Poet On Gendercide – 100 Million Girls

Continued from Part 1, Poet on Poetry – Interview with Poet and Writer Sheree Rabe

You’ve recently announced a new blog site called 100MillionGirls. Tell us about learning  about the missing girls?

There was a story in the news recently about a man in India who killed his three month old girl  just because he did not want a girl. The article mentioned that this was not uncommon.  I couldn’t believe that.  I ran across a June 2001 Marie Claire article that showed a baby girl abandoned in the gutter in China as people passed by completely unconcerned.

I dug a little deeper and found out that it is so common around the world that there are huge imbalances in the female and male populations in these countries and we are starting to see a shift here in America.  There was just no one in this country really addressing what UNICEF calls “a gendercide of tragic proportions.” I didn’t really want to take on this project, but I couldn’t ignore that these babies are being killed after birth.

With 100MillionGirls, you’ve stepped out of the more common writing arena, into political activism. Say more.

I am a reluctant and accidental activist.  I intended to retire from political activism, having worked quite a bit in politics at the city, state and national level on controversial issues like electric deregulation, HMO laws, cell tower regulation, and utility rate cases. I am proud of the work I did, but I am still exhausted from my years of political work and have no desire to be in the political arena. But, I couldn’t just walk on by.

Ironically, I have never cared much for poetry with a message or using poetry in political activism.  However, I think it is a perfect vehicle for this tragedy.  The scale of 100-200 million baby girls killed over the last twenty years is too much for us to absorb.  The brutality is heart wrenching and the numbers mind numbing.  I thought maybe it would be easier to read bite-size pieces of poetry rather than a whole book.  The blackout by the press seemed too important to ignore, so I stepped out as a poet and the poems just keep coming. I am not sure I am a political advocate as much as a reporter trying to shine a light on something so horrible it is almost unimaginable.

Knowing that the bias towards boys is deeply embedded in the psyches of hundreds of millions of people and culturally supported by many dozens of countries, what realistic goals do you have for your work?

I have long been aware of the male bias and how easily it is tossed aside even here in America.  Our spousal abuse rate is about that of many developing countries. A story recently came out that Indian parents are paying doctors to turn their little girls into boys so they do not lose money or status. They do this by genital surgery and giving her male hormones. Sexism is a huge problem throughout the world. Though, I admit there are hard-core sexist men we can’t reach, I think women are the harder sell. I think it is hard to grow up in any society, including America, and see the sexism that exists. It’s like a drop in the ocean seeing itself as distinct from the ocean.  I didn’t know I was sexist until my well settled assumptions were challenged, my eyes were opened and eventually the men in my life opened their eyes as well as a result of going to Texas Woman’s University. My father, both husbands, many male friends, mentors, professors and bosses have been enormously supportive of my views and actions, often pointing out something sexist to me that I didn’t see. Shining a light on the truth is the main goal I have, sometimes the truth can set you free.  Change starts with one person, then two, then five million and so on.

In your research, what groups did you find that were reporting on this issue, and developing action plans to challenge the cultures that support female infanticide both in pregnancy and after birth.

There are some amazing groups addressing mostly women’s issues around the globe like Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s project and book Half the Sky.  I think their idea is that  educating and helping women will help the children too.  I can’t find anyone addressing the issue of killing baby girls after birth.  It is shocking to me. There has been some coverage by Al Jazeera, BBC and a CNN Pakistan video that I put on my website. Most of the groups and stories deal with the emotionally charged issue of sex-selected abortion.  Another 100 million girls are estimated “missing” because of abortion.  I decided to leave the abortion issue to others and tackle what I thought everyone could agree about.  Baby girls should not be beaten, smothered and abandoned after birth just because they are girls. However, if we limit abortion, there will be even more babies killed after birth.

Do you imagine helping to organize online researchers and bloggers to write about this?

I really don’t know where this will lead. There is some information out there about the sex selected abortion issue, but I was shocked to learn that no one is really taking about the baby girls being killed after birth.  My goal at this moment is to light the first fire and hope that it lights many others until we have enough concern to get our politicians to consider it when negotiating with these countries over aid and human rights.  The numbers are astronomical and the ramifications are enormous, yet it is not in the news. I hope through interviews like this one, we can build momentum going forward and save these girls.This issue will require many solutions, but to me it made sense to start with the most heinous, the death of babies after birth in the most horrifying ways.  We need to help the rest of the world see the value of girls and while we are at it, we need to do a better job in America.

I should point out this is not about population control, only girls are killed.  It is also not about money for many. India says that the wealthy class started the recent trend and there are stories in the videos on the website of highly educated wealthy women enduring unbelievable pressure and violence if they give birth to girls. There is not one solution, there must be many.  I am trying to start with one and hope that will lead to many.

Thank you for the opportunity to share my passions with Women Writers.  I am honored to be in such good company. I welcome your comments and suggestions.

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Sheree Rabe: www.shereerabe.com, @writerrabe

Poet on Poetry: www.poetonpoetry.com, @poetonpoetry, www.facebook.com/poetonpoetry

100MillionGirls: www.100million.girls.blogspot.com, @100milliongirls, www.facebook.com/100milliongirls

 

Tags: femicide, national violence against women, poet activists, poets against violence against women, poets speaking out against femicide, violence against girls, violence against women internationally, websites about gendercide

Category: Contemporary Women Writers, US American Women Writers, Women Writing Poetry