Wow: "There must be violence against women" - Islamic oped in Yemen Times

It uses Quranic quotes to justify violence against women> :banghead:

Via Pharyngula:



:banghead: Oh yes, those morals and principles of dosmestic violence - so much preferable to a woman exposing their male relatives as sadistic bastards. I mean, that would be embarrassing, and detrimental to their 'culture'.

:mad:

Yeah, what if women were treated like PEOPLE and exercised their rights against abusive men?! Do you realize what that would mean? It would mean a more just and safer society! No one wants that kind of a nightmare!

What can possibly make men reject the natural revulsion against hurting our loved ones, especially children, and embracing domestic violence as normal? Nothing but the sanctification of religion.

It's bad enough that Mike Huckabee took the nomination in Iowa - but this, also?

ICK.

I'm very familiar with the mind-set of that article. Sometimes it pops out in strange ways.

That happened to me just the other day. I was asking my co-workers about dentists in Alexandria (Egypt, for any new folks around here who don't know me).

During the conversation, I mentioned that in Los Angeles, the best dentist I ever had was an Iranian woman.

My co-workers are generally well-educated and liberal, in the context of their Islamic society. But to a man (literally), they seemed horrified at the idea of going to a female dentist. A couple emphatically said they would never even consider going to a woman dentist.

I was sort of surprised by their vehement reaction, though I guess I shouldn't have been.

The few and brave outspoken advocates for women's rights over here really impress me. Many of them live under nearly constant death threats by insane Islamic Fundie lunatics. And anyone who thinks that is hyperbole should remember what happened to Nobel Prize winning (and safely male) writer Nahguib Mahfouz back in 1994. After his novel Children of the Alley was declared blasphemous by the religious authorities, Mahfouz was stabbed and nearly killed. He was about 80 years old at the time, IIRC.

A few months ago, in the local English-language magazine Community Times, a female journalist wrote an article about traveling on Cairo's subways.

Overall, the writer concluded that females had two equally bad choices--ride in the mixed subway cars and be subjected to constant groping by the male passengers. (And good luck complaining about it to the cops.) Or ride in the female-only cars and be subjected to constant bullying and harassment by female religious fanatics. e.g., in the Women's Car, when the writer objected to joining in the "prayer for a safe trip," other passengers grabbed her hands and pulled her into the prayer circle anyway. Then they bitched because she didn't pray enthusiastically enough.

There was one funny part of the article. The writer's friend is an Egyptian film director and outspoken feminist. One day, the friend came home to her apartment building and found an intertesting new "home improvement." The building janitor had wired the elevator so that a pre-recorded "prayer for a safe trip" blasted at high volume every time the elevator was used. Inside the elevator!

The friend complained about this until the building managers got rid of the recording. She noted that many other people in the building had complained about it to her, but nobody else had the nerve to complain publicly.

was a woman who'd obtained her husband's permission to go live by herself in more liberal Cairo once she was old and unattractive and he was busier with his younger wives (they were royals, and he had the limit. He didn't divorce her because her family was more powerful than his).

Apparently she found the relative freedom of being able to wear a hijab instead of the abaya and being able to drive her own Audi incredibly liberating, and compared to the repression she'd felt in Saudi it was Paradise to her.

Her children had all been educated in Europe and spoke the same languages I did, so we were all able to communicate. The odd thing about them was the bland acceptance of the repression of their own culture. The girls told me they felt terribly unprotected in the west. I did allow the abaya would be a comforting garment on bad hair days when I didn't feel like changing out of my comfy PJs.

What I found is that what would be hell for me to live in is somehow ameliorated by the family connections they all have there. They taught me not to judge by appearances, alone, and to back off unless my opinion was requested. The lessons were gentle ones.

They also presented me with the paperwork to come work in Saudi Arabia, at five times what I was paid in the US with no taxes taken out. I declined. I'm tough, but I'm not that tough.

...Egypt is paradise for women.

The Saudi royals are on a different plane entirely and generally do what they want to. Even the non-royal upper classes...like the famous bin Laden family...get away with a lot.

I saw this many times on Air France: a youngish Saudi couple would get on the plane. He wore the thobe and ghuttra, she wore the abaya. And both wore those dour, holier-than-everybody faces you see all over the Magic Kingdom.

But as soon as that plane cleared Saudi airspace, they were off to monopolize 2 of the bathrooms. He would come out wearing a snappy custom-tailored suit, and she would emerge in some little number by Chanel etc.

And the drinks cart did not pass their seats without making a stop.

I also knew some of the bodyguard detail for the Minor Princesses. (They lived on our compound.) Talk about a tough job! Flying to Paris in advance to make sure the accomodations were OK, etc. We used to kid them by making up titles for them: Holder Of The Saudi Royal Furs etc. All double entendres strictly intentional, of course.

I didn't have to deal with the holder of the royal appurtenance in the men's loo. The handlers and flacks all stayed back at the Ritz Carlton, riding herd on the hotel staff.

The elderly women generally had none of what we'd describe as social skills. The first thing I learned not to do was smile, because she'd think I was laughing at her. Once I'd figured that one out (and it took maybe 30 seconds), I got along quite well with all of them.

Obviously I could never work in Egypt. Now I even question if I could tolerate that nonsense enough for a vacation.
Honestly, I don't know how you keep your sanity, Onager (well I guess by watching ridiculous To Catch a Predator..:) )
I have great respect for you having to deal with that which seems from your stories..well makes this country sound moderate in some ways....

...since I'm a furriner. :-)

So I don't really deserve any respect.

I could be wrong, but there seems to be a general trend here toward treating women worse. I think it all stems from the Islamic Fundies, whose smiling public face in Egypt nowadays is the Muslim Brotherhood.

Not too long ago, I was absolutely amazed to see a man run up on the street and grab a woman's butt. I was watching this from a cafe overlooking the Corniche--a big street that runs along the beach in Alexandria.

The woman was wearing the hijab]/i] (headscarf) and was modestly dressed--covered head to foot, basically. The only thing she was doing wrong, AFAIK, is walking by herself. To some of the more conservative asshats, that automatically makes her a Bad Muslim/ (tm). To their way of thinking, a Good Muslim woman never goes out without the company of a male relative.

And I should note that a man sitting on the sea-wall immediately jumped up and started pounding the crap out of the Grabber. That was fun to watch. Unfortunately, women can't always count on a guy like that being around if they need him.

An Egyptian journalist wrote a pretty funny story during Ramadan a couple of months ago. During Ramadan many people get even more judgmental and self-righteous than usual. And they have no qualms about walking up to strangers and berating them for their religious failings.

The journalist committed the crime of walking with a woman--in broad daylight--and talking/laughing with her. A devout buttinski came over and gave him an earful about being a Bad Muslim. The journalist replied, no doubt with Major Snark, that he wouldn't feel exactly comfortable just ignoring the woman. She was his sister.

As a tourist you wouldn't have any trouble. You'd only have to fend off marriage proposals from all the taxi drivers and the touts at the Pyramids.

The few and brave outspoken advocates for women's rights over here really impress me. Many of them live under nearly constant death threats by insane Islamic Fundie lunatics.

Irshad Manji is a prominent Muslim writer and speaker who is unafraid of criticising Islam, particularly over women's rights. As a liberal, feminist and lesbian, she ruffles a lot of feathers, and receives death threats. She has bullet-proof windows at home - in Toronto!