Boy oh boy...what a way to start a new blog!!!
I wish that I could tell you of all the juicy erotic tales that I plan to unleash here; or the fine stories -- and even finer-ass women -- that I will be featuring. But this story of the State of Georgia passing this anti-piercing bill has got me really pissed off BIG TIME...and I have to speak my mind on it.
For those of you not familiar with it...the Georgia legislature bought out a bill that would have banned what is known as "female genital mutilation", a procedure performed on women in mostly poor, Third World countries where medival religion usually rules their customs. In FGM, the woman's clitoris is either cut off entirely or otherwise maimed as a means of reducing sexual arousal and pleasure. It is usually promoted as a means of maintaining women's sexual propriety and availability for marriage; although it has been claimed that the Muslim faith supports the "procedure", it is strongly denied by many Islamic scholars. To say that it is a barbaric procedure is an understatement, and should not be confused with the standard procedure of male circumcism that is still common among some of the more orthodox Jewish.
Anyway....the original bill in Georgia started out as a very good bill which would have banned such a procedure in that state. They even had a woman from some African country testify in hearings about the severity and barbarity of the procedure; apparantly it worked, for the bill passed without opposition in the Georgia Senate.
Unfortunately, a Republican jackass numbskull representative named Bill Heath decided to inject his own Puritan bias into the debate by adding an amendment which added the word "piercing" to the procedures that would be banned as FGM. In this case, "piercing" includes not only those forced procedures, but also consensual, regular piercings that many able-bodied women apply to their genital areas. In short, thanks to Mr. Heath, a woman can no longer have her clit or any other part of her puss decorated with any kind of jewelry...even if she fully consents to it.
Now, MALE piercing will still remain perfectly legal, so a man can continue to "mutilate" his dick to excess if he wants to. According to articles I've seen -- and I'll provide the links later on -- Heath tacked on the "piercing" ban when he was told that some women do in fact like that kind of procedure; apparantly his faith that that kind of thing was "inappropriate" for even adults to do motivated him to act.
Now the real question: why is a female vounteering to pierce her clit to adorn herself -- and the piercing has been proven to be perfectly safe and commonly done by many women -- considered bad and evil enough to be banned; but a man who is forced to endure unanethethisized circumcisions not?? Well it comes down, in my view to two reasons, both of them related: misogyny and sexual fear.
Apparantly, the majority of the Georgia Lege has this idea that women who pierce their pussies voluntarily are apparantly threatening "our impressionable children" with their supposedly addictive and "perverse" sexuality. It's a well known fact that many of those who wear clitoral piercings do so as a sign of independence and a symbol of sexual freedom; and that really scares shitless the old fogies who like "their women" to keep their skirts long, their midriffs covered, their mouths shut, and their legs closed (except when they're cranking out babies for the local fundamentalist church, that is). I'll bet that probably half of those who supported this bill couldn't even spell "female genital mutilation", let alone define it; they just voted for it as a way to punish the "sluts" and "jezebels" for contaminating their pure, virginal virtue that "ladies" are supposed to maintain. (I'm sure the the other half probably would have actually SUPPORTED the concept of FGM as a cure for the ails of overripe female sexuality.)
To be fair to the more sane people of GA, there was an attempt by those who supported the bill in its original form to strike out the anti-"piercing" language; along with some strong protests by both the usual women's groups (like the National Organization for Women); piercing advocates and artists and their customers, and even the ACLU was called in to oppose the bill. Unfortunately, it all fell on deaf ears,and the amendment was approved and passed with majority support.
So much for personal freedom and equality for women in Georgia...but then again, the entire South seems to have it in for sexual freedom these days, what with Mississippi's upholding of the ban on possession of sex toys (in a par with Texas and Alabama); and the smearing of sex writer Tristan Taromino by some right-wing lugnuts in North Carolina...the list could go on.
Maybe one day some in the South can actually stop fighting the Civil War and accept the value of full equality and personal freedom and autonomy and self-determination.....one day, but more than likely, not today. It is still an act of political resistance to insist on your right to be openly a sexual person in America....maybe only a revolution can turn these reactionary fools out and bring some people with some sanity and emphathy.
I wish that it was an April fools joke here...but if we don't defend pleasure and freedom in sexual matters real soon and real loud, only the Far Right will be laughing.
Sorry to kick off on such a downer; I promise a much better and happier post next time.
Anthony Kennerson
Mood: worried
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