Wednesday, March 25, 2009

New Terms: Islamic Gender Apartheid & Honorcide

Phyllis Chesler and Marcia Pappas have published an article that demands:

- an end to the brutality of Islamic gender apartheid

and

- deplores the politics of racism among the feminist intelligentsia

The lead-in:

It is time for feminists, both women and men, of all faiths, and of no faith, to stand together for a woman’s right not to be murdered in the name of family honor. Indeed, we welcome men and women of all faiths, including Islam, to stand with us against female genital mutilation/castration, forced veiling, child marriage, arranged marriage, polygamy, and “honorcide,” and in favor of a woman’s right to live as a westerner in the West without being threatened and beaten for refusing to wear hijab, wanting to have non-Muslim friends, wear makeup, attend college, drive her own car, or end an abusive marriage. Muslim and Sikh women have been honor murdered in North America for all these alleged crimes against their religion and their culture.

1 comment:

YMedad said...

From today's NYTimes:

Re “Saudi Arabia: Lashes for Widow, 75” (World Briefing, March 10):

Where is the outrage over the sentencing of a 75-year-old widow in Saudi Arabia to 40 lashes and four months in jail for an innocuous meeting with a couple of young men, one of whom was her nephew?

Saudi Arabia’s scabrous treatment of women is indefensible. For all its wealth, it is a primitive country. There should be an immediate public outcry, and the United States should threaten to boycott its oil if this sentence isn’t rescinded.

This is the Salem witch hunt of the 21st century. It should not be condoned with silence.

Sara Nicoll
New York,