Whistle-blower, RTÉ’s “docudrama” on the Michael Neary case was on Sunday and Monday of this week, but of course I didn’t get to watch it until yesterday, so after bringing my kids to school I made a cup of tea and sat down to watch as much of it as possible before my little guy woke up from his nap. I managed to get all of it viewed, it was tough viewing in parts though, especially in my current “condition”.
I won’t go into the details here, I think everyone has a good working knowledge of the butchery this man inflicted on his patients, I don’t want to dwell on that, I don’t see the point, women’s lives were ruined, their relationships with their children and partners destroyed through early menopause and the horrific mood swings and physical and psychological changes it brought about. This happened less than ten years ago, in Ireland, a “modern, western” society” not Afghanistan, and it was tolerated, ignored by the man’s colleagues, in fact he was protected and supported by midwives and doctors in the hospital, and three senior obstetricians in Dublin said he had done “nothing wrong”, were these the same doctors who supported symphysiotomy in Dublin hospitals?
As a woman who has been through three pregnancies and births in a Dublin hospital I have experienced a lot of doctors, my first pregnancy and birth was rife with complications and the doctors I encountered had a wonderful nack of making me feel like they were my fault, a lot of the women Dr Neary operated on felt they had done something wrong, and they suffered the loss of their femininity and womanliness as a punishment, very catholic Ireland, extremely biblical, Eve caused the fall of man and for all eternity womankind must experience the pain of childbirth (this is still used by some Christian groups to justify denying women in labour pain relief). I experienced some very rough examinations while in labour on my first child, I was horrified at the rough way (male) doctors treated me like I was a cow, I know it’s not meant to be pleasurable but does it have to be painful? I was so scared and young that I never mentioned the pain, I never asked them to be gentle, is that not my right? So I can easily believe that the women, especially the young ones Neary operated on did so as they were too scared to say anything.
I have encountered some lovely male doctors of course, luck I suppose and in my two subsequent pregnancies I managed to have midwife deliveries, so my encounters have been brief, breaking my waters on my second child I had a lovely doctor, who was extremely gentle and kind, and the doctor I encountered when I visited Holles street about my tubal ligation was lovely, but they seem to be the minority and I worry about the men attracted into obstetrics, some of whom seem to have a dislike of women, and they are in a perfect position to express that emotion on vulnerable and scared women. There was talk of an over dramatising of the Neary case, people who supported him said he was “demonised” in the press, that he wasn’t a butcher and he didn’t hate women, that he wasn’t a misogynist. I cannot see how anyone who removes a healthy woman’s womb could be anything other than a woman hater, can you? Jack the Ripper in 1888 was the first known serial killer who mutilated the sexual and reproductive organs of his female victims, this has been repeated hundreds of times over the years, from sexual assault with objects, to men enjoying fetish play with gynaecological instruments, to murderers dissecting bodies, in Guatemala City violence towards women is accepted with four times more women than men being murdered every year, often dismembered and dissected, bodies often too mutilated to be identified
“Women’s groups use the Spanish-language term feminicido – female genocide – to describe the growing tide of violence, murder, rape and mutilation of women that is now sweeping across this Central American country.”
I find it horrifying that in the Neary case, and the cases of symphysiotomy procedure carried out without consent in Dublin hospitals, the fact that these women were never told that they had been mutilated, that there was no reason they needed to be in so much pain, and in several cases unable to care for their children. The State, the hospitals and the Church supported this silent misogyny against women while at the same time the worship of the Virgin Mary was venerated, so again Eve raised her ugly serpent loving head (sorry but is the serpent not the ultimate phallic symbol?) women who were virgins, nuns, spinsters, they were protected, but once a woman decided to follow her “nature” and indulge in pleasures of the flesh she deserved what she got?
You think I am on a tirade? You think I am talking about the far distant past? Misogyny is the one hate crime we tolerate, women in the west have certain rights but still in the poorest parts of the world women are subjected to sex crimes and treated as the lowest of the low, I would even venture to say in the west misogyny is still very apparent, look at our maternity systems, still controlled by men, why? Our labour laws, women can work now when they have kids, choose when and how many kids to have but we are still subject to the glass ceiling, which looms very low once you decide to have a family. Sexual crimes against women are on the up, partly because women feel they can report these crimes, although recent changes to the law have set things back. Lets not even start on the way society tolerates the sexualisation of young girls, the desexualisation of any woman over 40 and the crappy way we treat the elderly.
Maybe society is just fucking crap, maybe it will take another 100 years for the effects of the Catholic vice like grip on Ireland to fade? Maybe I am incorrect in thinking that Dr Neary got away with his crimes (crimes against women) because women are always weakened, disenfranchised members of society, and look how we treated the weakest members of our society in Ireland, the children disregarded, thrown into places like Goldenbridge, dirty secrets to be forgotten. If Neary had been a doctor operating on men and nearly one hundred and fifty of them had lost their testicles or part of their penises (penisi?) would it have been covered up, would the emasculation of men have been tolerated as the defeminisation of women was?
I thought the point that educated, influential women who wouldn’t hire a plumber without getting a second opinion will accept such hateful, unfair, dismissive, patronising treatment about their pregnancies, bodies, babies.
I can’t accept it at all. Yet, I experienced it a little at the hands of a well respected independent midwife too – exactly what I was trying to avoid! People love to dismiss pregnant women or new mothers, or people trying to get pregnant. How could they possibly know what’s good for them?
i’m glad i didn’t watch it! i’m attending drogheda, and i suppose not all staff that knew about dr. neary have left the hospital! i hate being out of control and my biggest nightmare is being bullied into something when i’m vulnerable…
you shouldn’t be watching these things in your ‘condition’!
where are you gonna have your baby?
The entire system is predicated on productivity. This is the fundamental of the friedmanite economic model, if you lack productivity you are a threat to the economy. This has nothing to do with male versus female mind you, but the faceless worship of economic growth. A bloke lacking productivity will be subjugated in the same anonymous (you are just a number) manner as a woman who wishes to put her family first. Of course this happens to present as a bias against women, but it is a mistake to view this as misogyny, it is the unholy worship of economic growth that is the cause, the former merely a symptom.
I don’t argue with the economic theory, thriftcriminal, but I think there’s a hell of a lot about the Irish maternity service that you’re not taking into consideration.
There is a basic move to undermine the power inherent in women’s birthing and pregnancy, sadly internalised by many women in and out of the business.
The head of Holles St is called the ‘master’. Say no more…
Thriftcriminal, my partner is of the socialist persuasion, and he thinks if society changed then the problems between men and women would too, I think it goes deeper than that. Look at the numbers of femle serial killers? The amount of violence inflict by women on men? There seems to be something inert in some men that causes fear and hatred of women, and how do you stop these men from claiming positions where they can expolit women?
Jo “the master”, always fucking freaked me out, why is a “women’s hospital” run by men?
Péitseoga, you’ll be fine, I hate being out of control too! I am 16 weeks now, baby not due until February! which is funny, my other three have birthdays in December, March and April…..so a January/February birthday will fit right in! And my partners two boys have their birthdays in May!
Socialist anarchy? No position of power, no opportunity. Not saying it’s a viable model, just answering the question. Most serial killers are also white, relatively few black serial killers. Similarly paedophiles. Something odd in the white make-up? Japan has few crimes of a violent nature (against any gender) but has a VERY odd male-female dynamic in my view.
At a fundamental level it probably boils down to sex and the control of access to it, so perhaps the orwellian 1984 approach of sexcrime, banning sex for anything other than pro-creation and instigating the chastity league (or whatever they were called) would work as a solution by removing the dynamic entirely? Or the dystopia portrayed in Equilibrium.
Don’t forget there are many other dynamics of subjugation out there in the world. SOME men are assholes, just don’t tar us all with the same brush.
Thriftcrminal, I always do this don’t I ? I don’t hate men, I love men! But I seem to always come across as a manhater! I just think we ignore a lot of hatred against women, which if it was directed against people because of race would not be tolerated. It’s not that I think a “socialist democracy” wouldn’t work, I just think anyTotalitarian system is subject to abuse?
Very much agreed. Actually I like todays quote of the day from iGoogle:
“Democracy consists of choosing your dictators, after they’ve told you what you think it is you want to hear.”
there is anyone thinking why this happens and why these actions take place?
Do you ever heard of Eugenics theories and remodeling of people lives and future?
Would be possible to know what kind of status, nationality, health, psycological and economical condition were these ladies whose lives have been so radically destroyed by a rational decision of an arbitrary individual?
can anyone answer this question?
Millions of lives have been stopped, millions of women and man have been made infertile to stop them procreate individuals that some insane followers of the perfection of the one-white race defined defected.
Millions of elderly left to die faster to give space and save payment of pensions, children have been killed and so on as born impure, mongrels and in disability.
This is not only an heredity from the nazists.
unfortunately as all the nazi skills, this alienated culture of destruction is rooted in some practices in use for centuries in the United States of America, to lower the growth of indigenous populations to control the movement within the country of mexicans and other indigenous cultures.
And as everyone familiar with the matter would know, whatever the nazists learned, they learned or adopted by American practices and they simply amplified them and extremed that.
And where North American culture has its roots in Europe, here we see that the circle closes and we have just to discover how many mothers have been canceled from history to have moved on the wrong line or to have been simply victim of some abuse or to have been just thinking different from the required standards.
We are surprised as we are not grown up with this explicit acknowledgment as nobody, not even nazists would publicly admit their practices.
In reality this is what happens all the time in front of everyone who likes to see.
The weaker who may disappear without notice as have no families and nobody looking after them or whose families believe its good to take cut them from common life to have less hassles, is the black side of the moon.
Millions of nameless shadows whose lives are still destroyed and always will be in the centuries unless someone is keeping an eye on this tragedy to happen from the deep.
And the truth has been said: the violence is always applied on harmless and weakened parts in the moment of their higher need.
So everyone, please keep shout and rise your voice against this slaughtery.
Eugenics is alive and well worldwide.
There is a mass matri- genocide worldwide where pseudo scientists label women mentally unstable – due to us being emotional beings.
Patriarchal beings beileve they have the right to decide on womens fertility.
Men took over the role of the old midwife and told us what was best for us- even though these men have no experience of what it is to be a woman/mother.
Forced adoption is rampant in UK, USA, etc, as demand for white babies is high.
It is also on google that the HPV vaccine could lead to infertility in women too.
It does seem that we are being used as guinea pigs- especially our children.
I am from Drogheda and I always heard stories about this hospital, so I went to Dublin to have my children.
It had a very old fashioned Catholic ethos which stated the life of the mother is less important than the baby- as a baby is another soul for the church.Go figure.
Women have been purposely demonised for thousands of years, because men have been conditioned to believe we are the evil and they are the good.
That we are their possessions- because that is what the Catholic church taught – it was in fact – marriage was an institution created to keep women shackled to men, and the property which was once that of the Virgin – because a virgin was woman who did not need a man to keep her- she was 100% independent.
But the church changed this defintion in the Bible- so down the years we were all programmed to belive a virgin was a woman who had not had sex with a man.
Did we question it?? No. Not until now.
The whore was the sacred prostitute- the goddess with the power- that men are scared of- so best demonise her too.
Then go for the old Crone- Witch- the wise old woman who knows it all, best kill her off too in witch trials and get her property.
Notice all the time- PROPERTY ..£££££
Now and finally it is the mother aspect of the Goddess.
The creative aspect of this Goddess- these patriarchs are trying to move in for total control.
Over 50 yrs they have been teaching how women and children actually enjoy being raped and sexually abused, so we are shunned and ignored in courts, where experts will say- we asked for tit, and our children lured the man into sexually abusing him or her.
So much so, that Germany is close to legalising paedophilia- because bless these men – they cannot help it if they like little boys and girls to rape, torture and abuse.
And who are we women to dare deny these men of their pleasure, for we are just second class.
And how about the Jew who thanks his God every morning for not being born a woman.
These old religions, laws, medical, marriage institutions are all based on men being in control over women and children.
It is subtle, but once you look, you find evidence galore.