Dr. Hager's Family Values & the Christian Right's War on Women
W. David Hager is a Kentucky obstetrician, member of the advisory committee of the FDA, evangelical Christian, and outspoken opponent of abortion, stem-cell research, and contraceptives. Good Housekeeping named him "among the best doctors for women in the nation." Reports from his ex-wife suggest that he raped her repeatedly over the years.
Sheik Blames Women for Being Raped
There was a time when people assumed that women were at fault for being raped - in some way, they must have encouraged the rapist. In the West this attitude has mostly disappeared, but it still seems to exist among Muslims. Why?
Protect Your Womb!
One of the curious features of the Christian Right's agenda for America has been the way it treats women as little more than baby-makers. For them, a woman is defined by the fact that she can bear a child, not by anything she actually does or accomplishes in her life.
Irshad Manji, Sill Riling Muslim Extremists
Irshad Manji's The Trouble with Islam: A Muslim's Call for Reform in Her Faith continues to sell and continues to make conservative Muslims uncomfortable. That's a good thing, I think, because so long as religious leaders are "comfortable," they won't be making progress or improvements in things like their treatment of women.
Kuwait: Women Denied Right to Vote
Women in Kuwait will retain their second-class status after Islamist legislators blocked a plan to let them vote. Reformers had been optimistic, but conservative Muslims had their way and it's not clear if or when a new vote on the issue will occur.
Defrocked Lesbian Minister Wins Appeal
Elizabeth Stroud is a lesbian minister who was defrocked last year after a United Methodist court ruled that she had violated a rule against "practicing homosexuals" serving in the clergy. Now an appeals committee has overturned the verdict.
Honor Killings in Jordan
slam has a serious problem with so-called "honor killings." They aren't exactly an epidemic, but what is epidemic are the excuses and rationalizations. The fact that honor killings are accepted by Muslims all over the world is a sign of tremendous disrespect towards women.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Dutch Politics
Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali has become famous for her opposition to Islamic extremism and her blunt criticisms of how Islam - even "moderate" Islam - traditionally treats women. This has forced her into hiding out of fear of "peaceful" Muslims, thus demonstrating that her criticisms are appropriate.
Gaza: Virtue & Vice Commandos Murder Woman
Terrorist organization Hamas has a new "vice and virtue" commando going around and imposing their ideas of morality on people. It's already gotten one woman killed because she was out in public with her fiance. Who's next?
Pakistan: Extremists Attack Female Runners
Muslim extremists have struck again in Pakistan, this time attacking female runners who wanted to run a marathon with men. The women were dressed in heavy, concealing clothing rather than western-style running gear, but that didn't matter to the religious thugs.
Blogsnark: How to Discipline Your Wife
If Christianity teaches that women are to be subordinate to men, then how should men take care of ensuring that women are properly "trained" to accept male leadership? Fortunately for godly men, there are plenty of ideas out there.
New York: Woman Leads Muslim Prayer Service
In New York City, a Muslim woman recently led prayer services at a mosque; Muslim religious leaders in the Middle East are not happy about that. Is this a violation of religious law? No, it's contrary to tradition - thus demonstrating that treating Muslim as second-class citizens is part of the tradition.
Germany: Honor Killings Epidemic
So-called "honor killings" of Muslim women have increased sharply in Germany recently. In the past four months alone, six women have been murdered by their own families. Why? Because they wanted to live more Western lives. Evidently, women deserve to die for that — but if living a Western life is so awful, why live in the West in the first place?
Female Police = Political Correctness?
One of the images that commonly accompanies the story of Brian Nichols, charged with murdering several people in an Atlanta courtroom, is that of a female police office escorting him. A number of conservatives have taken this image and used it to attack the very idea of having women in the police.
Why the Veil Matters
What's the big deal about girls wearing veils to school? If it's a part of their religion and culture, why should government officials care - and why should feminist activists care, for that matter? The reason is that there is more going on here than simple religious expression.
A Woman's Place in Christianity
Christianity has not been very supportive of women, historically speaking. Much of the time women have been denigrated and forced into a second-class status. This was true right from the earliest years of Christianity and has continued down through today.
Women Should Not Play Sports
Women's sports has been growing steadily for the past couple of decades, in large part because of government mandates that women's sports be funded equally at all educational levels. Some see this encouraging pagan and humanistic attitudes. Playing sports competitively prevents women from learning how to be meek and humbly serve their husbands.
Virginia: Proposal to Require Women Report All Miscarriages
In what many will perceive as a sign of the growing lunacy of the Christian Right, Delegate John Cosgrove has introduced a bill in Virginia that would require all women to report a miscarriage within 12 hours or risk 12 months in jail and a USD $2,500 fine. Lunacy? No, it's quite consistent and expected within the Christian Right's war on abortion.
Irshad Manji Is Still Around
Irshad Manji's book The Trouble with Islam caused a great deal of controversy but we haven't heard from the author in a while. She hasn't disappeared, though - she's just been busy getting her book translated and promoted in Muslim nations.
Fears for European Muslim Women Who Speak Out
Islam is not very kind towards women, especially when compared to the rights and freedoms women in the secular West have. Unfortunately, even Muslim women in the secular West experience great difficulty and are sometimes too afraid to speak out on issues that are important to them.
NOW: National Organization of Witches?
The Christian Right is, in some ways, a product of the battle against modern feminism. The organizational structure for it was originally created by those who successfully mounted the opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment. These anti-feminist roots have not been forgotten and continue to constitute an important basis of the Christian Right's anti-modern agenda.
Christian Right's War on Women's Choices
Not content to criminalize abortion, conservative Christians in America are also seeking to eliminate women's access to birth control pills. Their tactic is to get doctors to refuse to prescribe them pharmacists to refuse to fill the prescriptions and they are gaining some success in this.
Stained-Glass Ceiling
More and more women are being ordained into various Christian churches in America, but their success stalls because being ordained doesn't lead to the credibility, respect, or positions of authority typically seen by their male counterparts. Religious leadership is still a man's world in America.
Phyllis Schlafly vs. Reality
Phyllis Schlafly is an important figure in America's Christian Right. Sometimes she has something insightful and intelligent to offer on the news, but usually what she writes is so bizarre and false one has to wonder whether she actually lives in the same reality as everyone else. This problem seems to be getting worse and I wonder if she is mentally stable.
Women Organize to Fight Fundamentalism
Women are frequently the first targets of religious fundamentalism - by controlling women, fundamentalists are in a better position to control families and society in general. Women also tend to suffer the most in fundamentalist systems, losing more of their rights than just about anyone else.
Bangladesh Halts Female Swimming
Muslim extremists in Bangladesh have managed to put a halt to a women's swimming competition. According to the religious fundamentalists, it would have been offensive for women to wear swimsuits in any public venue. What if the women were offended by the extremists' prudery?
Hell in Germany: Muslim Women Suffering Violent Abuse
A common problem in Muslims communities in many secular Western nations is the presence of violence against women. In Islam, women don't have the same status or rights as men; this can lead to pretty awful treatment and even physical abuse which may not be mandated by Islam, but also isn't always negated by it.
Michigan: Sexist Imam Speaks to Students
Islamic traditions do not conceive of women generally having the same rights and privileges in society as do men. This attitude was put on display at Western Michigan University recently when Imam Siraj Wahhaj of Masjid Al-Taqwa mosque in Brooklyn, N.Y., gave a talk on how women should be restricted to only certain roles.
Being a Woman in Afghanistan
The Taliban has been defeated - well, not entirely, but they don't have as much power anymore - yet conditions for women in Afghanistan haven't improved as much as they should have. Women are still treated as second-class citizens because the men simply refuse to recognize them as social or political equals. It's amazing that they are even treated like human beings.
Iran: 13-Year-Old Girl Sentenced to Death for Incest
In Iran, a 13-year-old girl has been sentenced to death because her 15-year-old brother got her pregnant. The boy, of course, doesn't face a death sentence - he'll only be whipped 150 times with a lash. Zhila Izadi just gave birth to her child so now she is eligible for stoning by the community.
Saudi Arabia: Women to be Barred from Voting
In Saudi Arabia, women will be denied the right to vote in the upcoming 2005 elections. Women, then, will continue to have a second-class status in the most theocratic Muslim nation and the nation which controls the holiest places of Islam. It's fair for outsiders to regard this as a legitimate expression of the values and ideals of Islam.
Iran Curbing Women's Rights
As religious conservatives in Iran gain more power, the rights of the people begin to reduce. The first to feel the pinch are, of course, Iranian women: hardliners want to severely curtail the rights and freedoms women have managed to eke out over the past years.
Netherlands: Graphic Film on Muslim Domestic Violence
Conflicts between conservative Muslims and the liberal Western democracies they live in are on the increase. In the Netherlands, Somali-born MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali has created a provocative short film about the Muslim abuse of women that is creating a lot of controversy.
Jihad Magazine for Women
Islamic extremism is usually discussed in the context of men. Islam is a religion dominated by the male point of view and that goes doubly for Islamic extremism. Extremist leaders are all men and suicide bombers are almost all men. What, however, becomes of the women? There are women involved here, after all.
Religion, Women's Rights, Human Rights
Women's rights aren't so much a special subset of human rights as they are an important foundation for human rights. Because of that, actions that restrict women's right affect all of us and serve to undermine human rights generally. Why is it that so many such actions are done in the name of religion?
Norway: Porn Star Receives Death Threats
A contestant for Miss Norway had to drop out because of revelations that she stared in a couple of pornographic films. As if that weren't bad enough, this Iranian-born woman is now receiving death threats from Muslim extremists - extremists in Norway.
Iran: Unchaste 16-year-old Girl Executed?
Draconian Islamic laws may have claimed another victim. There are reports that a 16-year-old girl, Ateqeh Rajabi, in Neka in the northern Iranian province of Mazandaran, has been executed for "acts incompatible with chastity." Perhaps some Iranian clerics should be executed for "acts incompatible with humanity."
Turkey Getting Tough on "Honor"
As more light is shined on the practice, more governments are beginning to crack down on the old and barbaric practice of "honor" killings. Whereas before men who murdered female relatives in order to maintain family honor were often treated with deference, now they are starting to be treated like the vicious criminals they are.
Controversy Over Women Praying at College Mosque
In Kerala, India, female students are given the same rights in a student mosque as the male students - that, however, has upset many male Muslims who want the women kicked out. The administration, however, won't get involved and kick them out.
Islam and Women's Rights
There has been a lot of criticism of Islam for the way that women are treated in Muslim societies. It is argued that the poor treatment of women reflects the current inability of Muslim societies to become free, democratic states. But is this criticism justified?
Brothel Workers in Iran
In 2003, Iranian delegates to the UN Commission on the Status of Women rejected a draft declaration calling on signatories to 'condemn violence against women and refrain from invoking any custom, tradition, or religious consideration to avoid their obligations with respect to its elimination.'? Want to learn about some of the consequences?
Culture and Honor Killings
One of the goals of the occupation of Iraq is to create a stable, functioning democracy in the hope that this will lead to the flourishing of democracy across the Middle East. Aside from the question of whether democracy can be imposed from above, there is the question of how compatible Iraqi and Arab culture right now are with the basic requirements of democratic institutions.
Honor Killing over Molestation, Gynecological Exam
A Turkish immigrant in Scottsville, New York has been charged with the murder of his wife. He claims that his actions were taken as a matter of 'honor.' Why? He attacked his wife and 22-year-old daughter after learning that they had been molested by the man's brother. He tried to kill his four-year-old daughter because she had been 'sullied'? by a gynecological exam.
Girls Poisoned for Going to School
After the "liberation" of Afghanistan, it was hoped that there would be greater freedom for everyone in that country - but especially the women, who were repressed by the Taliban. Unfortunately, not all of those freedoms have materialized because while the Taliban may be out of power, the extremists are still everywhere, attacking those who step out of line.
Muslim Woman Attacked in Florida
For the most part, Muslims in America have not had to endure hate crimes on account of the terrorism committed by other Muslims in the world. It's not as if they have been completely immune to bigotry and violence, but incidents have generally been few and far between. Unfortunately, that won't be much comfort to a woman beaten in Florida because of her Islamic headscarf.
How To Beat Your Wife
Are you a man interested in learning more about how best to beat your wife? Are you a woman who thinks that she could stand to be better corrected and disciplined by her husband? Well, have no fear - there are many, many Muslim clerics in the world who are anxious to help educate men about how to properly beat their wives in order to ensure marital bliss.
Saudi Coverup in British Woman's Death?
Have Saudi officials been covering up a British woman's death for 25 years? Have British officials been complicit in this cover-up? Ron Smith, father of Helen Smith who died at a party in Saudi Arabia, think so and for the past quarter century he's been on a quest to see that justice is done and the truth is revealed.
Thailand: "No Women Allowed"? in Buddhist Temples
Should women be allowed into Buddhist temples or even ordained? They aren't (normally) in Thailand, but there are efforts to change things and the "old guard" of Buddhist monks aren't at all happy about it. Buddhism, like many other religions, has a long history of treating women like second class citizens and some women are trying to change things.
Breast Exposure in the 1700s
In America today, the exposure of a woman's breast is often treated as a scandal - the controversy surrounding the 'wardrobe malfunction' of Janet Jackson is a good example. Evidence suggests, however, that the exposure of one or both breasts was relatively common in the 1600s for women of all social levels.
Pakistan Passes Honor Killing Law
A problem that plagues South-Asian nations like India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh is a concept of "honor" that keeps women secluded and validates the murder of female relatives if they besmirch the "honor" of the family. Pakistan is finally moving against this and treating it like a genuine crime.
Britain: Muslim Fathers Sell Daughters For Arranged Marriages
In Britain, many women in immigrant families from Southeast Asia are suffering - their families are forcing them into marriages with Muslim men who treat them abhorrently. Physical abuse, psychological abuse, and even sexual abuse are occurring far too often.
Iran Executing Mentally Ill Girls
The Iranian mullahs' treatment of women and girls keeps sliding deeper and deeper into depravity. Now they have sentenced a teenage girl with the mental age of 8 to death. Her crime: "acts contrary to chastity" because she was sold for sex.
