I have long been both horrified and saddened at the depravity, arrogance, selfishness, discrimination and injury that humanity has and does display.

There have been many occasions on which I have thought that the latest horror of which I've learened was such that I would never be surprised by another.

How wrong I have been.

Religion, monarchy, authoritartianism, elitism, patriarchy and notions of 'divine' right or 'might is right' are inevitably found at the core of virtually all of the unspeakably appalling crimes of human history.

Compounding the guilt for those atrocities is the extent to which so many despicable, cowardly, immoral & unconscionable acts have been and often continue to be covered up, hidden from view and either written *out* of the historical record or recounted with modification aimed at providing credibility or justification that misrepresents the reality.

This dreadful, indeed horrific, 'breast tax' is, I think, an exmple of such cases and I commend Mythili for drawing attention to it. I do so not only because a true record of human history and actions, both good & bad, is essential if we are to ever learn to be humane, but also because the objectification of women's bodies continues today, despite all of the progress that has been made towards humanity finally valuing the two sexes equally.

There is still an awfully long way to go before this equality is achieved. Indeed, even the achieving of equity remains distant for so many women and so many people.

Until religious codes are recognised for what they are, i.e. the constructions of human beings and, almost entirely, of the male sex, women will never achieve that state of equality nor be treated equitably by society.

Until we recognise also that *women's rights' are simply a part of 'people's rights', and that equality and equity for *all* people, regardless of difference, ought to be our goal, the focus of movements to progress discrete sectors of the human community, while well intentioned, will have a side effect of sabotaging its own aim because that focus will maintain an accent on difference, separation, & perceived bias towards that particular sector.

So, let us be reminded by articles describing horrors such as this one does, that to prevent such edicts and actions in the future we need to promote human rights holistically for equality and equity for women cannot be achieved unless it is part of equality and equity for all.