Human Rights Museum installation

[MrsTerryPratchett]

I was travelling recently and went to the Canadian Human Rights Museum. OK generally, nice building.

What upset me and I wonder if I should complain/comment was an installation that had a rolling piece of film about various human rights issues in Canada with voting. I only arrived at the end of 'marriage rights' about the advent of equal marriage rights so I missed the voting on that one. I caught the 'woman's security' piece about abortion rights in Canada.

The spectator, me, was asked various questions during the course of the film about women's rights to abortion. One was the question that the Supreme Court examined, so I get the reason that was educational. But one was (and I can't remember the exact wording) 'should women be allowed to terminate pregnancies?'. Now it wasn't exactly that but it worried me for various reasons.

1. Overton window. Why are women's basic human rights, enshrined in law, up for debate? Maybe they do ask, "should we deny voting rights based on religion?" or "should Chinese immigrants be charged a Head Tax?" or "should First Nations children be removed from their parents?". All things that Canada has done very recently and at the time legally.

1. The votes were tallied and presented. Nicely women were mostly allowed their own right to bodily autonomy but it wasn't even vaguely a 100% vote. Which made me deeply uncomfortable.

1. International visitors. Not sure that the large groups of visitors (mainly teenagers from Muslim countries) should be given the impression that women's rights are up for debate in Canada and that a vote against women's rights is wanted or needed.

Should I write to them?

Your post is written in a very confusing fashion OP...the punctuation is off perhaps but I find it hard to understand.

You were in a museum right? With an installation? And you were disturbed by the results of a public vote held by said museum?

Why would you write to them? Surely the thing was meant as a conversation starter.

I totally get you, MrsTerry - do they carry out polls on other issues, and if not, why not? (I'd put money on the answer being "no".)

(Don't know why PP is insisting on missing the very clear point of your post - perhaps now she understands it, she would like to come back and tell us why abortion is different from voting rights for religious minorities or removal of first Nations children from their families).

Hairy thanks for the aggression. Is it beyond your ken that I genuinely DIDN'T understand the point of her post or in fact the basic sense of it? Her punctuation was all over the place.

Your lack of comprehension skills are not my problem. Nor does my pointing out your lack of comprehension skills count as aggression on my part. Seriously, buy yourself a dictionary. Start with the definition of aggression, then see if you can move on from there.

I am seriously fed up with trolls on this board trying to shit all over women's rights, whether through direct attack or disingenuous goadyness.

The fact that women's reproductive capabilities and sexuality are considered an interesting 'edgy', even progressive topic for debate has always been a massive problem. The fact that the inappropriateness of it is not realised by many men is an even bigger one.

Hairy you sound utterly unhinged.

Good luck with that;

Absolutely, @WazFlimFlam, totally agree with you. And @HairyBallTheorem.

AjasLipstick OK lets try it another way;

Canada has been involved in various activities that infringe on peoples human rights. Those activities include;

• removing children from First Nations mothers.
• denying people voting rights based on their race or religion.
• Charging Chinese immigrants a Head Tax.

Abortion rights are enshrined in Canadian Law, yet this museum asked visitors to vote on whether women should have this right.

Thanks to the PPs who have rendered my OP legible

Basically I'd like to know exactly why women's rights are up for debate and other human rights aren't. Also, whether this 'debate' is damaging. Particularly in a place, a human rights museum, where you'd think human rights would be a given.

Should I write to them?

I will also write to my teachers and professors and let them know they shouldn't have graduated me because I'm unintelligible.

Yes you should, this is crap. No one else’s funamental human rights are a cute discussion point for rando museum visitors

I do feel the pseudo 'debate' is damaging; its a complex and emotive issue that cant be summed up in handy sound bites, and is too serious to be treated this lightly.

I agree. This should not even be up for debate. I also found your post very clear.