Rushdie: "Muslims fear female sexuality"

[tcmahoney]

I'm surprised that no one started a thread on this when it first came out nearly a month ago:

Muslims fear female sexuality (http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1865950,00.html)

Rushdie, 58, said that much of the anger toward the West was provoked by that split on sexual issues.

"(It is) because Western societies do not veil their women. Because they do not defuse this potential danger," he said.

I haven't read Rushdie's latest book (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679463356/qid=1139771798/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-8950044-5372054?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) and will have no time to do so in the next couple of months. (Heck, I plunked down $24.95 last month for a novel by one of my favorite authors as soon as it came out, and I'm not going to have the time to read it for a couple of months.) So if anyone's reading it, it'd be good to hear from them.

But it seems to me that this does tie in with a larger theme that's been happening over the past half-century: The role of men and women are changing, and we're going through some growing pains as a result of that. Whatever justifications may have been offered in the past for keeping the little lady barefoot and pregnant and behind a veil are now obsolete, and we're having to adjust. Some of us, obviously, are adjusting a lot better than others.

[Demosthenes]

Thank you, Mr. Rushdie, for stating the obvious.

[DoyleG]

That's another Death Threat for him.

[ratdog]

Thank you, Mr. Rushdie, for stating the obvious.

The trouble is how does this differentiaite Islam from Christianity, Judaism, or Hinduism?

[Demosthenes]

The trouble is how does this differentiaite Islam from Christianity, Judaism, or Hinduism?
It doesn't. It's only a matter of how much and in what ways the fear manifests itself.

[ratdog]

It doesn't. It's only a matter of how much and in what ways the fear manifests itself.

Which was really my point.

I do expect someone here to object and use this quote in support of their objection:

"(It is) because Western societies do not veil their women."

To which it must be replied that the advances women have made in the West have been made despite our religious institutions and not because of them. Besides their own efforts at agitation, of course, women owe their gains more to the secular Left than to religion.

[vivzig]

it must be replied that the advances women have made in the West have been made despite our religious institutions and not because of them.
This deserves repeating, since I am out of rep. Refutation? Should be entertaining.

[DoctorJones24]

Like the Catholics embrace it!

Anyway, here's a useful essay to go along with Rushdie's little piece: I use this when I teach Huntington's Clash of Civs.

"The True Clash of Civilizations" (http://wvs.isr.umich.edu/papers/FornPol2.pdf#search='inglehart%20norris')

[ratdog]

Like the Catholics embrace it!


Or the Protestants and their various offshoots, to be fair.

[Attacking Minded]

Does atheism have faults?

[Roel]

Does atheism have faults?

We tend to have lots of sex, without all the hang-ups and $hit.

[Alex_K]

We tend to have lots of sex

Negative. But maybe I'm a exception from the rule... :(

[DoctorJones24]

Btw, flippant references to Christianity aside, Rushdie is dead on here. Even in a moderately Westernized Muslin nation like Morocco, the gulf between the sexes is wide and debilitating. It's not coincidence that you can look at any "development index" of third world countries, and they are ranked in direct correlation to their female literacy rate.

[bradley31]

The trouble is how does this differentiaite Islam from Christianity, Judaism, or Hinduism?

Why can't some of you respond to a criticism about Islam without degrading Christianity? You don't even respond to the thread... you just say, "Oh yeah, what about Christianity?" Stop trying to muddy the waters with your relativism. It's obviously not the same.

[Demosthenes]

Why can't some of you respond to a criticism about Islam without degrading Christianity? You don't even respond to the thread... you just say, "Oh yeah, what about Christianity?" Stop trying to muddy the waters with your relativism. It's obviously not the same.
Same problem. Different degrees.

[BenReilly]

Same problem. Different degrees.

In most things in life, degree is everything.

[Dyvel]

I've been afraid of womens sexuality ever since I read My Secret Garden: Women's Sexual Fantasies by Nancy Friday (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0704332949/qid=1139786342/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_3_1/203-4790244-7114366)

[Dyvel]

I've been afraid of womens sexuality ever since I read My Secret Garden: Women's Sexual Fantasies by Nancy Friday (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0704332949/qid=1139786342/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_3_1/203-4790244-7114366)

[superdave]

Why can't some of you respond to a criticism about Islam without degrading Christianity? You don't even respond to the thread... you just say, "Oh yeah, what about Christianity?" Stop trying to muddy the waters with your relativism. It's obviously not the same.
There's a reason I called him Joseph the Jesus-hater.

I mean, if this was a thread about Bush, and someone on your side brought up a "yeah what about Clenis" point, ratdog would rip him.

But when it comes to hatin' Jesus, ratdog never sleeps.

[ratdog]

Why can't some of you respond to a criticism about Islam without degrading Christianity?

Wasn't there some famous Christian who said something about splinters and beams in various peoples' eyes? If only certain other Christians would actually listen to that guy for once and do as he said because not only is this "moral" advice but it makes good practical sense as well. It lets one avoid the harmful pitfalls that invariably accompany hubris. I wish I could say I'm sorry that I hit too close to home for you, but I'm not. Instead, I just hope you learn something from it.