MARX has a halo

Unorthodox

Hello all. Still blogging from Amman, Jordan. Honestly, I am having a great time and who thought that right in the heart of the Middle Eastern Arab peninsula the weather can be so great?! I am loving it.

Anyhow, this blog post is going to be a little different. I would like to introduce a topic that is highly controversial and quite unorthodox. First, how this topic came about was after meeting a very bright group of young Jordanians who held a debate that I would never have encountered in Dubai. At the beginning we were simply discussing the US foreign policy over italian food (a bit heavy to be honest) which then lead to us discussing the whole Dark Night Rises shooting in the States. Which then lead to us talking about how primitive it is to still have a domestic policy where civilians can still bare arms. (BTW my best friend Yasmine pointed out how all these shootings and this whole policy basically encourages terrorism…YES! THANK YOU!). But then I remembered a discussion I was having with my mother about how interesting it would be, and how effective it would be too, for women to be allowed to bare arms.

Can you imagine what the world would be like if women where to be the only civilian gender to be able to bare arms domestically?

It sounds, wrong, on so many levels. However, I can going to defend the idea simply because I do believe that if any nation genuinely saw that civilians buying weapons was part of their personal freedom then women would be the most efficient, safe and effective way to distribute them. Look at the following figures:

- In terms of Domestic Violence (DV) world wide these were the statistics gathered by womansaid.org;

“1 in 4 women experience domestic violence over their lifetimes, and between 6-10% of women suffer domestic violence in a given year…Partner violence accounts for a high proportion of homicides of women internationally: between 40% - “70% of female murder victims (depending on the country) were killed by their partners/former partners, whereas the comparable figure for men is 4% - 8%…Domestic violence is internationally acknowledged to be one of the health inequalities affecting women particularly, and forms a significant obstacle to their receiving effective health care. (World Health Organisation, 1997; United Nations,1993)”

And finally:

“Women are much more likely than men to be the victim of multiple incidents of abuse, and of sexual violence: 32% of women who had ever experienced domestic violence did so four or five (or more) times, compared with 11% of the (smaller number) of men who had ever experienced domestic violence; and women constituted 89% of all those who had experienced 4 or more incidents of domestic violence”

- When it comes to the effects of DV on the household (children etc.) the following was said;

“At least 750,000 children a year witness domestic violence… Children who live with domestic violence are at increased risk of behavioural problems and emotional trauma, and mental health difficulties in adult life… In 75% to 90% of incidents of domestic violence, children are in the same or the next room… The link between child physical abuse and domestic violence is high, with estimates ranging between 30% to 66% depending upon the study.”

And these are only figures on domestic violence alone, disregarding sexual assault, rape, and general discrimination. The problem with violence towards women, as opposed to violence towards men, is that the after effects of abusing women usually has long term effects on her offspring as mentioned above. Think of it like this: when cows or sheep are butchered for their meat the usual gender chosen is the male. The reason is obvious; killing, lets say, 50 male sheep out of a 100 males would not decrease the reproduction as drastically as killing the female. If 50 female sheep are killed the reproduction falls drastically because you cannot re-replicate the lost production of the 50 female sheep. Killing 50 male sheep out of a population of 100 male sheep wouldn’t do much because, assuming there are a 100 female sheep available, they would be able to provide enough sperm for the 100 female sheep anyway. The point is that violence against women has a domino effect which lives on with her offspring and possible even with their offspring.

Now, the causes of violence against women, is another story. Its a huge issue that is ingrained in our universal society for a large part of human history. I have discussed the causes and implications of violence towards women in another post on my blog in the past. (Keep scrolling down to find it!). This issue is so deep in human history that it could not possibly be changed in a short period of time. It needs mass co-operation between nations on a universal level; and we all know how effective that is (not).

So, maybe arming women can be beneficial? Think of the theory of the survival of the fittest. If all women all over the world had the exclusive rights to purchase arms what would that men for men? Maybe some fear for their own lives will keep them at bay for the time being? Maybe it would empower women? Maybe it would mean more peace.

A woman, generally speaking, and especially women that bare children, would not risk harming their children. That is the assumption of this post. Therefore, women would not purchase arms unless needed crucially. For purposes of self defence for example. Would women really have the same motivations as men to buy weapons? I mean, yeah sure, they could. But the chances are not as much, especially with such a high number of women being violated on a daily bases.

It’s just an idea, a theory, a thought. I do understand that the implications of such a policy would not be for the best entirely. But look at the modern methods of giving aid like microfinance. Research shows that it is more efficient to give women money in under-developed nations simply because they are more responsible. They wouldn’t spend money on booze or sex like men would. Men tend to be more irresponsible than women is the basic message.

Of course, this idea is also an infringement on male rights and is slight narcissist of me as a woman. But let me know what you think of this whole idea. I’d like to start a debate for once! you can email me on darahghanem@hotmail.com or twitter me. If you’re friends with me on fb then drop me a message! I’d love to hear ideas!

Peace

D