Daniela settled back into the sofa with the portable computer on her lap and braced herself for what would follow:

The following is a list of symptoms that indicate our world is suffering in many ways like never before. And particularly it is our sex which is afflicted. They continue to be victimized at the hands of a stubborn and often cruel mindset. It is a mandate begun many millennia ago and remains today under the premise that the stronger gender physically, politically, religiously and economically, has the license to rule over the other through fear, sexual harassment, or violence. Join our efforts to stop these barbaric activities:

● Honor killings: In certain countries of the Near East this form of murder is sanctioned unofficially by extremist establishments and religious faiths. Until very recently there were only minor consequences (jail sentences not exceeding six months in some cases) for this offense of murder. Females who are accused of, or commit adultery, who seek divorce, or even have been the victim of a rape, are often targeted to be killed by male members of the woman's family. These male relatives claim they have been 'dishonored' by her actions or abuse and feel it is grounds for her execution. Many cases have involved public stoning, shootings, or other methods of murder, including torture, beating, mutilation or suffocation. Sometimes these measures have resulted merely from the female being in the presence of a male who was not sanctioned by her father, brother, or husband. Woman to woman, we can not allow these acts to continue with impunity as they have for centuries. They are simply acts of murder.

●Rape: In the last decades sexual violence and particularly rape has been declared an "act of genocide," a "tactic of warfare" and a "crime against humanity" by a number of UN Security Council Resolutions. The 1990's until today has seen the widespread use of sexual attack as a form of terrorism against local female populations. It is often related to coercion, torture, reprisals and cruel opportunism by soldiers engaged in urban warfare. There has been strong evidence revealed in Middle Eastern and African conflicts between rival factions that sexual assault as a tactic has been carried out systematically under orders. Soldiers have testified they were given stimulants and sexual performance enhancing drugs to increase their effectiveness in this form of terrorism. In such situations females of all ages have been afflicted by these debilitating acts, including young girls. Rape has victimized literally hundreds of thousands of females of all ages in the 21st century, and increasingly it has been carried out as a form of warfare, victimizing  a population's most vulnerable and innocent. As a declared "war crime" by various international tribunals it has been witnessed in massive cases in the Congo, Rwanda, Bosnia, Egypt, Iraq, Libya and Syria. These cases are usually committed by soldiers and paramilitary loyalists under the direct orders of their superiors. Women and girls in these sad cases are often seen as easy targets for the purposes of retaliation, intimidation or terrorism.

● Mutilation and facial disfigurement, including cutting or acid throwing: This growing phenomenon is commonly seen in fundamentally extremist Islamic countries and Southeast Asia. It is a painful and horrifically cruel act directed at women usually for refusing sexual advances by men or thwarting marriage proposals. In Afghanistan young girls have been facially disfigured with acid by the Taliban authorities and other religious extremists for their attempts to attend school, an act still forbidden in some male-dominated, culturally-stagnant societies. Women suffer not only the physical pain of such attacks, but also the terrible psychological damage to their self-image by loosing their nose, lips, ears, tongue, fingers or hands in such mutilations.

● Bride burnings: In India and Pakistan kerosene fires are purposely ignited onto the bodies of wives as an attempt to murdering them under the disguise of an accidental0 house fire. Such attempts at execution are commonly employed by husbands in order to inherit the property or wealth of the wife. In India, a reported 2500 "dowry deaths" a year result from such murder by fire. This horrendous phenomenon has increased by more than a factor of ten between 1980 and the mid 1990's alone, when it first began to be monitored internationally by women activists.

● Murder, poisoning and violent intimidation of girls who attempt an education:

Following the attempted murder of fifteen year old Malala Yousufzai, of Pakistani, who was shot in the head for daring to exercise her right to an education, and the subsequent drive-by murder of Shahnaz Nazli, a teacher of an all-girls school in the same country, the world was once again reminded of how dangerous our planet has become for females. A free, safe and appropriate education is being denied to some thirty-two million girls in Pakistan alone who are afraid to attend school due to the Taliban's relentless efforts to destroy their hopes of elevating their status and horizons through an education. Hundreds of schools have been firebombed, attacked by grenades, and the water poisoned in areas of the Indian subcontinent, Afghanistan, and areas of Africa by the group known as Boko Haram in order to maintain this siege of intimidation against any parity with women to men.

● Female Infanticide: Girl babies, considered to be an economic burden upon the family of some Far Eastern cultures are systematically put to death, either through 'sex-selective abortion' or infanticide after birth. In the People's Republic of China, where the "one child law" has only recently been abolished, it is has been estimated that some 40 million fewer females than otherwise expected might be the result of this practice. It occurs rarely in the West but exists mainly in the Eastern hemisphere in areas of extreme overpopulation and poverty. It is illegal for pregnant mothers in China and some areas of India to have ultrasound examinations as a preventative measure against this horrific practice..

● Human Trafficking and Sexual Slavery: The transport of women and girls across borders for the purposes of sexual exploitation or slave labor provides a huge illegal market in all countries of the world. Females are often ferried into foreign countries forcefully or enticed under the false pretext of legitimate employment, where they are eventually subjected to slave labor, participation in unwanted sexual acts with strangers, prostitution, pornography, or sex tourism. This is always accompanied by brutality, fear and despair. Young women, often in their teens are kept against their will or physically held captive in most cases. In a growing number of cases this has resulted in torture and death. Most are innocent victims, who, after being abducted on the market by human traffickers, are kept privately under duress as a sexual slave to individuals or groups. The poorest countries of Eastern Europe, Thailand, China and Nigeria are where many of the victims of todays sex trafficking and slave labor originate. Young Girls are sought out specifically by underworld organizations of traffickers to be sold and exploited within this highly lucrative black market. As children they are treated inhumanly, as if they were no different than other commodities of contraband such as drugs and guns. Thousands of women and girls each year are recruited from poverty into this brutal world. This depraved life is accompanied by the most minimal living conditions, resulting even in starvation in some cases. Constant fear, irreparable emotional damage, hunger, and physical injury often lead to the death or disappearance of many of these abducted females.

●Female Genital Mutilation: "Female circumcision" or "female genital mutilation," (FGM) is the cutting or removal of the clitoris and or other external parts of a female's sexual anatomy. It is practiced regularly in twenty-eight countries and is estimated by the World Health Organization to be currently performed on some 100 million women and girls (82 million in Africa alone). The practice is a complex issue, as it is ancient in origin, and is the result of no particular religious mandate, but rather perpetuated culturally and ignorantly. Though many men support it, it is mainly carried out and defended by certain elder women in these societies who themselves had the procedure done to them, usually as prepubescent girls. There remains the perception, in many African countries that by removing the clitoris of a female, they are more "pure" and enter a tradition of maturity to be respected mothers and wives. It also remains a strong tradition in central African nations with as many as 90% of the women in certain countries having been characteristically mutilated in their lifetimes. The dangers of these procedures, which are for the most part conducted without anesthesia and without proper surgical instruments, are that they can cause the female many health complications immediately and often later during child birth. Although there is a large following of female activists and members of the medical community who advocate for prohibition of these mutilations, there has traditionally been a defensive backlash for the procedure by certain women in such mainly African societies. Culturally they continue to see the barbaric practice as a necessary part of a girl's maturity. Many western cultures have strict laws forbidding FGM within their borders, but it is rarely exposed or prosecuted when discovered, due to its egregious nature. Yet is known to exist throughout the world and many young females who otherwise would not choose such a mutilation to their bodies are exposed to it unwontedly and by force. The Penthesilea Sisterhood has taken the position that it is a matter of educating women on every continent that this practice puts females at a serious health risk. It is also the belief of our society that FGM constitutes a crime when carried out on minors who can not protect themselves or are in the custody of women who condone or arrange for this procedure to be performed on them. Many women today see the procedure, historically, as a once male-instigated practice and inhumane way of preventing women from finding pleasure through sexual behavior. Such mutilations seriously removed a female's libido and, as believed by males, put constraints on opportunities for infidelity or feared promiscuous behavior.

● Domestic Violence: The physical and emotional abuse many women must endure within their own relationships is pandemic today in the world. The West is no exception. Abused women and girls from the most developed countries are often silent prisoners in their own homes. Such physical, emotional or sexual abuse may exist in a female's life perpetually where she is to feel the safest. This condition often exists with no relief or escape due to their dependency upon the abusive males and sometimes females who may emotionally or physically support them. Domestic violence and abuse is a considerable social dilemma in all strata of societies. The fact that males are physically stronger dictates that when conflicts arise in families or in relationships involving violence and abuse, it is more likely to be the female who is injured and sometimes killed. Improved laws in some countries to protect battered wives and children now exist. However, the incidence of women or children being abused through explosive violence in such troubled homes is still unforgivably high in most countries today, Unfortunately many women and girls who are victims of this type of suffering do so over periods of many years if undetected.

Fair Anaea_4356, I give you here only a brief abstract of the magnitude of the problems which I assist in cataloguing on a regular basis. I am sending this to you in hopes that you will continue to see the worthiness of our combined efforts through the Penthesilea Sisterhood. We all work together in a variety of ways to eventually make the world a safer, more joyous and more productive environment for females on every continent. Many of the victims I write about here continue to struggle for survival in a hostile, unfair place. Many continue to lack proper sustenance, equality, or live in extreme poverty. Many are denied the most basic opportunities for self-growth and independence. And still many are living out a life of victimization, exploitation, abuse, and the threat of even worse outcomes which can lead to their untimely death.

Roughly half of the females on this planet suffer significantly in some way, unable to enjoy even the most modest sustained comfort, which should be every woman's right. The hope for their safety, complacency, and joy for their children, remain in many parts of the world, only a dream for them. It is our hope, as a responsible society of nurturing women, that your talents and energy will assist us in making changes. Our goal remains to improve the lives of as many of our sisters as we can, so that they might someday realize that undying dream we all share. --Tecmessa_2546

Daniela quickly closed the computer and sat for a moment, silently thinking about what she had just read. She then stood and took the house keys Nefeli left for her on the table. She exited the front door, locking it behind her, and passed through the heavy gate, making sure to set the alarm. As she quickly entered the narrow street flanked by flowers and moved out onto the winding, tiled path towards the river. She quickly broke into a run, sensing her young body was healthy, safe and alive.

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