Misogyny Cloaked As Pseudo-Religiosity
In an act of arrogant indifference to the well-being of women, the Pope stated on a recent trip to Africa that in his opinion condoms do not contribute to solving the AIDS problem but only make it worse. Promiscuity, shouted the old misogynists of Roman Curia! Eve be dammed for her beguiling intrigues, condoms will only make her more wicked… Let her be punished for her sins!
Reality rarely permeates the walls of the Vatican. Specifically, the United Nations estimates that 22 million Africans are infected with the HIV virus. Three-quarters of the world’s AIDS deaths in 2007 were in sub-Saharan Africa where most health officials recommend condoms as a way to prevent its spread.
At the end of 2007 it was estimated that out of the 30.8 million adults worldwide living with HIV/AIDS, around half are women. Approximately 98% of these women live in developing countries. More importantly, women are at a greater risk of heterosexual transmission of HIV then men. In fact, women are twice as likely to become infected with HIV through unprotected heterosexual intercourse than men. In sub-Saharan Africa alone there are approximately 12 million women living with HIV/AIDS, compared to about 8.3 million men.
The idea that the principal role of a condom is to provide a prophylactic barrier to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS appears lost in the Vatican’s rhetorical rant against the evils wrought by women. Oh my god, it also prevents unwanted pregnancies — artificial birth control, they whisper. Women have shouted back to the deaf old men behind the ancient stonewalls, we have taken control of our reproductive life, you may no longer dictate the terms! Alas, they don’t listen. Their hearts are as hardened as their hearing.
I am male and i think the Vatican perpetuates misogyny.
The pope is a neutered and out of touch religious leader of an organization whose sole purpose is to set rules of living for the masses. The Vatican should have been dissolved decades ago, especially when so many of their own priests have been convicted of molesting little boys whether it was at a parish or one of those Indian residential schools. Every one knows that a catholic priest is really just a pedophile looking for a home.
That is why they cloister women into nunneries and “forbid” sex or marriage. They segregate their members by gender for a reason you know.
March 27th, 2009 at 12:38 pm