Why Has Obama Got It In for Muslim Women?
The president had a golden opportunity to stand up for women's rights in Cairo — but he chose to pander instead.
Your name is Aisha and you are fifteen years old. You live in Dearborn, Michigan, and your parents are Muslim. So were you once, but it isn’t so easy now. When you were little, you could play with your friends from school, do cartwheels — and laugh. Then, aged nine, your life changed. Your parents made you wear the hijab. At first you didn’t mind; all girls like to dress up. But you got fed up with it; it got in the way when you wanted to do cartwheels. “It’s for your own good,” they said. “It will stop the boys looking at you in a bad way. And you shouldn’t be doing cartwheels now — it could damage you.” You didn’t know quite what they meant, and you couldn’t see why boys would want to look at you — the boys at school played with other boys. But when you asked your parents, they said again that it was for your own good.
As time went on, your parents got more strict about the hijab. By the time you were thirteen, they would hit you if you didn’t wear it — not really hard and never on the face, but hard enough. It didn’t seem fair. You looked different and sometimes it felt hot and sticky. Your classmates could wear what they liked — except Shabnum, who had to wear it too. Shabnum was cheeky, though. She would take it off during the day and put it back on to go home. One day she forgot to put it back on; you had been having such a good time after class, not doing cartwheels — that’s kids’ stuff — but talking to some boys. The next day, Shabnum was not in class and you never saw her again. Your brother Khalid said she’d been taken to Pakistan to get married. “That’s impossible — she’s only thirteen.” “That’s old enough,” said Khalid. “The prophet, peace be upon him, married Aisha when she was six and consummated the marriage when she was nine.” “What’s consummated?” you asked. No answer.
By the time you were fourteen you knew what consummated meant and what happened to the other Aisha long ago, at an age when you were doing cartwheels. You didn’t think Mohammed was much of a prophet and said so to your father. He beat you black and blue — on the legs, the arms, the stomach, but not on the face. Your hijab covered the bruises, “so you won’t bring shame on the family,” your mother said. “Time she got married or there will be more trouble,” said your father. Khalid started taking you to school and back every day, so you wouldn’t talk to any boys.
Now you’re fifteen. You haven’t told your parents, but you don’t want to be a Muslim anymore. You hate wearing the hijab and would tear the damn thing up — but you’re afraid of another beating. You don’t discuss Islam with your father — the beating put a stop to that, too. Your friend Susan doesn’t know about the beating, but she says it’s wrong to make you wear the hijab. “This is America. You have rights. Women are equal here.”
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Mary Jackson is a British editor for the New English Review, an Anglo-American online magazine of politics and culture, dedicated to celebrating the good in Western civilization and warning against that which would threaten it. Click here for the latest full-length articles, and here for the Iconoclast, the regularly updated Community Blog.
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47 Comments
1. Ed Wallis:The author, “Why Has Obama Got It In for Muslim Women?”
Dunno. Beats me.
Well, actually, beats her.
Often, humor can be the most powerful tool in raising the dander to achieve action on such offenses.
(Example : http://michellemalkin.com/2009/06/09/death-taxes-obamacare-poster-contest-round-two/)
One could equally respond: ‘Cause that what SOBama says is her “right”…to hide the abuse and degradation…but it lacks the – pardon the pun – punch.
Put the onus on Barry…but don’t forget the banana peel.
Jun 10, 2009 - 2:22 am 2. Chuck Pelto:TO: Mary Jackson, et al.
RE: A Good Argument….
….but it will fall on deaf ears with regards to ‘feminists’ in America….the rank hypocrites that they are.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Jun 10, 2009 - 3:57 am 3. Paul -Indiana:[Where there is no religion, hypocrisy becomes good taste.]
What’s new?
Jun 10, 2009 - 5:23 am 4. Gary Ogletree:My liberal ex informed me that I was hateful because I quoted the Koran to her and mentioned the millions murdered by Jihad in India. Then I sent her one of Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s books. Try it, it works.
Jun 10, 2009 - 5:42 am 5. Will:Muslim men don’t respect muslim women,answers that question.
Jun 10, 2009 - 5:55 am 6. Old Soldier:Hey we’re all multicultural now so every culture is equal, and let’s not be judgemental, Mary. And those darn French should not force Muslim women to uncover in public schools.
Jun 10, 2009 - 5:56 am 7. Reiuxcat:When one considers how the liberal feminists would react to a case where a conservative christian family insist that their 15 year old unmarried pregnant daughter have the child instead of getting an abortion, the dichotomy is certainly alarming. But not unexpected.
Jun 10, 2009 - 6:10 am 8. Terry Gain:Assuming for the sake of argument that Obama is not a muslim, what would he have said differently if he were. Would he have inserted the adjective most before Holy Koran?
The Holy Koran? You know, the word of Allah as told by the angel Gabriel to a pedophilac brigand who became a warmonger.
Jun 10, 2009 - 6:25 am 9. Gary Wolf:Following the lead of commenter Ed Wallis, I would like to present another humorous take on all this:
http://awolcivilization.com/?p=1149
Jun 10, 2009 - 7:20 am 10. The Shadow:Wow – When you don’t bothe to read his speech, I guess you can make up any lie and the wingnuts will flock to it like moths to a flame
Jun 10, 2009 - 7:22 am 11. Terry Gain:The Shadow:
Wow – When you don’t bothe to read his speech, I guess you can make up any lie and the wingnuts will flock to it like moths to a flame
Get into the sunlight and you might get the difference between reading and understanding.
Jun 10, 2009 - 7:44 am 12. Pee Wee Herman, Community Organizer:Because they don’t vote. At least, they don’t until after they’re dead, in which case they vote demo.
A dead body is a vote for 0bama.
Jun 10, 2009 - 8:05 am 13. Professor Guvinoff:All the multicultural mish-mash is about refusing to consider the ugly realities. The reality is muslims come here because they want to enjoy the benefits of the western society. They will not carry the burden of responsibility that comes with those benefits if we just let them get away with it. Their girls and their women are our guests every bit as much as their male counterparts.
If we fail to protect the muslim girls and women among us, we are failing our own principles, and multiculturalism is the worst contrived excuse for this delinquency.
The reality is that the irresponsibility that leads us to forgive the crimes of the abusive muslim males is the cover for their own. No wonder we elected a leader who puts his expedient interests ahead of everything else.
The irresponsible comments of Obama in Cairo are only the symptoms of the state of peril of our own moral standards. There is no winning the war against tyrany without winning our cultural war first. Forget about the peace in the middle east being predicated on the contrived grievances of the palestinians. This absurdity stems from our refusal to address the true realities.
Jun 10, 2009 - 8:20 am 14. mehere:Shadow: Lots of us read Obama’s speech and lots of us recognized it wasn’t much good. I am sure you thought it was more than it was, but once you strip away the inaccuracies and the trading of the west’s ideals to appease those who would like to destroy us you might have to concede it didn’t do much other than peddle some hopeychange snake oil. Bet the muslims aren’t buying it though.
But to answer Ms Jackson’s question: it isn’t Obama that hates women, it is Islam. A bunch of lil-dicks beating women and suppressing them any way they can. The women listening to Obama’s speech may have applauded but remember, in the Religion Of Peace a woman’s applause is only worth half that of a man’s.
Jun 10, 2009 - 8:26 am 15. Penny:Watch, if you dare, videos of Islamists torturing women and you’ll know where Obama gets his ideas. Pam Geller at Atlas Shrugs blog site has a horrifying video of torture/port at her site today. She will release 10 of these truly sickening videos for every photo released to the ACLU of Americans “torturing” (not) enemy combatants.
Jun 10, 2009 - 9:42 am 16. Terry Gain:but once you strip away the inaccuracies …
… there is nothing left but lies.
Jun 10, 2009 - 9:55 am 17. GCPSteve:#10 shadow
I guarantee you that every poster here read the speech. I wonder what friggin’ speech you read.
Jun 10, 2009 - 10:15 am 18. The Shadow:GCP- Anyone can read something – It is a matter of bring one iota of intelligence to the speech that counts. Obviously that is beyond the wingnuts who read everything through the prism of wingnuttery.
Jun 10, 2009 - 11:57 am 19. Peter the Bubblehead:18. The Shadow wrote:
Obviously that is beyond the wingnuts who read everything through the prism of wingnuttery.
Peter writes: And even more obvious is that it is beyond the ability of lefty liberal loonies to see reality, even when it strikes them square in the face.
The Won can compliment and genuflect all he wants to Islam, but it’s still going to hurt just as much when those that hate us for exactly what we are strike us again, and with the dismantling of our defenses The Won has been busy with since the day he recited his oath of office, that day is coming ever closer.
Jun 10, 2009 - 12:15 pm 20. GCPSteve:Make up your mind shadowman. Your first post accuses us of not “bothe (sic) to read the speech”, and now you claim “anyone can read something”.
I really don’t think it is in your best interest to discuss anything having to do with intelligence, for it is obviously not a strong point for you.
And from your post #10; President Obama is the one “making up lies” and you and your ilk are the ones “flock(ing) to it like moths to a flame”
Jun 10, 2009 - 12:37 pm 21. David Adams:If muslim women do not have a choice about wearing the ‘hijab’ then neither Muslim women nor Muslim men are free in what seems to be a very repressive ‘religion’.
Jun 10, 2009 - 12:55 pm 22. blotto:Shadow: Give it up. You are in way over your comatose head. Even the most ardent leftist can not reasonable defend the indefensible acts of inhumanity done to women/girls by Islamic fundamentalists. And if by some accidental connection of your synapses, you do then by extention you think it is okay to do it to our young women and girls. Which is truly sick.
Jun 10, 2009 - 1:06 pm 23. UGH!:Penny
Here is the only video I dared to watch at Atlas and that made me throw up violently and I could not watch to the very end-
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2009/06/obamas-on-womens-rights-in-islam-the-struggle-for-womens-equality-continues-in-many-aspects-of-ameri.html
These people are sick, twisted and evil to the core and Obama being supportive of them is even more sickening. Tell me again why Obama is not a Muslim, you left wing idiots.
Jun 10, 2009 - 1:42 pm 24. NahnCee:Shadow: textbook example of IQ number equaling age. Not to mention that lovely term from psychiatry: “projection”.
Jun 10, 2009 - 1:48 pm 25. ked5:what makes you think zero cares about women who aren’t muslim? this is the “we must treat women equal” guy who PAID his females works LESS than the men doing the same job.
Can you say hypocrite?
Jun 10, 2009 - 1:55 pm 26. The Shadow:blotto – an apt name. you confuse what is happening in some Arab countries with what Obama said.
Jun 10, 2009 - 2:55 pm 27. The Shadow:GPC – Did you ever wonder why you are in such a small minority even among conservatives? Could it be that you believe in wingnut fairy tales? Once upon a time there was this evil badman who cast a spell over America …”
Jun 10, 2009 - 2:58 pm 28. Carol Gold:I think it was significant that Obama’s Cairo speech was in eight sequential categories and women came near the very end.
Jun 10, 2009 - 3:36 pm 29. Mary Jackson:Thanks for all comments so far, even dissenting ones. (Well, one, really.)
And as several have pointed out, humour is a weapon. I hope there is some humour in my pieces here, here and here.
Thanks for linking Pamela, whose Atlas Shrugs blog I must catch up with. She really cares about Muslim women, far more than those who defend their “right” to dress in a sack.
I think it was significant that Obama’s Cairo speech was in eight sequential categories and women came near the very end.
Good point. Race trumps gender, always. And multiculturalism trumps all.
Jun 10, 2009 - 4:00 pm 30. Ed Wallis:Mary Jackson #29,
Wrong, WRONG!!!
Multiculturalism will NEVER “trump” – as you so amateuristically say – THE COMFY CHAIR!!!
(It’s not dead yet!) Though, how we wish it were…
Jun 10, 2009 - 4:29 pm 31. JDubya:Great article.
When I heard those words pour out of his mouth, I knew what it meant. It meant that those who want to practice their religion, perhaps forcefully, like the way you portray it, should be free to press their daughters into the cult of submission.
I truly believe that he has no care towards other individuals. And as for the Democrats, theirs is for the true underdog, whether it is a proxy propped up for display or anything non-white-educated-heterosexual-middle-aged-independent-male.
Just my opinion.
Jun 10, 2009 - 4:48 pm 32. Self-hating Boomer:Tell that to the black guys wrongfully on the hook for child support due to paternity fraud.
Jun 10, 2009 - 7:28 pm 33. tom:Dunno.. but why do christianists have it in for the women of America?
Jun 11, 2009 - 5:35 am 34. GCPSteve:shadowthing,
You really think you know it all don’t you? You do not know anything about me, yet you feel so confident as to judge that I am “in such a small minority even among conservatives”. Here’s a news flash Jackass, your opinions are just that, opinions, not facts.
Jun 11, 2009 - 5:59 am 35. The Shadow:GCP – Hmmnn I wonder who won the last election and why he continues to get suck a positive response in the polls while the wingnut leaders like Rush get such low numbers in the polls. Sounds like a minority to me. 8% agree with Rush about Sotomayor. GO back to your birthing fantasies
Jun 11, 2009 - 6:36 am 36. mehere:Oh, Shadow… let me illuminate your darkness. It will mean I have to slightly rearrange your comment at 26: You confuse what Obama said with what is happening in some Arab countries.
But allow me to extend it: You confuse what Obama said with what is happening in some Arab countries, and increasingly in the west.
You see, my friend, saying nice things to people sometimes isn’t enough. And saying inaccurate and foolish things often does even less good. I understand you believe that Hussein is a noble man, but equally perhaps you can begin to understand why a lot of people think he is vain, self-centered and inconsiderate of people.
And that failure to regard people properly includes women, who are at the root of this discussion here.
Jun 11, 2009 - 9:27 am 37. GCPSteve:This is for fun only. It is meant entirely tongue in cheek:
Quote from The Shadow: “I wonder who won the last election and why he continues to…..suck ”
Maureen Dowd would be proud!
Jun 11, 2009 - 11:34 am 38. The Shadow:mohair:
It is fine for you to believe any myth you want, but thank God the vast majority of Americans are rooted in reality and not in wingnutery.
Jun 11, 2009 - 2:01 pm 39. mehere:Has ‘mohair’ commented here? Alas, I cannot find it…
But then a Hussein-fan will imagine things all the time, and self-delusion reigns supreme. Indeed, reigning supreme sounds like someone who rushes to bow before Saudi royalty.
Now, who could that be?
Jun 11, 2009 - 3:04 pm 40. Peter the Bubblehead:35. The Shadow wrote:
Hmmnn I wonder who won the last election and why he continues to get suck a positive response in the polls while the wingnut leaders like Rush get such low numbers in the polls.
Peter points out: Obama the person may be getting great poll numbers right now (likely because the biased polling groups are only asking registered Dems their opinion) but his POLICY opinions polls are sinking lower and lower by the hour. Why do you think he’s working so hard to get his dismantling of our once-grat nation through as quickly as possible, before an organized resistance can stop him from his distructive deeds.
Secondly, I’m not aware Rush is an elected offical, and as such, would be polled upon, so your point, like so much of the other drivil you post here, is pointless.
Jun 12, 2009 - 11:28 am 41. Peter the Bubblehead:38. The Shadow wrote:
It is fine for you to believe any myth you want, but thank God the vast majority of Americans are rooted in reality and not in wingnutery.
Peter points out: Like the majority of Americans who are now against Obamacare? the majority of Americans who now do NOT want to close Gitmo? The majority of Americans who think congress as a whole should be thrown out on its useless a$$? That majority of Americans?
Jun 12, 2009 - 11:30 am 42. Chloe W.:What’s the point of that entire spiel about the girl not wanting to wear the hijab? I wanted to wear miniskirts and belly shirts when I was in high school. I come down the stairs in the morning wearing a miniskirt belly-shirt ensemble and my dad beat my ass. Same for the Muslim girls and their hijab. I wish my kid would make a smartass crack about the religion that I practice. You can believe whatever you want but don’t ever degrade or disrespect me or my religion in my home. You are your parents property until you are an adult and the same holds true in every society/culture, including America’s. Follow the rules and respect the religion of your household until you turn 18 and then you can legally do whatever the hell you want. After you leave your parent’s household who is there to make you wear the hijab? Obama can not protect you from your father’s parenting but when you turn eighteen you don’t have to deal with it anymore.
Jun 12, 2009 - 3:44 pm 43. Mary Jackson:What’s the point of that entire spiel about the girl not wanting to wear the hijab? I wanted to wear miniskirts and belly shirts when I was in high school. I come down the stairs in the morning wearing a miniskirt belly-shirt ensemble and my dad beat my ass.
The point, which should be obvious, is that you were in no danger of getting “honour killed”, or forced into “marriage” in Pakistan. If you seriously think Muslim girls and women have freedom in the West, then you are as naive as your president.
Jun 12, 2009 - 4:43 pm 44. Mary Jackson:And to draw a moral equivalence between disapproval of miniskirts and shrouding someone in a sack is fatuous and morally bankrupt.
Jun 12, 2009 - 4:45 pm 45. The Shadow:Bubblehead – apt name – try approval ratings north of 60%. Try looking at the approval rating of the wingnuts 8%
Jun 12, 2009 - 7:03 pm 46. caestal:Oddly enough, I find that folks who spew spurious statistics don’t convince me of anything… likewise, if I see someone calling people names (on either side) it makes me think their positions are too weak to defend, and so are less likely to be valid.
Jun 13, 2009 - 1:35 am 47. billc:Liberals only care about educated, powerful people like themselves. The little people, as we saw with Juanita Broderick, Paula Jones and the muslim women discussed here, are food for the dragon. By this I mean the movie dragon slayer from disney from many years ago. The people in this kingdom fed their virgin daughters to the dragon to keep themselves safe. Liberals feed their weaker members to the modern dragons, Bill Clinton, Ted Kennedy, the muslim terrorists, to keep themselves in power and safe.
Jun 13, 2009 - 5:07 pm