Woman on top

So, I was listening to the local public radio station and they were talking about how misogynistic the work environment was at Apple....glad my phone is a Moto X!! Though God knows what Motorola is up to.. that aside, the fact that in the 21st century we women still have to put up with this is painful...
There was an episode last week on my favorite TV serial on Sun TV..where the heroine's sister is preyed upon by a guy and the heroine goes to town on him...one question she asked him stood out for me.
She tells him that it has taken this long for women to finally step out of the security/fortification/prison walls of their houses and timidly make their way in what is a man's world and when we finally find our feet, men like him with their sexism push us back into our homes,out of sight and out of mind...
Innumerable movies scenes of women being threatened by the bad guy, with, what else? being deflowered...Countless news items about college students raped at frat parties, women out jogging confronted by deviants...
Hillary Clinton being asked to smile more,her bathroom breaks being ridiculed,the whole being female thing becomes tiresome...
And the root of all this evil directed towards women, I think, is based on the fact that a woman's sexuality is a very prized possession and therefore very much at stake all the time.
Was reading a book about the Medicis and the same theme popped up. The men lived such a debauched life but that was pooh poohed away while marriage negotiations were always based around the virginity if the bride in question...
It all boils down to the fact that when a woman loses her virginity,she loses it in a real physical sense if you know what I mean. It is something that can be really physically proved.While men losing it is..well...do they lose anything?
And when a woman loses her virginity..the end result might be something very obvious as a baby where the motherhood is confirmed but the father can walk away without claiming responsibility...the guilt us entirely the woman's.
Which us why there is this constant theme of a threat around a woman's morals/ sexuality.  It can always be used against a woman. It is so highly valued that the mere mention of it being jeopardized is enough to bend people's wills.
The fact that a woman cannot lose her sexuality alone by herself is irrelevant to the conversation...an immoral woman is said to 'put it out' but a man under similar circumstances is a 'player'.There is pride in a man's virility, but finger pointing if it is a woman.
So the balance has always been tilted in favor of the man simply because a woman can lose her virginity,and have it proved while the man can escape scot-free...
So the question is, are we placing so much undue value on a woman's femininity, that it becomes a bargaining point, a ransom demand, and blackmail threat all rolled into one?
When something isn't considered that valuable,then it no longer controls things....
So this whole free love Woodstock kinda thing seems to make sense in the circumstances. Or does it?
Years.. nay centuries of this oppression based on a woman's sexuality is impossible to erase in a generation. And devaluing one's femininity just so it can get you a sense of security isn't fair either.Decriminalizing rape/sexual abuse is not what I am talking about.It is not the crime that I want devalued...
But how does this problem get solved? Note how I do not look for a solution involving the menfolk at all.That rape is criminal is an established norm but that doesn't deter everyone does it? The assumption that everyone follow a set of expectations and rules is unrealistic and impractical at the least.One can set rules for oneself but insisting on others following it too?No way..So women insisting that men stop trying to take advantage of women isn't ever going to happen.There will be deviants who will ignore societal norms and do whatever they want...
My parents were mentioning how both my sister and I get really angry while driving and mutter under our breath and roll our eyes...I had to explain to my mom that we are rule followers to the extreme and it really riles us to see people who don't follow rules blithely break them and get ahead everywhere..So I shouldn't complain about the expectation that rules be universally followed, but this one standard is a worldwide one-a woman's honor is up for grabs...

This one is a conundrum for sure..pulling your hair out yet?