I'm so fucking pissed off. Read the following article:
Georgia House bans genital piercings for women
Received by Newsfinder from AP
ATLANTA (AP) Genital piercings for women were banned by the Georgia House Wednesday as lawmakers considered a bill outlining punishments for female genital mutilation.
The bill would make such mutilation punishable by two to 20 years in prison. It makes no exception for people who give consent to have the procedure performed on their daughters out of religious or cultural custom.
An amendment adopted without objection added "piercing" to the list of things that may not be done to female genitals. Even adult women would not be allowed to get the procedure. The bill eventually passed 160-0, with no debate.
Amendment sponsor Rep. Bill Heath, R-Bremen, was slack-jawed when told after the vote that some adults seek the piercings.
"What? I've never seen such a thing," Heath said. "I, uh, I wouldn't approve of anyone doing it. I don't think that's an appropriate thing to be doing."
The ban applies only to women, not men. The bill has already been approved by the Senate but now must return to that chamber because of the piercing amendment. Both chambers of the Legislature must agree on a single version of a bill before it can go to the governor for final approval.
This is outrageous.
Genital mutilation, as it occurs in other cultures, is practiced, to put it mildly, in order to make women submissive and disempower them. It is forced upon them, usually as children. In some cases young women's labia are sewn together, and after they are married their husband then has the right to force through the disfigured flesh with his penis or cut it open with a knife. Some cultures also remove the clitoris so that women will never have the ability to enjoy sex.
Of course, I know there are people who attempt to practice genital mutilation in this country, and there is a need to ban it here. However, I wonder exactly how many members of the demographic groups who practice this ceremony have come to the United States and settled in Georgia. Some conservative fuckwad obviously threw this clause into a much needed bill in an effort to take away even more of our civil liberties. In any case, to lump voluntary genital piercing in with this bill is ludicrous. How can they even compare the two? Genital mutilation destroys the sexual identity of women. Meanwhile, women choose to participate in sterile, healthy body modification in the form of voluntary genital piercing in celebration of their sexuality, in celebration of sensation, and in celebration of their right to make decisions about their own bodies.
I'm sorry, Mr. Bill Heath, that you are so culturally ignorant and have your head so far up the ass of patriarchal society that you aren't aware of body modification. But, you are a man. You have NO right to tell me what *I* can and cannot do with my own genitalia.
What's worse, this bill explicitly excludes the issue of male genital piercing. What, are men strong enough to handle it? Are men responsible enough to make the decision about themselves? Well, not to worry, I'm sure that's coming next. Men, watch your backs and your Prince Alberts. They're coming to take your rights away, too.
There are crueler issues in the world of piercing. I, being a mentally cognizant woman of 22, can't go choose to have my hood pierced, but a mother can still take her six-month-old daughter to the mall and put her through the agony of ear piercing without her consent. If you're going to ban piercing, ban the kind of that sort. Make it so a girl doesn't have to have anything pierced until she wants to. Then, make sure she can legally and safely pierce whatever the hell she wants.
All this is going to do is increase instances of improper, non-sterile procedure in this state. Good going, morons. One less thing you can tax.
I've never even wanted to have any area of my genitals pierced. But now I'm seriously considering driving to another state and having the procedure performed, just out of principle. I feel infringed upon and robbed.
Georgia House bans genital piercings for women
Received by Newsfinder from AP
ATLANTA (AP) Genital piercings for women were banned by the Georgia House Wednesday as lawmakers considered a bill outlining punishments for female genital mutilation.
The bill would make such mutilation punishable by two to 20 years in prison. It makes no exception for people who give consent to have the procedure performed on their daughters out of religious or cultural custom.
An amendment adopted without objection added "piercing" to the list of things that may not be done to female genitals. Even adult women would not be allowed to get the procedure. The bill eventually passed 160-0, with no debate.
Amendment sponsor Rep. Bill Heath, R-Bremen, was slack-jawed when told after the vote that some adults seek the piercings.
"What? I've never seen such a thing," Heath said. "I, uh, I wouldn't approve of anyone doing it. I don't think that's an appropriate thing to be doing."
The ban applies only to women, not men. The bill has already been approved by the Senate but now must return to that chamber because of the piercing amendment. Both chambers of the Legislature must agree on a single version of a bill before it can go to the governor for final approval.
This is outrageous.
Genital mutilation, as it occurs in other cultures, is practiced, to put it mildly, in order to make women submissive and disempower them. It is forced upon them, usually as children. In some cases young women's labia are sewn together, and after they are married their husband then has the right to force through the disfigured flesh with his penis or cut it open with a knife. Some cultures also remove the clitoris so that women will never have the ability to enjoy sex.
Of course, I know there are people who attempt to practice genital mutilation in this country, and there is a need to ban it here. However, I wonder exactly how many members of the demographic groups who practice this ceremony have come to the United States and settled in Georgia. Some conservative fuckwad obviously threw this clause into a much needed bill in an effort to take away even more of our civil liberties. In any case, to lump voluntary genital piercing in with this bill is ludicrous. How can they even compare the two? Genital mutilation destroys the sexual identity of women. Meanwhile, women choose to participate in sterile, healthy body modification in the form of voluntary genital piercing in celebration of their sexuality, in celebration of sensation, and in celebration of their right to make decisions about their own bodies.
I'm sorry, Mr. Bill Heath, that you are so culturally ignorant and have your head so far up the ass of patriarchal society that you aren't aware of body modification. But, you are a man. You have NO right to tell me what *I* can and cannot do with my own genitalia.
What's worse, this bill explicitly excludes the issue of male genital piercing. What, are men strong enough to handle it? Are men responsible enough to make the decision about themselves? Well, not to worry, I'm sure that's coming next. Men, watch your backs and your Prince Alberts. They're coming to take your rights away, too.
There are crueler issues in the world of piercing. I, being a mentally cognizant woman of 22, can't go choose to have my hood pierced, but a mother can still take her six-month-old daughter to the mall and put her through the agony of ear piercing without her consent. If you're going to ban piercing, ban the kind of that sort. Make it so a girl doesn't have to have anything pierced until she wants to. Then, make sure she can legally and safely pierce whatever the hell she wants.
All this is going to do is increase instances of improper, non-sterile procedure in this state. Good going, morons. One less thing you can tax.
I've never even wanted to have any area of my genitals pierced. But now I'm seriously considering driving to another state and having the procedure performed, just out of principle. I feel infringed upon and robbed.
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Did this make any sense?
Be Well everyone, especially my friends.
Hugs and
Anyway, the weekend is nigh upon us. Hope yours is a good one.