“More girls have been killed in the last FIFTY years, precisely because they were girls, than men were killed in ALL the battles of the 20th century. More girls are killed in this routine gendercide in any ONE decade, than people were slaughtered in ALL the genocides of the 20th century.”

—

Nicholas Kristof, Half the Sky

Read that AGAIN.

“Saying that we can’t have feminism because we should only focus on general human rights is like saying we can’t have oncologists because some doctors are general practitioners.”

—Why Not Say Everyday Humanism Instead of Everyday Feminism? — Everyday Feminism

“Women are not punished in this world for acting ‘like men’. We are punished for acting like human beings. In our world, only men are human. They take that label for themselves, they accord themselves social and economic and legal privileges because of it, and they declare women other and different and make damn sure that we wear our inferiority in whatever way they tell us to. Through our clothing and our hairstyles and our submissive and ingratiating behaviours. Any time a woman gives herself the right to be fully clothed, to have access to forums and spaces in which to express her ideas and opinions, to work in fields which men declare unsuitable, to be comfortable and free of bodily restriction, she is (knowingly or not) refusing to accept her inferior sex-caste status. We are declaring our right to be human. Not our right to be men, our right to be human. Got it? The association of man with human is so pervasive, yet invisible, that women refusing to accept inferior status is equated with wanting to be men, rather than with wanting to be human, which is surely more accurate. And it is difficult to get away from...”

—weirdward, Behaving Like A Man at Dusk is Falling

“I resigned from my job yesterday as a matter of principle. I was given a letter to type by a senior secretary to the auditing firm that had recently been in our books. A woman headed up the team of accountants at our company for several weeks. The letter was opened to “Gentlemen.” I changed it to “Greetings.” I was told that the letter must be redone because it was the policy of the company to use the salutation “Gentlemen.” I was told that management determined company policy, not uppity secretaries who didn’t know their place. I decided to resign and didn’t redo the letter. I’m looking for another job, but I did raise quite a few eyebrows and, hopefully, someone’s consciousness. Name Withheld September 12, 1982”

—One of the small acts of courage and defiance that sparked the Second Wave of Feminism and paved the way for much of what we take for granted today.

“Today 'human rights' is much in fashion, which makes it the subject of a certain amount of humbug. In a world where virtue is no longer its own reward, there are plenty of human rights prizes, many funded by corporations exposed for exploiting the poor, awarded to well-paid lawyers, well-meaning journalists, well-photographed actresses and politicians who have never had to risk their careers in a cause perceived by national authorities as subversive. Ironies abound: the Simon Wiesenthal Center, celebrated for tracking down Nazi war criminals, today gives its peace prizes to supporters of the government of Israel. Self-promoting pop stars are prepared to promote politicians if they support the right to debt relief, but not the anti-war and anti-corruption measures without which there can be no relief for the poor in countries bankrupted by armed conflicts and the extravagance of their rulers. In 2005, the 'Live 8' campaign to 'make poverty history' made no mention of ending the impunity which in Africa makes poverty inevitable. It would be churlish to decry the fashionability of human rights, but premature to think that this means the struggle to have them enforced - the crucial 'third phase' of the human rights revolution - has yet been won.”

—Geoffrey Robertson QC, in Crimes Against Humanity: The struggle for Global Justice

“Poor countries sell their grain to the West while their children starve in their arms and the west feed it to the animals so they can eat a steak. Am I the only one who sees this as a crime? Every morsel of meat we eat is slapping the tear-stained face of a starving child. When I look into her eyes, should I be silent? The earth can produce enough food for everyone's needs, but not enough for everyone's greed.”

—Philip Wollen

“Delaying Miranda warnings under the "public safety exception" - including under the Obama DOJ's radically expanded version of it - is one thing. But denying him the right to a lawyer after he repeatedly requests one is another thing entirely: as fundamental a violation of crucial guaranteed rights as can be imagined”

—Glen Greenwald, ‘Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s repeated requests for a lawyer were ignored’

“The assimilated homo doesn't understand why I don't protest the Boy Scouts of America for being homophobic, or why I don't give a shit about gays in the military or--gasp!--legal marriage rights. I presume that the assimilated gay world finds it very divisive of me, protesting my lesbian and gay sisters and brothers instead of the straight world at large. What they don't get is this: I don't give a shit about the straight world. Sure, dominant society is just that: DOMINANT. No consent here. But, you see, I'm not trying to make room for myself in it. We fagulously freaky queerbos are not looking for a seat at the table of normality.”

—Josina Manu Maltzman - “Revolting”
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