Muslim/Islamic Women

Omar al Hashim, I like the satire, although its meaning is very serious and unfortunate. In addition to my previous points that you have not yet answered, I have more questions, I hope you do not mind...

From the article:

"Women who break this rule face harsh penalties. Sarah, a victim of such injustices, told me the specifics. As punishment for wearing non-revealing clothing, she is deemed unattractive and given unequal treatment by her employers. She says she is not considered �normal�."

What a terrible penalty, no?

Point is, she would be much more appreciated by others for her strong personality and lack of conformity.

And:

"Seeing all this, I am aware that Australian women are denied the rights that are basic to any Muslim woman. What concerns me, though, is whether or not they are aware of that fact."

Yes, and SOME Muslim women are denied the basic rights (different kinds of rights, of course) that these Australian women have.

I have friends who care not for such dress codes and other expectations of society, it is a matter of will, I think.

- Zheng-ru

Guys, poverty, ignorance, feodalism, medievalism, oriental racism and sexism these are the problems of the Middle east. Be a reformist, instead of putting irrelevant propagandas.

Originally posted by Omar al Hashim The point of my argument is not to argue about any particular country or any particular case. I didn't reply to your other points because we were headed down this path. The point of my argument is to highlight that the press the womens rights recieve in the west is far worse than the reality.Sure there are some people who don't get their rights, sure there are some countries with some dubious laws. But thats exactly the same to non-muslim countries too. When people stir up hatred toward a people, they often pick on their womens rights. The last article was a satire, but I've heard other people attack western womens rights for serious.Whats disappointing is when people actually start to buy into the demonization of the 'other' then someone said that perhaps the western view (media) is only making it seem forced and oppressive, then I said that is not true, that women do not want to be obliged to wear so much clothing (I am not talking about the hijab here, you understand) The only countries that have forced the wearing of Burkas are Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan under the Taliban. Both impose(d) similar dress restrictions on men - but lets not think about that because it doesn't help the anti-women ME case, eh?

Ah, you are right, but I was under the impression that your point was that "[you] don't think womens freedom of expression or speech is limited any more than a mans is." And when you said the following, it was not about the sometimes corrupt western media: "Exactly which social status is unique to arab or irani women?"

Anyways, As I said before, I do not refer only to "western sources" for my information, I also refer to Al-Jazeera.

Doesn't Iran force a strict dress restriction upon women as well? But we are not only talking about dress regulations that are not equal here.

Edited by Zheng-ru - 03-Mar-2007 at 21:04

Thank you for your insight Cahaya, I assure you that I have nothing to do with women being discriminated and exploited, on the contrary; I discourage oppression of women in any form.

Sincerely,

Zheng-ru