Monday, March 23, 2015

The Awesome New Power of Sex Strikes

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"My Wife Yes, My Dog Maybe, 
My Gun Never." - A Texas bumper sticker

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In a 2013 Huffington Post article, by Vivian Norris titled: “Texas Women: Stop Having Sex With Men Who Vote Against Your Best Interests” was an idea I just had to include here. I must admit, it blew me away. The concept of using the abstinence of sex to control men - en masse - is an outstanding way to draw attention to the true power of women. Especially the way she used it to expose male hubris that surrounds the men in Texas politics. She prefaced her article with the Wikipedia definition of a sex strike.

"A sex strike, sometimes called a sex boycott, is a strike, a method of non-violent resistance in which one or multiple persons refrain from sex with their partner(s) to achieve certain goals. It is a form of temporary sexual abstinence. Sex strikes have been used to protest many issues, from water resources to employment equity."

Norris gave an example of how women in Kenya stopped the violence with a sex strike after a political election. She tied that powerful example to the way women are being treated in Texas politics and wrote:

“Women, take heed: Don't give in if your man, boyfriend, husband, toyboy is not voting for your best interests, your reproductive health – do not sleep with that man! I don't care how cute or charming he is! I don't care if he is your husband of many years. Resist! Go swimming! Meditate!

Do not make him dinner, do not go fetch him a cold beer from the fridge, do not iron that shirt, hell, do not change that diaper... do not make his life a little nicer this summer if he does not "get it" and learn to respect women! Instead, volunteer some time for senators like Wendy Davis, go with a group of women to Austin and make your voices heard. Get on the computer and the social networks and organize.

Remember that you live in a state where it would not be unusual (and I have seen it) to see a bumper sticker on a pickup truck which reads, "My Wife Yes, My Dog Maybe, My Gun Never." Remember what happened last time when a Texas good ole boy governor took that patriarchy all the way to become President of the United States. Stop the damage now and take back Texas.

This may sound a bit extreme and some will say sex should not be used as a "weapon" but let's get real, this is Texas, and men in Texas who have not woken up and smelled the coffee simply do not deserve any loving. Houston has more strip clubs than libraries. You can buy a gun easier than you can get reproductive health care. There is still a virgin and whore fundamentalist mentality which is more dangerous to women as it often is also promoted by the women themselves. These women, like women who hurt other women everywhere by criticizing and judging them, need to wake up as well. Women hurting other women is suicidal. Women who play into the hand of patriarchy need to be shown the way out of that prison. Wendy Davis and Leticia Van De Putte and others are leading the way.

The real problem will actually be with those men who could care less because deep down they don't really like women. I don't mean not like them sexually, I mean they really do not respect nor listen to women. There is a breed of Texas male who simply does not hear women. Women's voices remind them of terrorists.”

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Well, I think Vivian Norris is on to something big and that if it does indeed become a national strike, it could help bring awareness to the male violence problem as well. If you coupled a sex strike with a “National Bogus Beauty Strike” and how cosmetics continually also fosters toxicity in relationships, we’d all be better off. Count me in for national sex-strikes. :-) 

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