[ALBSA-Info] The Power of Women???!!!

[Xhuliana Agolli]

Apparently the Turkish village women are resorting to the famously old 
technique of using sex as a means to getting what they want and what is 
ultimately good for society. I couldn't help smiling while I was reading 
this, because it reminded me of Aristophanes' (in)famous play "Lysistrata". 
In order to stop the war between Athens and Sparta, Lysistrata finally 
manages to convince the other Athenian women to go on a sex strike so that 
the men would sign for peace with the Spartans. Most of these women were 
very reluctant to give up sex even for a peace settlement of the 
Peloponnesian wars that had been going on for years, which is part of what 
makes the play hilarious but also tragic, in my opinion. Why was it--and 
apparently still is-- that women and what they think and what they need 
should only be heeded by men when it comes down to sex? I wonder what this 
tells us about human nature...and human males particularly. I'm not sure 
whether it is the power of women of Sirt per se or the ignorance and 
stupidity of their men that has made these women appear 'powerful'. Even if 
they do seem powerful, however, it is a diminuitive kind of power, a kind of 
feminine power that exposes man's weakness or the animal in men.

xh.a.

>From: Endri Leno <endril at rocketmail.com>
>To: albsa-info at alb-net.com
>Subject: [ALBSA-Info] The Power of Women???!!!
>Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2001 07:20:06 -0700 (PDT)
>
>           ----------- ALBSA-Info Mailing List ---------
>           - ALBSA Web Site: http://www.albstudent.org -
>
>Sex ban lifted in Turkish village
>
>CNN
>ANKARA, Turkey -- A group of husbands have breathed a
>collective sigh of relief after their wives ended a
>month-long sex boycott.
>
>The women of Sirt, a small village near Antalya on
>Turkey's southern coast, had launched the bedroom
>strike in protest at the lack of accessible running
>water.
>
>A break down of the village's 27-year old water system
>had meant that the women had been forced to queue for
>hours in front of a trickling fountain before carrying
>their water home in containers -- a walk of several
>miles for some.
>
>When constant requests to repair the system failed to
>produce any improvement, the women decided more
>drastic steps were needed -- a refusal of all marital
>favours until their spouses fulfilled their plumbing
>obligations.
>
>Now, after some frantic lobbying on the part of Sirt's
>male population, the government's Directorate of Rural
>Affairs has agreed to provide eight kilometres (five
>miles) of piping so that water can be brought to the
>village from a nearby source.
>
>"It (the boycott) worked," a delighted Ayse Sari told
>Associated Press. "We got the attention. We were tired
>of carrying the water .Those who had donkeys were
>lucky."
>
>The men will have to lay the pipes themselves,
>although they believe this is a small price to pay for
>a resumption of normal marital relations.
>
>"We are very happy," village leader Ibrahim Sari said.
>
>
>Not all the women, however, are ready to end their
>protest. While some feel that, with new pipes on the
>way, it is time to re-open the bedroom doors, others
>insist that only when the pipes have been laid --
>something which could take another month -- will they
>call off their strike.
>
>"They won't be able to get into our bedrooms until the
>water actually runs through the taps," one village
>woman, Fatma Koru, said. "The protest will continue."
>
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