Ethel Waters Quotes
I know the most terrible thing that can happen to a woman. That is the gang-up. Men put you to sleep with their drops and one man after another goes in and takes you.
Waters, Ethel, and Charles Samuels. His Eye Is on the Sparrow: An Autobiography. Doubleday, 1951.
At the time. the Islamic government supported forces in Sudan systematically raped as many women as they could in order to intimidate the Christian rebels. At around the same time, a village council in Pakistan had ruled that a Pakistani woman should be gang raped as punishment to her family for the alleged transgressions of her brother. African rebels were also using the tactic as an intimidation tactic.
Pakistan follows a version of Islamic Law—Sharia—which provides that a man can be convicted of rape only if there are at least 4 male witnesses. Since it is virtually impossible to ever get 4 witnesses to a crime like that, there will never be a conviction. However, the complaining victim runs two additional dangers. First she is admitting to fornication and or adultery and can be jailed or even killed for that. Further, Pakistan males regard her as a prostitute and the police will also rape her very often.
Goodman is citing the 2003 poll conducted by the pro-choice Center for the Advancement of Women, who found that the majority of women believe abortion should be legal only in three cases -- rape, incest, or danger to the life of the mother.
There are over 600.000 reported rape cases in South Africa each year. Since most rape goes unreported the real total is much larger, making South Africa the worst country in the world on a sexual violence scale. There are many reasons suggested for the South African extreme. However, since apartheid was overthrown, all ANC Governments had had a reluctance to have heavy police action for anything and there is a general reluctance to imprison people as this was what the apartheid regimes did. So all criminal activity is relatively high in South Africa.
Ethel Waters was an American singer and actress. Waters frequently performed jazz, swing, and pop music on the Broadway stage and in concerts. She began her career in the 1920s singing blues. Waters notable recordings include "Dinah", "Stormy Weather", "Taking a Chance on Love", "Heat Wave", "Supper Time", "Am I Blue?", "Cabin in the Sky", "I'm Coming Virginia", and her version of "His Eye Is on the Sparrow". Waters was the second African American to be nominated for an Academy Award. She was the first African American to star on her own television show and the first African-American woman to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award.
