BlogHers Act: My 2 Cents

There's a new initiative for women going on right now over at BlogHer called BlogHers Act.

BlogHers Act will take on two things --

1. Making a difference on a single global cause

2. Identifying the top four issues that women online want the U.S. Presidential candidates to address in order to win our votes in the ‘08 Election.

Imagine the opportunity that’s in all of our hands right now.

All of us know the positive, productive, monumental ACTION of bloggers, especially women bloggers, when rallying around a problem, an issue or an event. Since we started blogging a few years back, we’ve witnessed - and been so lucky to be a part of - countless moments, big and small, when bloggers worked together to make a difference.

There's more details if you follow the link above.  Basically, you blog your opinions, tag with "BlogHers Act," and leave the link to your post as a comment to the post linked above.  Or, if you're not a blogger, you can simply comment your opinion on that post.  Here's a week one round-up.  And the deadline's this Friday, June 15th.

So if you want to participate, sit down right now and blog it, or add your comment today!

Now, clearly I'm not often a political blogger, so it's a bit out of my comfort zone to be honest.  But I know the power of the amazing women of BlogHer, so I'm not going to let this opportunity pass by without raising my voice.  I'll start with my top four issues in the coming election.

1. Abortion and contraception.  The Supreme Court just outlawed a safer procedure for late-term abortion so that women who need this procedure - which is almost always performed for medical reasons - now have to have a more dangerous procedure which can cause perforation of the uterus.  My tax dollars are funding Christian clinics that provide absolutely no health benefits, but instead, exist to lie to women and terrorize them into not getting abortions.  As opposed to the multitude of options presented and the actual health care that occur at a Planned Parenthood.  Yeah, I'm pro-choice and yeah, it's a litmus issue for me.  And I'd imagine that if you're on the other side of this issue you can at least agree with me that it's time for our politicians to speak in clear, strong, solid English about where they stand on abortion and contraception.
2. Gay rights, particularly gay marriage.  Another litmus test for me, because ultimately my biggest issue is freedom.  There is not one secular reason gays shouldn't marry, and our government is supposed to be secular.  Again, even if you're on the other side, surely it's time for our politicians to unequivocally state their opinions.  I'm looking to vote for someone who's willing to fight for the freedom of all Americans, and who's willing to take a clear stand on this issue.
3. Credit and banking industry.  Where I'm from, it's illegal to sell water for $50 a gallon after a hurricane.  It's called price gouging.  The highly unethical practices at work in the credit industry and the mortgage industry are similar to this in my opinion.  The purposely craft policies that exist to bury the American public in debt.  Yes, we should all be responsible for our financial decisions, but loans should be crafted with the intention of the debtor paying back the loan, not crafted with the intent of keeping the debtor in debt for the rest of their lives.  Similarly, why are we giving mortgages to people who can't afford them, driving up the cost of homes?  This is all going to come crashing down around us, and personal debt is absolutely having a negative effect on Americans' chance for individual success, which ultimately holds back America.  I want to know what the government is going to do to reign in abusive lending practices.
4. Wow, it is super hard to pick 4 issues.  I have to pick between Iraq, healthcare, education, childcare, immigration and the environment!  But I'm going to go with healthcare because when I became unemployed, I most certainly could not afford to do Cobra.  We need individual options for healthcare; our system is ridiculous.  If you're not employed, you're screwed.  Too many of us have small cracks in time where we must go without coverage, and if something happens to you in that time, there goes your whole life.  The system also holds back many people from taking business opportunities that might mean lesser or no healthcare.  B-R-O-K-E-N.  I want to know how we're going to fix our healthcare system.

That was tough, and I know some of my issues aren't other people's first things, particularly the credit industry business.  I do tend to think that things that empower individuals - for example, by not letting a corrupt industry bilk them into a lifetime of debt - create an engine for the success of a country.  And I tend to focus on "freedom" issues like abortion and gay marriage.  I'm big on the individual freedom and empowerment - how American of me.

As for global change, that's so much tougher, isn't it?  You want it to be something actionable; that's the trick of it.  What I most wish is that we could promote feminism worldwide.  That we could stop female genitalia multilation, stop the rape, stop the stoning.  That we could spread the word that women should be treated as equal humans and given equal rights throughout the world.  That we could empower women worldwide.

One thing I read about on feminists blogs is the concept that we aren't communicating that rape is wrong.  I know when you read that sentence, it may seem silly.  Of course, rape is wrong.  It feels like saying, murder is wrong or stealing is wrong.  But like the commercials teaching that illegal downloading is wrong, we clearly do need to get the message out that rape is wrong.  Clearly, we aren't teaching this message at all. 

Yes, I'm thinking about the De Anza rape case.  And I'm trying to understand how a room full of guys thinks that consensual sex ever on any level includes a totally trashed girl covered in vomit.  That is a room of guys getting off on inequality.

The huge problem of rape internationally is men getting off on inequality.  You don't throw a woman down and rape her anywhere in the world without thinking that a woman is a lesser being than you.  Someone to violate and use because she doesn't matter as much as you.

The positive side of the message is that consensual sex is sex that is enjoyed and entered into by two people.  Two conscious, fully aware, sex-loving people. 

So my suggestion for global action:  We need to teach the world that rape is wrong.  Because that starts to teach the world that women are equal.

And that gives us twice as many people to rise up and make the world a better place.