VISIBILITY? IT DEPENDS

Did you notice when you read about the murder of Ennis
William Cosby? Lots of us didn't because we are so
used to it but here is part of what Camille Cosby
wrote:
"When reporters wrote or spoke about our son's
murder on January 16, 1997, Ennis William Cosby did not
have a mother.

"I was a nonentity, a nonperson. Yet when my
husband made his more than famous confession to the
public about a 1970's brief liaison, my name was print-
ed everywhere. Suddenly I became well known; not as an
intelligent person, but for reasons obviously undesira-
ble."

One of our readers sent us the following information:

"On 52 weeks of Sports Illustrated (2/93-2/94), six
women were awarded cover shots. The first was in a
bathing suit. The second, Monica Seles, was wearing
tennis whites and a knife in her back. Numbers three
and four were the widows of baseball players. The
tennis player, Mary Pierce was number five because she
feared her father. The sixth was Nancy Kerrigan after
she was clubbed on the knee (New York Times, February
20, 1994).

Last time I looked, lots of women play sports, too!"

(Thanks for sending this on, Lisa)

Have you noticed that you are hearing more women's names
mentioned and written in the media? Don't get too used
to it, it only happens during March, Women's History Month.

It has been only recently that medicine recognized
women. Before this, all prescriptions and treatments
were based on the average male weight. Even now, most
of the studies are based on males -- the results may
applied to females and may be dangerous. It has been
known for some time that cancer leaves a marker in the
blood. The marker for prostatic cancer has been ident-
ified and now there is a simple blood test for men.


Research to find the breast cancer marker in the blood
has not been funded or pursued so women are still forced
to depend on the archaic x-ray which may give many false
positives and negatives. X-rays are one of the causes of
cancer and their effects are cumulative.

We hear and read from the media that children are being
killed by air bags in our cars when it is more than
children being killed, it is also women. The air bag
is constructed with the force to protect *yup, the average
male.* Small women, short women may be harmed by them.

Think about it. Bags are engineered for the height and
weight of the average male who because of his height
sits further away from the bag than most women. Our,
on average, shorter legs put us closer to the air bag
so the force that hits us is greater.

We, on average, sit lower so the bag hits us different-
ly than the engineers designed it...differently and
sometimes fatally. Who cares. Women are disposable,
right?

On the other hand, we are told that we really are not
left out of our culture's language. This is because,
we are told with a straight face, we are man and men.
Yes, indeedy, mankind means woman. All men created
equal means both women and men. Really? Try sometime
using this generic language on an employment applica-
tion. Look on any birth or marriage certificate and
see if the male has the equivalent of a "maiden name".

In case after case, the law is applied differently to
*us men* of the female persuasion. Think about this:

In several states, drug addicted, pregnant women have
been incarcerated in hospitals because they are putting
the fetus they are carrying *in danger*. That's only
humane, right? It has nothing to do with depriving her
of her constitutional rights. She is visable and our
culture simply ignores due process.

Now consider the drunk driver who has been nabbed for
a 7th DUI or consider the child molester who has
been released from custody for the 6th time or the
husband or boy friend who stalks and threatens a woman
over and over again despite judicial warnings. We know
these individuals repeat their acts and that their acts
put people *in danger*.

Did you ever hear of ANY multiple offender such as the
examples above that have been incarcerated in a hospi-
tal because of the danger to others that they repre-
sent? You won't. That would be unconstitutional.