjory done by very old women or prostitutes. Pornography is still considered immoral in our African socities.Smoking among men in Africa is still not ‘acceptable’. The society looks at smokers as people denied a good bringing up. Uganda has banned smoking in public completely and as responsible citizens, we should be supporting this instead of sabotaging it with excuses copied from the west. Because most African women do not smoke, we have got ‘healthy’ women compared to other parts of the world. The biggest problems of Africa at the moment are: Diseases like AIDS ,Malaria,etc( but not smoke-related diseases);ignorance in some areas; and poverty. We should not import problems from the west which were not there before.
Why should we encourage women to smoke in the name of freedom? Why should we encourage women to expose their vaginas in public or in films in the name of women freedom? Why should we encourage lisbenianism because feminists want women freedom? Personally , I think pornography is meant to degrade women to the lowest levels. Men in general like watching women naked and women give us this satisfaction by participating in pornography.
I’m of the view that there should be a balance of the things we extract from the western societies. We do not need to get the whole western culture and laws into the Ugandan socities.We used not have ‘one-night stands’ in Africa but all this has changed dramatically because we like copying everything from the west. But when you weigh the benefits and disadvantages of ‘one –night stands’, the disadvantages outweigh the benefits.
Therefore, it was a good decision made by the government of UGANDA to ban ‘ Vaginal Monologue’.
ABBEY SEMUWEMBA-UK
|
| why not? authored by DRAPS on 14. April 2005 at 10:51 |
| it shd stage the v monologue though it would be rightful en much better if the organisers changed the title and gave it a more significant heading since it seems that this is what drove many crazy and against the whole idea. |
| freedom authored by Moses Mattar on 10. April 2005 at 18:56 |
| People should be free to have and make their own opinion about many different things because in reality you can't really have an opinion on something unless you have experienced it, i'm that before this debate arose not very many people would have been aware of the vagina monologues but this has given it free publicity. Let people make up their minds for themselves, if they want to see it let them if they don't they wont, its their choice |
| Why the monologues remains a story to tell authored by Joseph Epaja on 9. April 2005 at 12:13 |
Mr Kimbowa sir, the staging of the Vagina Monologues, is about individual freedom at the end of the day. It is not so easy to deny people their basic freedom. Freedom is a fundamental human right.
I had no intention of watching the play before the media council decided to ban it, but now admit I have since read and listened to excerpts of the play ... if only to prove a point, that the chaps at the media council have no right to my insult my inteligence. |
| time up authored by Nicholas Kimbowa on 9. April 2005 at 11:26 |
the whole saga of the monologue should stop.
we've all agreed that we should not stage the play.
so lets not waste time discussing it. |
| Vagina Monologues is not evil authored by Monica Frascona on 9. April 2005 at 05:51 |
| Uganda suffers from teen pregnancy and infidelity and all of the same harms listed by another commentator as western social diseases. The reason there are not more divorces in Uganda is not because marriage is sacred - if it was the men wouldn't cheat on their wives at every turn. Marriages stay together, if at all, in Uganda because women are at an economic disadvantage - most women must stay married to stay fed. Vagina Monologues reminds women that they are strong and beautiful and that, whatever men might think, women should cherish themselves. |
| ABBEY SEMUWEMBA-UK authored by Jowyn Namunye Jenson on 8. April 2005 at 15:52 |
Mr Abbey,
Why can't women smoke? I know it is bad to smoke, but why should only women be stopped?
Your strange views point to the reason why the Vagina Monologues SHOULD have been shown. You are scared of women having freedom (smoking, having sex, talking about their vaginas, etc.). The Vagina Monologues is about reclaiming freedom from oppressive men like yourself. |
| WESTERN BAD HABITS authored by abbey on 7. April 2005 at 23:49 |
THE SOCIETY SHOULD DO EVERYTHING TO PROTECT ITSELF AGAINST WESTERN BAD HABITS SUCH AS HOMOSEXUALITY;LESBIANISM;SMOKING BY WOMEN; LEGAL PROSITITUTION; AND WESTERN-STYLE DOMESTIC BILLS.IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF EVERYBODY IN UGANDA TO THIS.I DO NOT THEREFORE SUPPORT THE SOCALLED 'VAGINAL' PLAY OR DRAMA WHICH WAS TO BE SHOWN ON SCREENS IN UGANDA.MARRIAGES IN THE WEST DO NOT LAST LONG;THE YOUTH NOLONGER WANT 2 GET MARRIED;THERE IS HIGH RATE OF TEENAGE PREGNANCY;E.T.C-ALL BECAUSE OF THE ABOVE MENTIONED BAD HABITS.SO I DISAGREE WITH MADAM MIRIA MATEMBE ON THIS COMPLETELY.I UNDERSTAND SHE WAS SUPPORTING THE 'VAGINAL' ORGANISERS TO GO AHEAD AND SHOW THEIR PLAY.THANKS TO THE GOVERNMENT WHICH STOPPED THE ALL THING.
ABBEY SEMUWEMBA-UK |
|
|
