Women and girls trapped in Afghanistan remain the target of the most vicious assaults.
To be made invisible in a country even while made of flesh and blood, female existence belongs to the erratic will of zealous men.
Coerced by patriarchal religious fundamentalism, the abusive iron hand of male chauvinism, women walk behind, covered by layers of cloth like a bag of dirty laundry.
Females, uneducated, their primary role in society to bear and nurture children, face ridicule, abuse and death if they don’t conform, if they have personal identity and spirit, expressed intellect and talent, academic and career goals, and a vivid, involved public presence.
Theocratic political rule, a totalitarian hammer which pounds men, too, blends spiritual paucity of expression and belief with government control and punishment.
We see this smoldering heinous control and punishment erupt in Texas now.
Maybe a different religion, but equally dangerous.
Suppressing women’s reproductive decisions about their own bodies, turning people into avaricious bounty hunters against one another, emphasizes religious fundamentalists’ insidious fight to gain supremacy.
Also, their attempts to eliminate the right to vote would ensure the severe theocratic totalitarian goals to defeat
our pluralistic democratic republic.
Our American way of life.
Whether female or male, we must stop the ascension of patriarchal theocratic rule.
Let the veil of deception be removed.
Gayle Brauner
Port Angeles