What are they so afraid of?

Message Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic Printable Version Translate Topic

   It is unfortunate that we have among us an apparent Taliban 

supporter who is too immature to discuss his views coherently. And 

thoroughly enlightening to see that the only people responding to 

him, are female.

Cassandra, the basic reason for the killing which started off this 

thread is not actually gender based. It is simply that ANYBODY 

working for the present American-sponsored government in 

Afghanistan, just as in Iraq, is a target.

Concerning subjects like honour-rape and a woman�s role in the 

Taliban created society, we overlook a vital truth which is dangerous 

to ignore: rape is NOT sex. Rape is VIOLENCE against women. It is 

also perpetrated against children of both genders, it is (like most 

violence) an expression of physical dominance over a weaker party. 

Gender-based violence can be summed up by the title of a recent 

Spanish movie dealing with the problem: �I Killed Her Because She�s 

Mine.� 

Hanan wrote: �Men found the power of women fearsome. They 

blamed women for their own lack of self control. This fear of women 

among men lasted centuries and continues to this day even in 

Western societies.�

Hear, hear, Hanan. The only thing I would alter is the tense: Men 

FIND the power of women fearsom. Their inability to deal with this is 

one of the root causes of all gender violence in present day society 

EVERYWHERE in the world.

Bravo and thank you to you and Angela for everything you�ve written 

here. 

Maryah wrote:

�The traditional woman of Mexico is like that of a traditional muslim 

mother: She is the queen of her castle and all things go through her, 

her life is that of the well being of her children. How many americans 

are willing to risk their lives to provide for their families?� 

Both of you are echoing what I said in the �Democrat could be 1st 

First Muslim in Congress� thread about how women are the 

foundation of functioning harmonious society. Remove woman from 

this environment and place her in the �workplace� and society 

suffers. Finding the balance between your vital work as a nurse and 

teacher, and being a good Muslimiyah is possible, although not 

helped by the Western value system you�re subjected to.

When Maryah says �all things go through her, her life is that of the 

well being of her children� she is saying that the mother is bringing 

up the future components of society. The future of society depends 

on how she handles them, directs them, nurtures them, educates 

them. And in this respect, a woman is far more powerfull than any 

CEO or national leader. A mother�s influence runs far deeper than a 

father�s, in so far as it is the foundation for  emotional wellbeing 

throughout adult life. The father�s influence on this emotional 

wellbeing is often based on fear: fear of physical pain inflicted by the 

angry father, fear of humiliation by the father by failing to attain 

goals set by him, fear of losing the father�s love by not pleasing him 

in some unidentified way. A mother will always simply love her child 

unconditionally,  without expecting nor demanding achievments in 

one field or another. In many ways, the God figure in religion, mimics 

this father figure.

But should the traditional role of a woman exclude her from 

education, self-realisation or fulfillment? Should the role of home 

maker, wife and mother exclude the possibility of achieving personal 

goals, whatever they may be? This is a very limited and harsh 

imposition over a section of humanity which makes such a vital and 

irreplaceable contribution towards our lives.

The men contributing to this thread are incapable of viewing things 

from a �burkha�d� viewpoint, let alone a woman�s viewpoint, and 

there are as many different views as there are women on the board. I 

am not against feminism nor so-called �women�s rights� ( I question 

the whole seperation of �rights�, how come Human rights does not 

encompass the rights of a child as well as the rights of a woman? 

They are in some way less human? How come they are more needy 

than just generally Humans? That�s the question �) but I am against 

the assumption of superiority of one gender over another, and the 

imposition of one set of social values over another.

A man will always explain a woman�s choice to wear the burkha, for 

example, as being what she wants. But it is what she wants because 

of what she knows. She knows no different, and can see no 

advantage whatsoever in going out without one. The burkha-clad 

widow begging outside the mosque, her children peeking out from 

beneath her �tent�, has no other choice. Likewise, as hard as it is for 

men to accept, often the woman soliciting on the street or in a 

brothel, sees no choice. These women often HAVE no choice. And it 

is society�s responsibility to either maintain that limitation, or review 

it. If the Taliban- erudite students of the Koran that they are (?)- 

believe this is a woman�s rightfull place, imposed by God, then who 

is going to show them otherwise? If their own mothers don�t, then 

they are bound to continue on their mysoginistic �virtuous� path until 

the society they create dies out or revolts.

The whole conversation of �men are better than women at so-and-

so� or �women are superior because of this or that skill� has and is 

causing nothing but confusion throughout society. Our division of 

natural law into classifications of good or bad is entirely wrong, and 

ensures the debate over male-female choice shall never be 

concluded.

Women have the most important role to play in the development of 

society everywhere. If we do not teach our sons the value of the 

female gender, with all of its complications and contradictions, then 

we are failing the future of society and the possibility of a balanced, 

happy culture. At the same time, we must also teach our daughters 

the necessity of self-respect and dignity. It is simply counter 

productive to behave in the same way as men, with late night all 

female strip joints and public drunkenness, for example. Our 

physiology, we must accept, imposes certain restrictions: we are 

more likely to die from alcoholic poisoning, for example, should we 

join our male colleagues in the bar. Our biology imposes that limit, 

no matter how much we fight for the equal right to get drunk.

It is an uncomfortable truth, that traditional values are rooted in 

genetic and cultural (I am never sure which one is the more powerful 

influence) realities. I know of  Afghan refugees in �western� cultures 

(I�m not sure we can include Australia under that geographical 

heading) who find it impossible to shed their burkhas. The West 

imposes cultural norms which are foreign to many cultures. The 

globalization of the economy has also meant the globalization of 

Western values, which have been more an more degraded as the 

West travels further and further away from traditional values, towards 

what, we are still unsure. 