Friday, May 20, 2011

Life Is Not Fair

I am considering power, hungry and raw, and how men and women handle the benefits of the power seat because of the continual media barrage of ex-IMF chief Strauss-Kahn and Terminator Arnold Schwarzenegger's shenanigans swirling around me.

After recently finishing the book- Some Girls: My Life In A Harem- by Jillian Lauren, I was reflecting on Lauren's position as a 'party girl' in the harem of Prince Jefri Bolkiah of Borneo in 1991. The women at his parties decorated the sofas and were exclusively selected for royal sexual use. They couldn't leave the premises of the prince's compound without his permission and spent their days beautifying themselves for the parties they attended at night to amuse the prince and his royal brothers. In exchange for their beauty and bodies, Prince Bolkiah gave them lavish gifts of gold jewelry and thick piles of cash. Many of the Thai, Malay and Filipino women used the money to buy houses for their families, educate their children, and prepare for a secure retirement in their golden years: viewing the exchange of sexual favors for cash as a business transaction.

What makes me angry about living in the year 2011 is that women still do not have the same access to the avenues of power and financial security that men do, while men abuse their power and privilege trapping women under their thumbs in the age-old money for beauty/body exchange. When will this situation change? The sad conclusion I have reached is that only when men want it to change.

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