Excuses for Sexual Harassment

I thought of doing a blog post on sexism while listening to Lynsey Addario being interviewed on NPR's Fresh Air. Ms. Addario is a photographer who had been kidnapped while on assignment in Libya. While she was not raped while in captivity, she was subjected to multiple incidents of groping and other indignities of a sexual nature. To Terry Gross she related incidents of groping even in supposedly "safe" situations, like documenting protests. From what I have read about woman journalists covering the Arab Spring movements of a few years ago, this is not uncommon. Whenever I hear about incidents like these I recall a passage from Whirlwind by James Clavell about the early days of the Iranian Islamic revolution. The passage portrays Iranian men sexually harassing Western women as well as Iranian women in Western-style clothing, groping them and exposing themselves. The excuse given was that they viewed these women, by virtue of their "immodest" dress, as harlots and unworthy of the respect with which the Koran supposedly encourages men to accord women. It is therefore acceptable for these men to behave in this un-Muslim manner because the decorum and dress of these women unacceptably tempts these men.

Apologists for Islam and the more conservative versions that require women to be covered head-to-toe sometimes state that it is for the woman's protection, to guard her from easily tempted men, putting the onus back on the woman for a man's behavior if he is so tempted. I would be more sympathetic to this point of view if the men covered themselves as well.

Look at virtually every photo that came out of the so-called Arab Spring, or indeed any demonstration of any kind in the Middle East. Very seldom, perhaps never, do you see any women in the crowd. Where are the women? Usually confined to the home, unable to talk to anyone outside of the family without the permission of their husbands or fathers. Once again there is the rationale that women are to be protected. But protected from what? Apparently protected from the fathers, brothers and husbands of other women, locked into their homes. And what happens if one of these upstanding religious men rapes a woman who has wandered out of her home without permission? Is the man arrested and charged with rape? Does the father and brothers of the raped woman enact revenge against the rapist? Maybe; but in many situations what happens is that the woman is killed....by her own family!

I'm not a Muslim scholar. Many of you know that any phrase that begins with "I'm not a..." usually is followed by an opinion that one might surmise is the purview of someone who is what the speaker or writer claims he is not. Proceed at your own risk!  Like any religious text, the Koran/Qur'an is something that is interpreted. It is not a technical manual that clearly and unambiguously lays out rules and guidelines for life - just like any religious text. You will hear from self-proclaimed devout Muslims justifications for barbarity against women, as well as claims that women be set upon the metaphorical pedestal. One of the things that the Qur'an does say is that women (and men) should dress "modestly". Again, interpretation: some Muslims hold the interpretation that women must be covered head-to-toe with even the eyes covered with some gauze to allow (restricted) sight through the covering; others don't even require a head-scarf, but see "modesty" no differently than a nineteen fifties baptist woman in Nebraska might have. Even some who mandate that niqab (head-to-toe covering) come up with differing rationales: some say it is because women are temptresses whose beauty must be hidden to avoid tempting men, while others cite its "protective" nature. (As a side note, the Qur'anic suras citing modesty for women also urge men to avert their eyes when approaching a woman so as not to think of them in a sexual manner)

So here's the part where many of you shake your heads at the foolishness of those Muslims who don't know "the truth". But the reality is that one of two things is occurring: either misogynistic men in these societies are using and misusing their "holy" books to justify their treatment of women, or people who otherwise would never think of acting the way that they do are constrained by the tenets of their scriptures to treat women in this manner. Comparing the practices in majority-Muslim lands with treatment of women in majority-Christian societies is really just a matter of degree. The growing secular influence in the West over the last several centuries has also softened the strictly religious views of women in "Chistendom". In fact, until relatively recently women did not have the same rights as men, could not own property or inherit, and even further back were virtually the property of their fathers, husbands, and even their sons.

While things may appear more backward in Muslim societies as it applies to human rights, there are still many people in our own society that will cling to outmoded, outdated religious texts to justify their mistreatment of others