Friday, October 19, 2007
Myanmar Embassies Struck With Panty Protests
Myanmar Embassies Struck With Panty Protests: "Myanmar Embassies Struck With Panty Protests There has been no response from Myanmar officials on the 'Panty Protest' according to the Lanna Action for Burma web site. The group is urging women to send their panties to Myanmar embassies as a form of protest against recent government crackdowns. The gesture is considered to be very strong in Southeast Asian culture. 'Send early, send often' states the activist group. Contact with women's underwear will drain them of power, or so the country's superstitious generals believe. Women from around the world have started sending their underwear in response to the informally organized protest. Source: www.gmanews.tv WebReporter: Zpravodajec Show Calling Card"
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2 comments:
The protest is innovative, but ironically it depends upon the willingness of women to reinforce a belief of the innate superiority of men over women that is held not only by Burma's generals but also by most men in the country. Men are potent; women are weak. Thus women's genitalia--especially if menstruating--are dangerous to men's potency.
Day-to-day this means, among other things, that men in Burma actively avoid having contact with women's lower garments, and that special restrictions are placed on the hanging of women's washing that do not apply to men's articles. Perhaps the organisers of the protest should have considered these features of the "culturally insulting gesture" before going ahead with it. Who is really being insulted?
Hard to know. Not being Burmese, I can only see this through my own cultural lens.
What upsets me is that the entire world is willing to tolerate all this.
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