The Arab Spring-Back
That's my new name for the "Arab Spring," and it seems to fit. A NYT editorial:
Assaults and gang rapes of women in Tahrir have become so common the last two years that the square is now a no-go zone for women, especially after dark. There are no official statistics. But according to an account in The Times on Tuesday, at least 18 incidents were reported on Jan. 25, the second anniversary of the revolution, during a demonstration against the new Islamist-led government.Six women were hospitalized, one was stabbed in the genitals and another required a hysterectomy. Hania Moheeb, 42, a journalist, told how a group of men had surrounded her in Tahrir, stripped off her clothes and violated her for almost an hour.
The scandal is not just that such violence happens. The women are being blamed by conservative Islamists for bringing the assaults on themselves. As Adel Abdel Maqsoud Afifi, a police general and lawmaker, said, "Sometimes, a girl contributes 100 percent to her own raping when she puts herself in these conditions."
Such twisted thinking is not only hateful in itself but is designed to keep women, who were at the front lines of the revolution, out of politics and power. If President Mohamed Morsi, his Islamist-led government and opposition political leaders do not speak out unambiguously and repeatedly to condemn the attacks and also bring assailants to justice, they are complicit in the crimes.
Wow, Islamist-led government takes over and women have no rights. Who woulda thunk it?!
FUCK ISLAM
notme at March 30, 2013 5:11 AM
You only say that because it's the 21st century. Primitivism is the enemy, religious and otherwise.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at March 30, 2013 8:11 AM
Truly terrible.
So why are feminists in this country so eager to see the destruction of the "patriarchy" that has so readily facilitated institutional feminism? The same patriarchy that is responsible for the wealth, advances and freedoms (i.e., civilization) enjoyed by women in this country, one might add.
Women are unhappy now, we hear. Well, if feminism succeeds (and it sure appears that it will), I suspect most women will not be better off in the long run.
We live in interesting times.
Jay R at March 30, 2013 1:59 PM
> So why are feminists in this country so eager to
> see the destruction of the "patriarchy" that has
> so readily facilitated institutional feminism?
VERY perceptive comment.
It's a notable irony the yer penny-ante liberal on the street is likely to foam instinctively at the mention of "The corporations, man..." But in fact, large corporations are often the most eagerly- & readily-adapting venues for affirmative actions, working women, gay partner support, etc.
Or as Paglia once put it, "These girls go out into the world as heiresses of all the affluence in the universe."
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at March 30, 2013 4:23 PM
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