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Original poster

Libya - will it be any better for women?

36 replies

aliceliddell · 22/08/2011 12:10

Watching the news; men with flags, men with fireworks, men in cars, men in streets, men climbing up things, men with vuvuzelas, men with guns. But absolutely no women. So when's their revolution, then?

OP posts:
jennyviathewindow · 22/08/2011 22:45

Well, if women want to be more visible, maybe they should grab an AK47 and join the frontline. In fact, why - in the spirit of feminism - don't some of you catch the next plane to Tripoli and help 'liberate' the city?

As far as I can recall, the origins of the Arab Spring came when a female official in Tunisia mistreated a street vendor who ended up setting himself on fire. Of course, maybe I'm just not looking at this through a 'feminist gaze'.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Bouazizi

ThePosieParker · 22/08/2011 19:13

But in any of these countries in conflict you never see any women, not even at funerals.....they're only good for talking about if they die or children die.

Original poster
aliceliddell · 22/08/2011 18:42

well spotted!

OP posts:
Corvax · 22/08/2011 18:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CRIKRI · 22/08/2011 15:53

Yes. I even remember then First Lady Laura Bush speaking with great emotion about the moral imperative of the war against the Taliban for the benefit of oppressed Afghan women.

Yep, of course it was and it's been SUCH a success, right?

Original poster
aliceliddell · 22/08/2011 15:50

But CRIKRI how could you be so cynical? Don't you remember Hillary and Cherie out there in Afghanistan in their hijabs, telling us how women were the moral and political justification for the 'intervention'?Hmm

OP posts:
CRIKRI · 22/08/2011 15:24

I doubt it will be better. Whatever else could be said about Libya under Gadaffi's rule, the Government and its infrastructures were relatively secular and "progressive" related to the position of women - similar to Iraq in fact. I would like to think that moves towards democracy would involve all citizens, but history has told us that particularly when the US and UK Governments intervene in other countries, ensuring the rights of women is so far at the bottom of the page of conditions that it tends to drop right off.

chibi · 22/08/2011 12:28

we are the pets. no one was asking about libyan cats/parakeets/goldfish and their responses to this exciting news either

Ephiny · 22/08/2011 12:24

Glad it wasn't just me - I was watching and thinking 'so, are there any women in Libya?'.

I remember thinking the same about television footage of the Iraq war. The reporters kept going on and on about 'the Iraqi people' celebrating in the streets, and seemed completely oblivious to the fact that it was in fact 'some Iraqi men', which is not the same thing!

It's hard to imagine the reverse situation - but imagine if it was all women out there? Would that go unremarked?

Corvax · 22/08/2011 12:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

chibi · 22/08/2011 12:20

yes i played spot the woman too, couldn't find one

an alien watching tv could be forgiven for thinking that humans = men, and that women are a kind of a indulged pet kept by some of the humans

bleurgh