No More Pink Crosses

On a daily basis, I go about my business pretty much free from fear. My roommate and I keep our door locked, I lock my car, and I try to be aware of my surroundings especially if I am out alone at night. Nothing apart from what would be simple normal precautions. My sisters across the border in Mexico should be so lucky. There is an epidemic of female deaths there. Alejandro Martinez-Cabrera and Lourdes Cardenas of The El Paso Times wrote a good article on the subject. Call it femicide, when we as women are killed simply because we are women. It's like a hate crime involving race, but it involves gender. The term was first coined in 1801 in England.

It's not just in Mexico. It's a worldwide problem with misogynistic roots. The women are usually raped, tortured and/or mutilated before they are actually killed. A serial killer that targets females only, a man who in the throes of domestic violence, kills his partner. In Mexico, the women post-NAFTA are out and about trying to earn money for their families and are easy targets.

If you want to learn more about it, I'd suggest www.stopfemicide.com. Those pink crosses? Es una lastima. (It is a shame.)

Susan