Connect with us

Black Community Opinions

Local Voices: Short Changing Our Queens

By Sean C. Bowers

Actress Jennifer Lawrence’s public battle for movie star equal pay has intersected with National Football League commentator Terry Bradshaw’s rants about domestic violence abuse, both of which are the dirty (not so little) secrets in today’s mostly masculine world.

Fact 1: Over half our population are women. Yet, that male minority world-wide still clings to an accepted outdated stereotypical mindless sets of abuse and unequal treatment, reward, opportunity and penalty.

Fact 2: All women at birth inherit a brutal legacy of (male-skewed) views of just what she is capable of, can accomplish, is good for, deserves, is lucky to get, and will become.

Fact 3: With over half our population sold short from their start, we ALL lose out on all their missed futures, lost potential, opportunities, lost wages, lost potential, breakthroughs, inventions, leadership, discoveries and the true beauty of fulfilled women.

Fact 4: The saying “Hell hath no fury like a scorned woman,” lends credence to the most obvious. Mankind will never be kind or hear the end of it, nor will we as a species or human race ever reach our full potential until women are both appreciated and valued equally for their actual factual worth.

Fact 5: Thank God women are different! They should be celebrated and exalted for the softer side of humanity they exude and provide. We ALL lose forcing women to try and be more like men to “get ahead” in our rat race.

Advertisement

Fact 6: Sadly, it is men who hold women down and hold them back. Men are scared little boys who far too often operate from a “dark ages” perspective. As a man, it saddens me to witness this prejudice behavior and to have it on our record, our watch, our legacy.

Fact 7: The continually perpetuated myths that equal pay would “reduce total jobs,” “collapse the economy” or “take jobs from men” is more talking-head-hyperbole gibberish that lacks facts, compassion, logic, understanding and reason.

Fact 8: “The lie that she wanted or deserved it,” “it was her own fault,” “she should have kept her mouth shut,” “it happened because of what she was wearing or because of her past history,” are simply male justifications of expediency for taking advantage of women in a given situation. Throughout the history of womankind, the fairer half has never caught a break or been given the benefit of the doubt from the unfairer half.

Fact 9: Men will never be “real men” until they change these mores. We need to open these doors and purse (man-bag) strings for women by showing fair treatment, tenderness, and respect. Until then, we are all just creeps waiting to expose ourselves or be exposed for the creepy degenerates we are.

Fact 10: Sadly, it is when we men step up to our full potential, that we ALL can achieve the inner and external peace of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dreams.

We men have to “police” ourselves- chastise and shame the weak minded members of our sex who violate women in any fashion. We must treat others as we ourselves would want to be treated.

Fact 11: Women are the beauty and the “glue” of our world. They hold together humankind: our families, our lives, our homes and our very beings. Yet they are largely not rewarded or worshipped for who and what they are. This is not only a shame, it is a crime.

Fact 12: Like all protracted battles, womankind will not one day be magically given their just due. They will have to force the issue (as did the suffragettes to secure the right to vote) take action, unite for their rights, fight to defend themselves, and earn the right to be paid equally – what they should have already been granted from the beginning.

The good news is that women are always capable of more than what is expected from them or what they are given credit for. Two examples that buoy my spirits are in theaters now. “He Named Me Malala,” is a movie about the young girl who was targeted and nearly killed by the Taliban, and who recovered to win the Nobel Peace Prize for her world wide work on woman’s education rights. The Suffragettes movie features the brave strong women who secured for women equal their right to vote, speak out, to have an opinion and be counted. This is must see historical education for all women and girls. It is the “Selma” for women’s rights.

I will be taking my former single-parent Mom and my wife (also a former single parent mom.) Both of these women help make me the best man I can be. Thank you, ladies. You are my shining stars and my heroines.

Advertisement

Sean C. Bowers is a local progressive youth development coach, author and poet, who has written for the New Journal and Guide for seventeen years. His recent book of over 120 NJ&G articles detailing the issues is available via e-mail at V1ZUAL1ZE@aol.com and he does make large-scale solutions presentations upon request.

Please follow and like us:
Continue Reading
Advertisement
Hide picture