Week 13: Politics and Activism

One of the issues that is important to me and I believe needs to be addressed is the issue of rape. Everyday thousands of women (and men) are forced against their will to have intercourse with someone. This person can be a stranger, a friend or even a family member. One of the main organizations that helps with rape education and counseling is called RAINN. RAINN stands for Rape Abuse and Incest National Network. This organization is a national organization and is active across many college campuses. They provide rape education, counseling and many volunteer opportunities. One of the things that I like most about RAINN is that they are very active across the nation, not just in one place. Students across many college campuses can get involved by participating in events such as RAINN day. Students and volunteers can get involved through fundraising and educational events, volunteer drives, speakers, petitions, posters, and passing out RAINN Day cards and volunteer handouts. This is somethin that would be very easy for me to be able to become active in this issue. I like RAINN's approach because they are such a large group and they are devoted to educating women about rape prevention and safety as well as providing hotlines and conseling for victims of rape. I think no women should have to deal with this horrible event, but if she does there needs to be a place, such as RAINN, that she can go and talk about it and learn to live free again. No woman's life should be hindered because of a choice that wasn't even hers.

In response to the readings, I think that many women take for granted the power that we have today. Even though we are not necessarily equal to men, we still have much more power than we realize, and we don't take advantage of that. It kind of upsets me that many women are still fighting to be equal to men, yet we don't take advantage of the rights that we have now. For example, women fought for many years to gain the right to vote, but there is still a small percentage of women that actually do vote. In the F Word in chapter 9 it says, " It is shocking to find that it was not so very lon ago that American citizens fought for the right to vote, some losing their lives in the process. Voting is a right many take for granded, and often ignore, today." I believe that women have more power than many perceive, and that if we would take advantage of these rights we could make a huge difference.