Free Republic

One of the strangest aspects of Islam's treatment of women is "mut'ah" marriage, which allows a Muslim man to take up with a part-time wife for a short contract. At the end of the agreed period, the man no longer has any responsibility for the woman. In effect, it is legalised prostitution. The Bahraini feminist Ghada Jamshir has condemned mut'ah marriage. She said on al-Arabiya TV on December 21, 2005 of mut'ah that it is, in practice, a form of child abuse: Ghada Jamshir: "This is a violation of children's rights! This constitutes sexual assault of the girl. What does...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10, 2006 – Harsher punishments for Defense Department personnel who participate in human trafficking or support the industry by patronizing prostitutes are part of a bill signed into law today by President Bush. "Human trafficking is an offense against human dignity, a crime in which human beings, many of them teenagers and young children, are bought and sold and often sexually abused by violent criminals," Bush said at the White House before signing the bill. "Our nation is determined to fight and end this modern form of slavery." The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005 amends the...