‘Celebrating Human Rights’

I applaud the media attention given to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, delivered to us via The Times, and HBO’s rock concert special “Human Rights Now.” However, these declarations of rights left a great deal to be desired, and I am not picking nits. The language of the Declaration specifically excludes women. Use of the word “he” or “his” in any document excludes women, and I cannot read myself sideways into any other interpretation. It is laudable that male rock musicians take time out from their busy money-making tours to champion social causes. They sing about human rights, but apparently they mean rights for men, because they still sing about women as “belonging” to them.

Until celebrities and politicians publicly acknowledge that human rights begin with feminism, their rhetoric is meaningless.

EDITH READ

Orange