15957: Racine: Re: 15947: Hermantin reponds to Racine (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Racine125@aol.com

<< My first feminist role model was my grand-mother who
 taught me ever since I could remember that  we came from a long line of
 independent self-sufficient women who took no stuff  from men. >>

I am happy that this is how you remember her.

However, it is also a fact that the most active women's organizations in
Haiti are not led by average, majority class Haitian women, but by diasporan or
internationally educated Haitian women with some exposure to the feminist
movement.

<< Violence and terror against women in Haiti are not a culture-wide problem,
 violence against women is one of these abominations which transcends any
 speicific  culture... It's not a Haitian thing. >>

This is certainly true.  What is a "Haitian thing" is the specific cultural
response of those people who should be protecting women, namely law enforcement
and health care workers.  I don't think too many American doctors, retrograde
and reactionary though some of them may be, would suggest that because a man
once gave a woman a few dollars to buy a hot dog, she therefore must submit to
sexual relations and beatings.

<<In spite of all efforts propounded by enlightened American feminists, women
are still getting killed  and brutalized by their partners in the United
States. >>

I have not suggested that domestic violence never occurs in the USA.
However, thanks to the feminist movement, it happens less often than it used to; and
it is much more frequently prosecuted and much more severely punished than in
Haiti.  It's a question of degree.

Peace and love,

Bon Mambo Racine Sans Bout Sa Te La Daginen

"Se bon ki ra" - Good is rare
     Haitian Proverb

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