The silence of the feminists

The Age (Melbourne) ^ | 4th February 2005 | Pamela Bone

[naturalman1975]

Why don't left-leaning Western women speak up about abuses in the Islamic world, asks Pamela Bone.

'They'd blanch at foot binding, but for stiletto-smitten New Yorkers, surgical reshaping makes perfect sense," said an introduction to a story in Good Weekend last week. The story was about women in New York paying $A8000 to have their second toes shortened to make them look better in open-toed stiletto shoes.

Some American women might have more money than sense, but what they are doing should not be compared to the ancient Chinese practice of foot binding, in which the feet of little girls were bound backwards so tightly that they could barely hobble, and resulted in grotesquely deformed, agonisingly painful feet for life - all in the cause of the sexual gratification of men. It is not the same thing, at all.

The Good Weekend introduction is a minor irritation, except that it reminds me of the defence of female genital mutilation by some feminists (including Germaine Greer), on the grounds that Western women put rings and studs through their labia. Apart from an enormous difference in the degree of harm - the purpose of female genital mutilation is to prevent a woman from ever experiencing sexual pleasure - there is the crucial matter of choice. A rich Western woman can choose the lengths to which she will go to make herself attractive to men (or to herself); a child in a poor, backward country cannot.

Foot binding, I believe and hope, has gone the way of widows throwing themselves on their husbands' funeral pyres and the sacrificing of maidens to appease angry gods. Many other cultural practices tragically have not: honour killings, the giving away of little girls to settle a family's blood debt, sex-selective abortions or the murder of newborn girls because of a cultural preference for sons, the stoning of women suspected of adultery.

That these continue is not due to a lack of effort by human rights groups from within those cultures. Some news items from the bulletin of Sexisme et Droits des Femmes (an organisation that looks at women's rights around the world): in Pakistan, 1250 women were killed in the name of honour last year, according to the Prime Minister's adviser on women's development, and in many cases, "their murderers are roaming free". A bill imposing death or life imprisonment for honour killings was recently signed by President Musharraf, in response to pressure from Pakistani women's and human rights groups.

A Health Ministry survey of 1000 women who gave birth at a hospital in Djibouti found that 98 per cent of them had been circumcised. Health experts said this practice, which involves cutting away the inner labia and clitoris and then tying the remaining lips together, is a major contributor to deaths in childbirth and exposing women to HIV infection. Groups that have designated 2005 "The Year of No More Excisions" insist the belief by many Muslims that female genital mutilation is supported by their faith is wrong (it is also carried out by some Christian groups). Yet: "As a Muslim, I prefer it when there is circumcision," a religious figure in Djibouti is quoted as saying. "If she is not excised, she will become a prostitute," a midwife said.

In Canada, the Government of Ontario has been deciding whether to allow some Muslim leaders to set up sharia courts to settle family law matters, and Alberta is considering whether to follow Ontario's lead. Most opposition to these proposals is coming not from Canadian-born feminists and liberals (Canada, after all, invented multiculturalism), but from Muslim women who have knowledge of sharia law, a code based on the Koran. Iranian-born activist Homa Arjomand said women are not treated equally under the laws, and that many Canadian Muslim women have been forced into marriage at 14 or into "polygamous arrangements".

The great silence by left-leaning Western feminists, and other large parts of the left, to human rights abuses carried out in the name of Islam is, to see it as its kindest, caused by an overdeveloped sense of tolerance or cultural relativism. But it is also part of the new anti-Americanism. Look at American Christian fundamentalism, they say.

Dislike of George Bush's foreign policy has led to an automatic support of those perceived to be his enemies. Paradoxically, this leaves the left defending people who hold beliefs that condone what the left has long fought against: misogyny, homophobia, capital punishment, suppression of freedom of speech. The recent reaffirmation by Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei of the fatwa against Salman Rushdie has been met by virtual silence; as has the torture and murder in Iraq of a man who would be presumed to be one of the left's own - Hadi Salih, the international officer of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions. The hard left these days is soft on fascism, or at least Islamofascism.

The religious right in America would, if it could, wind back access to abortion and some other women's rights. But as far as I am aware, no Christian fundamentalist in the US has suggested banning women from driving cars, or travelling without their husbands' permission, or forcing them to cover their faces. Contrary to popular opinion, one is not the same as the other.

It does not take a lot of courage for people living in Western democracies to criticise aspects of their culture that need criticising (indeed, it sometimes takes more courage to defend the culture). It takes a great deal of courage for people living in totalitarian states to speak out against the injustices done in the name of their religion or culture. The problem with politely ignoring abuses of human rights because "it's their culture" is that it lets down the brave liberals and democrats and human rights defenders who are trying to change things that so badly need to change for the welfare of women and men in their own communities and in the world.

[jocon307]

Good article, excellent post.

I would only add that many Christian Fundamentalists may be anxious to warn folks that they are going to hell, many Islamofacists are anxious to hurry those same folks on their way there. As the author points out, these are not the same.

[Lorianne]

Great article, thanks for posting.

(Fortunately my toes are naturally stunning in open toed shoes ... no need for surgery.)

[Tax-chick]

LOL - I'm a sensible-shoes addict ... my mother had FIVE operations on her feet (the last 3 free, so she wouldn't sue the podiatrist.)

Western "feminists" have no excuse. The misery of women and girls in "traditional" cultures is unspeakable. Sadly, even Christian families in Africa practice child marriage. It's not just Moslems.

[TheSpottedOwl]

Excellent post! Where are the feminists when human rights violations are happening all over the world. Gee, I thought they cared about us :-(

I guess I might as well not waste my time emailing NOW about the human rights abuses Terri Schiavo is suffering from.

[processing please hold]

I've been bitchin' about their hyprocracy since I've been on FR.
They live in ivory towers and try to protect the women who no longer need protection.
They are idealogical cowards.
They only want women to be free if they don't have to put themselves out in the process.

They are soft, fat with the money they have accumulated over the years.

They got their's.

Let the oppressed women in other countries get their own.

[xJones]

Left-leaning Western American feminists have hated any Republican American President since Richard Nixon. Well, okay, Nixon was enough to turn any woman off.:)

But joking aside, the American feminists have been a major influence in driving the American Democratic Party into a party that supports pro gay/lesbian rights, complete abortion rights (including partial birth brain crushing), and anything else that denigrates white straight males.

But Islam is a not even a blip on the feminist radar screen, because those aren't the hated white males they're trying to tear down. The fact that the Wahhabi Muslims like the Taliban would stick them inside burqa bags and force them to live like chattel doesn't even register on their radar. That can't happen, it won't be allowed by the same males they claim to hate so much.

[hattend]

BTTT

[Heyworth]

But Islam is a not even a blip on the feminist radar screen, because those aren't the hated white males they're trying to tear down. The fact that the Wahhabi Muslims like the Taliban would stick them inside burqa bags and force them to live like chattel doesn't even register on their radar. That can't happen, it won't be allowed by the same males they claim to hate so much.

That's simply not true. Whatever else you want to say about feminists, they were campaigning against the Taliban's oppression of women long before 9/11. Mavis Leno, Jay's wife, was a leader in that movement.

Here's a link to a speech she gave in 1999: http://www.commonwealthclub.org/archive/99/99-04leno-speech.html

[HighlyOpinionated]

In Canada, the Government of Ontario has been deciding whether to allow some Muslim leaders to set up sharia courts to settle family law matters, and Alberta is considering whether to follow Ontario's lead. Most opposition to these proposals is coming not from Canadian-born feminists and liberals (Canada, after all, invented multiculturalism), but from Muslim women who have knowledge of sharia law, a code based on the Koran. Iranian-born activist Homa Arjomand said women are not treated equally under the laws, and that many Canadian Muslim women have been forced into marriage at 14 or into "polygamous arrangements".


And if Canada allows this travesty of justice, will it spill over into the USofA??

A Black Fundamentalist Church in Atlanta, GA, area was accused of beating the children of members of the congregation and the children were removed from their parents' custody and placed in Foster Care while the Courts sorted the whole situation out.

Should not those who protect Children and Families also step in when it's a Mosque instead of a church and an Imam instead of a Preacher? We don't allow child sexual molestation (which is what female circumcision is) in this Country. PERIOD. Don't go saying "my religion" allows me to break the law. Because the protection of children and adults comes before your pitiful little religion when you're talking about breaking the law and harming a child or an adult.

Islam in America HAS to change if it wants to remain viable. If not, one day it will step over the boundary of civility and find itself abolished.

As I said in another forum topic: Americans are NOT hyphenated. Get with the program. There are no "Muslim-Americans." There are only Americans. If a person wants to be hyphenated, then that person needs to reconsider whether living in America (euphemistically speaking of the USofA) is a good option.

[LauraleeBraswell]

she's not really a leftist is she?

Jay Leno is very balanced in his comedy.

[knews_hound]

bttt

[Heyworth]

Well, she self-identifies as a feminist, and the group she led was called the Feminist Majority...

[LauraleeBraswell]

I looked at the website, yes it's feminist. I wouldn't say Feminazi, I'd say feminist. They are pro abortion, but not in a center of the issues way.

But thats one of many feminist groups, and you have to admit collectively that they haven't taken much of a stand.
I dont see NOW anywhere.

[Heyworth]

I don't see NOW anywhere.

Well, since you mention it...

Date: August 20, 1998 2:36 pm Contact: National Organization for Women
NOW Press Office  202-331-0066 202-785-8576 fax
MIRA WEINSTEIN ext 705; or REBECCA FARMER


Latest News Releases
NewsCenter


  NOW Reminds State Department Of Commitment To Afghan Women

WASHINGTON - August 20 - NOW leaders today called on the state department to honor its commitment to the 9 million women and girls living under oppressive Taliban rule.  News reports indicate that if the Taliban is willing to stop protecting suspected terrorists, the US would consider granting the radical Islamic faction recognition as a government.  US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said the Taliban's protection of terrorists is one issue on which recognition would hinge.

"While we agree that the Taliban should not harbor terrorists, we insist that the US continue to deny recognition to the Taliban until human rights are restored to Afghan women and girls," said NOW Membership Vice President Karen Johnson.  In the past, Johnson and leaders from the Feminist Majority have met with officials from the state department and received their assurance that the US government would not recognize the Taliban until the Taliban recognized women's human rights.

"I hope these news reports do not represent an attempt to go back on that commitment," Johnson said.

NOW and other feminist organizations oppose any favorable treatment granted the radical Islamic movement that rules much of the country. "Women in Afghanistan live under oppressive conditions most of us can only imagine in our worst nightmares," Johnson said.

Among the restrictions Afghan women face are: a ban on outside employment; dangerously strict dress codes for women; very limited medical treatment; threats of violence if seen without a husband, father or other male relative; and denials of humanitarian aid.   Women are denied their share of any humanitarian aid delivered to the country under the premise that the men will take care of the women. Also, Afghan girls are forbidden from attending school.

"The Taliban refuses to recognize the human rights of 60% of the population. I expect that the US and other governments will not reward the Taliban's criminal behavior to score political points in the wake of tragedies like the Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam bombings," Johnson said.

She also expressed concern that any recognition as a government could give international corporations the green light to invest in Afghanistan. The Unocal Corporation is allegedly interested in securing a contract to build an oil pipeline across that country. NOW views any project that would help sustain the oppressive Taliban regime as a contribution to the abuse and suffering of Afghan women and girls.

http://www.commondreams.org/pressreleases/Aug98/082098a.htm