Feminist Action Can Save Lives

Living as a white teenage feminist in America, surrounded by so many other white teenage feminists, it's so easy to forget that feminism is so much more than just you and me. It's easy to forget that that there are several teenagers out there just like us who are less fortunate, and whose daily terrors are more than we could begin to fathom. As I went through my daily binge of Jezebel articles, I found an example of those terrors.

Just little while ago, ABC Australia ran a documentary by Sally Sara entitled "Bangladesh: A Brave Face", following the horror stories of women and children across the capital of Dhaka who have been attacked with acid as a result of sexism. Some of these women included are guilty of stating their opinions, having male children, and refusing marriage proposals. As a result of men being unable to control themselves, these innocent women (and a particularly tragic case of a three-year-old boy) will have to face the rest of their lives with irreparable damage to their skin and bones. However, the women of Sara's dark tale stand unbelievably tall in the face of the culture that both gave and refuses to accept their handicap. "A Brave Face" paints Bangladesh's tragic heroines in a remarkably optimistic light, and their courage and perseverance is nothing if not humbling.

Their stories are heartbreaking, but the documentary's existence provides an incredibly important awareness of such despicable events. And they can be stopped-- but this is where you come in. An organization called Women Thrive has started a petition to encourage Congress's passing of the International Violence Against Women Act, which would integrate a higher focus on brutal misogyny into America's foreign assistance programs. It is incredibly easy to sit back and let this all happen, but as women of the world, we can't stand to let this go on any longer. We have the resources, and we are incredibly lucky, so it's time for us feminists to put our money where our mouths are.

Sign the IVAWA petition here, and learn more about Sally Sara's "A Brave Face" here.