LAUGHTER & LOVE – REACHING FOR THE BEST!

We all start out with the potential to laugh and love without barriers or blame, regardless of where we’re born or the color of our skin. Then the social values of “winning and power” force people to dampen the laughter and diminish the love, but now we know it doesn’t have to be this way. Now we know that each of us holds the power to change those social values to bring out the very best in people!

That really is the basis of the (r)evolution I write about in Conversations with EVE. Average people using the power of their daily choices to create societies and cultures that encourage, nurture, and reward all the wonderful aspects of our human nature: kindness, tolerance, curiosity, compassion, fair play, cooperation, etc.

In order to accomplish this, we’ll need to make our choices on new social assumptions:

- Happiness is more essential and fulfilling than power
- Team work is more productive and satisfying than beating somebody out
- Every individual deserves the same respect and protections
- Every individual deserves the chance to earn a decent standard of living

So, maybe our “giving” can have a much greater meaning this holiday season. Maybe our choices can “give” the world’s people and future generations the opportunity to live in homes and societies that value and support them. Let’s choose laughter and love!

EVE ARE CHANGING THE WORLD!

In the courts and in the courtyards around the world EVE are making a statement and a difference!

On the global scene, this photo by Lindsey Maya (1) shows EVE gathered in Nepal to discuss women’s health. They came together to “open a dialogue” about the practice of Chhaupadi which still stigmatizes and traumatizes women and girls in Achham because of their bodily functions.

In this society, menstruating EVE are still viewed as impure and confined in small, unventilated sheds during their monthly cycles. EVE are not only ostracized and shamed by this practice, there have been deaths during this confinement “due to snake bites, hypothermia, or oxygen deficiency.” These EVE are gathered to watch a skit to openly show how negative this treatment is and to talk about how they can change or eliminate it from their society. This is the power of Conversation – talking about social change with those who can most benefit!

Then there is the story right here in America about an internet campaign to stop a grave injustice in our court system. This campaign by the activist group/site UltraViolet.org (2) focused on a travesty of justice in Montana. Judge Baugh sentenced the rapist of Cherice Moralez, a 14-year-old girl who committed suicide after she was raped by her teacher, to 30-days in jail because he said the girl was "as much in control of the situation" as her 49-year-old rapist.

This is a truly blatant example of the “blame the victim” strategy, but EVE aren’t taking this twisting of reality quietly anymore. Through internet activism UltraViolet collected 86,500 petition signatures demanding justice for Cherice and Judge Baugh’s removal from the bench, and their voices have been heard. Prosecutors in Montana have filed an appeal to put Cherice’s rapist behind bars for 10 years, and Montana’s National Organization for Women has filed an official complaint to have Baugh removed from the bench.

None of these changes would be happening if EVE had not joined their voices and their power to expose the cruel and unfair ways EVE are still treated every day in our Manplan world and demand change.

SPEAK UP & SPEAK OUT FOR ALL PEOPLE!

(1) http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mass-Community_Health_Teaching.JPG
(2) Weareultraviolet.org

A TRUE “COMMUNITY” CONVERSATION

I was honored and exhilarated to share the messages of Conversations with EVE as a panelist at an amazing event recently! Almost 100 people gathered at Florida Southern College

for the “Lois Cowles Harrison Symposium on Women: From Passion to Action.”

I was especially honored because this event was created, organized, and presented by the League of Women Voters (LWV) of Polk County in direct response to my book and its messages of enlightenment and empowerment for EVE. The event was recorded by PGTV and will be broadcast in the near future on local cable channels.

Even more exciting is a campaign by the local LWV chapter called “CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION.” This symposium was the kick-off for the campaign and a recording will be shared with all the LWV chapters in the country to encourage open, honest dialogue about the issues that EVE still face here in America and abroad.

Also bringing their perspectives and expertise to the panel were Dr. Sharon Masters, recently retired professor of Women’s Studies programs at Florida Southern College and Doris Weatherford, renowned author of works on EVE’s history and adjunct professor at University of South Florida, Tampa.

The more we talk about and advocate for the social changes that are needed to restore balance and sanity to our world, the more likely they will happen!!!

THANKS TO SO MANY EVE

A quick thought before we get busy cooking, eating, laughing, and loving for Thanksgiving.

(And just for fun, click on this link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRVrUZXxi6g&list=PL8F050930AC77094E - and listen to “Imperfection” by Saving Jane while you read.)

I am SO THANKFUL! My list would fill pages, so let me just say I’m thankful for:

1. wonderful, strong EVE in my life and my family who I can laugh, cry, and hope with,
2. accomplished EVE like my mother who created a home and raised the kids,
3. independent EVE like my Grandma Whidden who divorced a man way before it was “acceptable” because it was the right thing to do,
4. talented EVE who are making their mark in entertainment so we can hear their voices, see their portrayals, and read their words of inspiration,
5. amazing EVE in the U.S. Congress who are challenging the mess the men are making,
6. indomitable EVE who campaigned tirelessly so I can use the power of my vote to change the world,
7. unapologetic EVE who proved EVE’s “place” includes college and graduate school,
8. courageous EVE like Ilana Hammerman, an Israeli widow, who started smuggling Palestinian EVE to the beach for a day to “befriend our brave Palestinian neighbors, and together with them, to be free women, if only for one day.” (1)
9. determined EVE around the world who recognize their dignity and their value even if their societies are still fighting the inevitable,
10. ALL THE MEN who have, do and will love and support strong, smart, funny EVE!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

(1) http://12160.info/m/blogpost?id=2649739%3ABlogPost%3A1339080

EVE TO EVE - CREATING THE CONVERSATIONS!

This wonderful group (plus more not shown in this photo) was given the opportunity recently to laugh, learn, and share our successes and challenges as EVE.

The gathering took place in Baltimore, Maryland, through the insight and energy of my cousin, Susan. She had read Conversations with EVE and wanted to share the wealth by hosting her own Conversation.

Through her hospitality, EVE of different ages and backgrounds sat down together to talk, to learn from each other, and to encourage and motivate each other. Our attitudes on some things were quite different but our belief that EVE deserve equality and respect was unanimous.

At the table that day we shared our frustrations, more of them from the older EVE than the younger. But we also shared how fortunate we were to have grown up in a society that was so changed and improved by the women’s movement. From the 72 years of hard work it took to secure the vote for EVE in America to the sit-ins for equal pay and the speak-outs against abuse of the 1960s, we are all beneficiaries of EVE who refused to accept that they deserved less respect or opportunities than men.

They were EVE who believed in their rights and their freedoms and never stopped speaking out about them. They were EVE who challenged the limitations put on them and lived by their own conscience, in spite of the fact that it often made them unpopular with their family, their church, their community, or their nation. And we all decided that we are also those EVE, that we want to continue to protect and expand dignity, opportunities, and happiness for EVE the worldwide with every choice we make.

One more Conversation. Many more EVE feeling empowered to make an even bigger difference in our society and our world. How awesome! If you have a group that would like to get together with me for a Conversation, let me know at info@everyvaginaonearth.com. I can’t wait.

WERE EVE THE FIRST ARTISTS?

Well, it looks like science is going to have to revise another theory of the role of EVE in prehistory, because those remarkable paleolithic cave paintings were most likely made by EVE artists.

That’s the startling outcome of a new analysis of the handprints in several famous cave paintings by Dean Snow, Pennsylvania State University, as reported by Virginia Hughes, National Geographic. (1) Snow’s careful analysis of hand stencils found in eight cave sites in France and Spain show that three-quarters of the handprints were made by EVE, not men, but he wasn’t really surprised by this finding.

As with so many “man the hunter” interpretations of archaeological remains, these amazing works of art were automatically assumed to have been made by men because they showcase game animals. However, Snow explained, “there has been a male bias in the literature for a long time. In most hunter-gatherer societies, it’s men that do the killing. But it’s often the women who haul the meat back to camp, and women are as concerned with the productivity of the hunt as men are.” A second theory that had credited the paintings to shamans rather than hunters still includes EVE as the artists, because what could be one of the oldest burials of a religious shaman yet discovered is the 12,000-year-old grave of a high ranking female in Israel.

I'm not saying that EVE did everything in prehistoric society. I'm just saying that EVE did a great deal more than they've been given credit for (yet) by the male dominated sciences. Good to know that both male and female scientists are openly challenging these outdated theories to give us a truer sense of our cultural history.

(1) http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/10/131008-women-handprints-oldest-neolithic-cave-art/

THE (R)EVOLUTIONARY POWER OF ADVERTISING ??

Sometimes positive culture change can be advanced by the most unlikely influences.

There is an article and link on Huffington Post (1) for a video of an advertisement from a jeweler in India. The reason this ad is newsworthy is because it challenges the long standing taboos that widowed and divorced EVE have suffered under in Indian culture.

An article by V. Malik (2) offers a good description of the hardships of many widows in India. He writes, “The marriageable age was lowered further and girls were married at the age of 8, just before the time they attained puberty. Widow marriages were prohibited and sati (being burned on the husband’s funeral pyre, my note) became a common practice. Early marriage was naturally followed by early maternity, which increased the mortality among women between the ages of 14 and 22. Child brides got married to men twice their age, who died early due to disease or warfare leaving these brides as child widows who were not permitted to remarry. They had to lead a chaste life and could not look at another man their entire life. They had to remain faithful to their husband, alive or dead, all their lives.”

There have been attempts to change this terrible social situation for EVE in India. In fact, the British government passed a law in 1856 that legalized widow remarriage, but a law doesn’t necessarily change people’s minds or habits. Those who opposed the new law had three arguments against it, which basically sound exactly like every other argument for changing the Manplan and improving the lives of EVE(2):

1. we’ve “always” done it this way so it must be right,
2. if restrictions on women are relaxed, society will crash and burn, and
3. women are by nature deceitful, untrustworthy and prone to adultery.

“AdWeek reports that India has been ‘mesmerized’ by the ad. The trade outlet called the commercial ‘revolutionary’ and ‘crazy bold.’(1) So maybe a simple advertisement for jewelry can make Indian citizens rethink this demoralizing and harmful cultural taboo. We hope so!

(1) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/31/india-second-marriage-ad_n_4181192.html?1383239302&icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl2|sec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D399561

(2) “Problems Of Widow Remarriage In India: A Study”, Varun Malik, Assistant Professor, Rayat College Of Law, Railmajra, India, Journal of Business Management & Social Sciences Research, Volume 2, No.2, February 2013.