Titanic Post

Being a V-Man is recognizing that we men are privileged. This means that we men often claim the privilege of being the head of our households – that we men sometimes claim the privilege of making financial decisions at home.  We are aware that men can claim a higher status than women. We are aware that if we are white, we can claim undeserved privilege over other races.

As a V-Man, I know that we were raised this way.  Our fathers and even our mothers passed this on to us by modeling what their parents had modeled to them. We see it in movies and on the TV and in our daily lives – everywhere.  As boys we are raised with the Four Basic Rules of Masculinity:¹

1. No Sissy Stuff!  Reject all things feminine.

2. Be a Big Wheel!  A bumper sticker put it this way: ‘He who has the most toys when he dies – wins.’

3. Be as sturdy as an oak tree!  What makes a man a man is that he is reliable in a crisis. And what makes him reliable in a crisis is that he resembles an inanimate object – a rock, a pillar, a tree.

4. Give ‘em Hell!  Give off the aura of daring and aggression. Take risks; live life on the edge.

The single greatest obstacle to women’s equality [and safety] is our behavior resulting from our sense of privilege.

You are a V-Man if you are a man who believes that women and men are created equal, that your role in a relationship is to help each other grow mentally and spiritually and to protect the women in your life from harm, that you understand your own gender and recognize and honor the feminine within you, that you recognize that power and status is not everything, and that being a man does not mean we have to resemble an inanimate object such as a rock, a pillar, or a tree.

We recognize that the differences between men and women are fewer than the differences within each of our respective genders.

A V-Man recognizes that most domestic violence involves male anger directed against their women partners.  Boys are not born to be violent, or to be superior to girls. These attitudes and behaviors are learned through stereotypes of what our society thinks it means to act and behave like a man.  V-Men know this and want to break that cycle.  Thank you!

Want to know more about gender issues? Interested in V-Man workshops?  Contact Peace and Justice of La Luz at pajoll@zianet.com — Visit our website at http://pajoll.org

¹ Gendered Society by Michael Kimmel

One of the tenants of capitalism is that the free market will regulate prices for a commodity. I personally don’t think that health should be a commodity, but some do, maybe even yourself.

If consumers get together in the “free market” and decide to start a health insurance cooperative and influence the price of health to the consumers’ advantage by initiating a new payment system, isn’t that capitalism in action?

And if health consumers decide that it would be to their advantage to enlist the aid of government in getting this new payment system in place and making it the law of the land, shouldn’t that be ok and within the functions of capitalism.

This is, by the way what the corporate health insurance lobby did when they wanted government help in deregulating their business.  Shouldn’t we be able to do this too? Please excuse my ignorance, but shouldn’t we be allowed to implement a health care payment system that is to our advantage?

Are they listening?
by Susanne King, MD
Thursday, Jan 15, 2009

As Tom Daschle, President-elect Obama’s choice for secretary of health and human services, flies across the country to attend community meetings on health care reform, and the Obama Web site solicits opinions and health care stories from citizens, those of us who support a single-payer national health insurance program hold our collective breath. Will the incoming government really listen to the citizens who, in poll after poll, by a clear majority, support single-payer health care? Or will the vested interests of the private, for-profit health insurance lobby win again? (more…)

The following are my notes from the Forum on Substance Abuse held by the Otero County New Mexico Chapter of PDA June 25th – Ken Nicholson

The Otero County chapter of Progressive Democrats of America hosted a panel discussion on the substance abuse situation in the county. Panel members Dr. Gil Heredia, physician and chair of the Otero Libertarian Party, Sharon Hodges of the New Mexico Department of Health, and Ken Larson, Certified Peer Specialist and Recovery Mentor presented a comprehensive survey of the drug problems we are facing in Otero County to an interested audience of local activists. Al Kissling of PDA NM was the moderator.

Dr. Heredia said that the so called “War on Drugs” was having a more devastating effect on our community than the actual use of drugs. He cited the emphasis of the drug war being on law enforcement and leading to incarceration rather than treatment and rehabilitation. When those caught in the system have finished their time, they are released back into the community, still addicted, without the root of their situation being addressed. Heredia noted the high cost of incarceration versus treatment. Also, drug crimes are crimes against oneself and not directly against the community. He said that if drugs were legal, market forces would pressure dealer profits, and the supply of drugs would dwindle. One community activist added that the prison industry has lobbied for mandatory minimum sentences to the benefit of the private prison industry while removing judges’ discretion. (more…)