Dulce et Decoram Est

A poem for Remembrance Sunday 11.11.11

Wilfred Owen 8 October 1917 - March 1918 

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep.  Many had lost their boots,
But limped on, blood-shod.  All went lame, all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.

Gas!  GAS!  Quick, boys! --  An ecstasy of fumbling
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime. --
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams before my helpless sight
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin,
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs
Bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, --
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie:  Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

S

Touch, Look and Check

I may have stolen this blog from my dear friend Peter Thomas' blog but it deserves to be spread round to increase awareness about a cancer that affects millions of women each year.


I have to admit the advert does go against my feminist values. The ad was purely made to satisfy what the media industry believe to be our desire to see ripped men half naked telling us to 'touch ourselves'. I don't find the men particularly attractive to be honest and the *twinkle* in his eye made me want to GAG. 


BUT.... it does raise awareness effectively and will hopefully motivate women to the app on their phones, if they have an app friendly phone, and go to the doctors to get regular checks :)


Don't forget ladies..... TLC.........

S

Not a virgin? Let me just check.

Back in March when shit hit the fan in the Middle East, particularly in Egypt the military were carrying out secret 'tests'. Women were being 'tested' to prove that they were virgins so that they could say they had not been sexually assaulted. This is based on their misguided thinking that if a woman is a virgin, the sexual assault will affect her much more than it otherwise might.


For women to accuse men of sexually assaulting them during the revolutionary uprising would not stand if they were not virgins. To be believed they had to be pure, untouched and virginal.


The thing is, when you 'test' for virginity by shoving your disgusting, non-medically trained hands up a women's vagina, more often than not, you'll end up breaking the hymen = NOT A VIRGIN. And then you've added to the list of women who are no longer eligible to complain about a sexual assault.


Well, one woman has defied all odds and IS COMPLAINING... to Human Rights Watch. It's extremely brave of her to do so given that the military are still very much in charge of Egypt and she could face worse assaults than a virginity test.. 


However, it gives women hope. That they too will be able to stand and fight for their rights without being tested for something that is so precious to us all. 




S