Ok I will be a bit long here.
On 23/09/2011 01:07, Emily Monroe wrote:
Personally, I really don't understand why people get
upset about Islamic women choosing to wear hijabs, or
niqabs, under the pretense of feminism. Part of what feminism
fights for is the right to choose. This is the unintended
consequence.
I get the practical arguments (ie, "I don't know who this person
is" etc.) is, though, and I think any girl or women who has their
wardrobe dictated by another person is being abused, unless
there's a non-abusive reason behind it; I doubt that anyone
wearing a work or school uniform would qualify as being abused.
That is probably because you still consider the niqab as a piece of
garment only. But the niqab doesn't come alone, it comes in a set,
with Islamic law included. And that law necessarily includes the
submission of women to men.
It is very important to understand that Islam is not exactly a
personal choice faith, in the sense that you would consider
tolerance between different churches of Protestantism on the
American territory. Islam doesn't do tolerance, in the sense that we
understand it. In Islam you cannot leave, it is death penalty if you
chose another religion.
It is not either to be considered with a benevolent multicultural
mind, like you would tolerate the differences of Buddhist
immigrants. A law-abiding good-citizen attitude is recommended to
Muslims only if they are a minority in a Western country. If they
become a majority, then they must take power, and impose Islamic
law. This entails dividing the population into three categories ;
Muslims who have full dignity, Christians and Jews who are
sub-citizens subjected to occasional abuse, non believers or
heathens who have no rights. This also necessarily includes a loss
of civic rights for all women.
During the twentieth century there were positive signs from the
Muslim world. They were due to :
- local customs atoning Islamic law
- The modernist mentalities of post-colonization Nation-States
However this is disappearing now, due to :
- New globalized generations who conceive Islam not as local custom
but as globally opposed to the Western world
- The systematic destruction of the modern Muslim Nation-States by
NATO
Only in the mainstream media you hear that Bin Laden was captured
because it suddenly became possible, and Lybian democratic forces
suddenly rebelled against dictator Khadafi. In fact Bin Laden's
capture was a public relations operation, which helped conceal the
fact that Nato has been promoting Al-Qaida to fight in Lybia. This
in turn helps establishing business interests in NATO-controlled
Muslim countries, with Western capital controlling the big business,
the local population subjected to religious obscurantism and not
participating to the democratic defense of their rights, and in
between a zealots mafia..
In Islam women do have rights, yes, like your teenage daughter has
rights. Not like an adult professional woman has rights and can call
her lawyer. In Islam if you have no husband and no father, then you
are subjected to the authority of your younger brother, who can
decide of your life for you, and occasionally beat you up if you
don't obey. In Islam you cannot divorce if you wish, only if the
Muslim judge thinks that your husband did something wrong according
to Islamic law. In Islam you cannot be raped by your husband, he is
your husband it's the word of God that he can do what he wants with
you. In Islam if you complain that you were raped by strangers, you
have to prove first that you were not sexually provocative. In Islam
if you are found with a person of the same sex, the community can
stone you to death as they wish.
The reason why I write all that is that I have talked with feminists
from Muslim countries, so I try to convey their message.
The first thing is that they really would like to get rid of Islam.
Not being mildly respected as a member of the Muslim community, but
really get rid of Islam, and being actively protected from it. They
want to have a life, they cannot even subscribe an insurance policy,
buy a car, go visit friends without the agreement of male relatives.
Then there is the sociological problem, that Islam doesn't tolerate
a sexually neutral civic life. It might not be obvious in North
America because you are so used to it, but in order to have a
professional life women need to work in an environment where there
are male colleagues and clients, and therefore need laws against
sexual harassment, for the simple common sense reason that when you
work you work, you don't date. Islam doesn't do that, in Islam a
woman is either owned by the males of her family or her husband, and
if she she walks free from male authority then she is sexually
available. The male in turn is considered as immediately sexually
eager and willing to rape as soon as he sees a female in the absence
of a relative from her family.
In that sense a male teacher alone with a girl is not decent,
because it is considered that the teacher will attempt to seduce her
anytime, and the girl will compulsorily feel a burning desire as
well. I know, I help the 10 years daughter of my Muslim neighbors
every week with her schoolwork, because the parents cannot read the
language. And yet I cannot be left alone with her, the father or the
brother have to be present in the same room.
Walking in public spaces is tolerated if the girls are in groups
only, so there cannot be a moment alone with a man. For example a
female client talking to a male shopkeeper about a shop's product is
a moment of burning raging obscenity. Islam doesn't do free neutral
space for allowing women to develop civic activities. Let alone
professional activities.
"Tolerant" Islam is gradually decreasing, and it is more and more
the radicals we will have to deal with. In dealing with women's
rights we will have to surrender to or to break Islam. Because once
more, Islam is not only a faith, it's a law, alw as in You Don't
Choose.
Last, let me quote you a short "dialogue" I recently witnessed on
Facebook. There was a girl from Algeria saying "Wow the weather is
still much too hot in this month of September. Then a male Algerian
replied "You don"t chose the weather, God choses the weather". That
is the kind of cultural life most educated girls in Muslim countries
would like to get rid of.
Arnaud