By Phyllis Chesler and Marcia Pappas
It is time for feminists, both women and men, of all faiths, and of no faith, to stand together for a woman’s right not to be murdered in the name of family honor. Indeed, we welcome men and women of all faiths, including Islam, to stand with us against female genital mutilation/castration, forced veiling, child marriage, arranged marriage, polygamy, and “honorcide,” and in favor of a woman’s right to live as a westerner in the West without being threatened and beaten for refusing to wear hijab, wanting to have non-Muslim friends, wear makeup, attend college, drive her own car, or end an abusive marriage. Muslim and Sikh women have been honor murdered in North America for all these alleged crimes against their religion and their culture.
Here are some specific examples of how American feminist leaders have addressed the problems of Third World women, including Muslim women, both here and abroad. While there are exceptions, most feminists seem to feel more comfortable criticizing their own government. They hesitate to criticize foreign, Third World governments, lest they be demonized as “crusaders” or “politically incorrect racists.”
In the 1980s, feminists respected Alice Walker’s brave stand against female genital cutting/mutilation. Walker, a feminist-”womanist,” focused on perpetrators who were usually women of color, in the Middle East and Africa, who were savagely mutilating their own daughters and granddaughters to render them “marriageable” for men. As an African-American legend, perhaps Walker was viewed as morally “entitled” to criticize foreign, including African, sexism. (Walker finally published her book about this, Warrior Marks, in 1993). In the 1990s, NOW national and state Presidents also spoke out against female genital cutting/mutilation.
Today, sadly something has changed. The unspoken politics of racism among the feminist intelligentsia, and among feminist philanthropists is as follows: If the victims are women of color, especially if they are Arabs, definitely if they are Palestinians, or Muslims, their suffering and their deaths matter—but only if their abusers and murderers are white, European, American, or Israeli. If dark-skinned Africans or Muslims of color gang-rape, kidnap, sexually enslave, bury alive, immolate or stone women of color, including Arabs, Palestinians, and Muslims, (in the West Bank and Gaza, in Afghanistan, Iran, Algeria, Sudan, Somalia), or if one Muslim denomination (Sunni) blows up the other, (Shiaa) in Pakistan and Iraq, it is simply not politically correct to say so. Muslim-on-Muslim crimes do not count in the same way that white European or American-on-Muslim crimes seem to matter.
This is the party line in our universities, in our mainstream media, at the United Nations and in international human rights organizations.
Why are Second and Third Wave feminists buying into this? Why are feminists sacrificing so many women to the dangerous ideology of “cultural relativism,” a belief system in which concerns about sexism are always trumped by concerns about racism? The authors are not saying that racism does not exist, that it does not matter, that it must not be addressed. We are saying that women are affected by both. And when a man or a woman seeks to objectify, abuse or murder women, they should be called out on it, no matter what their skin-color or gender may be.
Conflicting views about whether womens’ rights are universal or not seem to be surfacing in contemporary feminist circles.
In the mid-1990s, and to her credit, Ellie Smeal, a former NOW President and long the head of the Feminist Majority, began appearing on American television to condemn the Taliban’s outrages against Afghan women. While no one went further than this: no one sponsored military-like rescue missions, or raised money to sponsor a multitude of Afghan women for political asylum, Smeal and other feminists were not afraid to speak out in favor of womens’ global rights. Their feminism was not tempered by a fear that they might be called “racists.” Smeal and others understood that the Taliban were male Muslim fundamentalists.
Feminists were ready to take up this fight because Muslim women–who had either suffered female genital mutilation and/or had suffered at the hands of the Taliban –were guest speakers at NOW and at other feminist conferences. They begged American feminists for help. Feminist activists listened, cried, and vowed to take a stand against Muslim violence against Muslim women.
Then, 9/11 happened and America finally responded to the attacks against us which began when Khomeini took power in Iran and held Americans hostage for 444 days. Once we invaded Afghanistan, American feminists grew conflicted, often silent. They sometimes spoke out—for the NGOs, against the American “invasion;” sometimes, feminists maintained an uneasy silence. Sometimes, the same feminist leader did both.
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84 Comments
1. George Jochnowitz:If the victims of honor murders were only Hindus and Sikhs but never Muslims, feminists would be screaming bloody murder. Once Islam is involved, however, feminists are trapped by their anti-Zionism, the most powerful political force on earth.
Thos who commit honor murders are dishonoring their faith, their nation, their community, and their culture. That’s what femeinsts, and everybody, should say.
Mar 24, 2009 - 8:17 am 2. Pajamas Media » A Universal Doctrine of Women’s Rights:[...] Read the entire post here. [...]
Mar 24, 2009 - 8:43 am 3. MiamaMan:Phyllis Chesler and Marcia Pappas, your courage is breathtaking.
I really want to be positive, unfortunately everywhere I turn I see the challenge we are up to. It is not pretty. Still, we must fight, big or small, as much as we can.
Dark forces similar to those behind Hitlerism are gathering again at a quickening pace. Their purpose, as usual, to set back the spiritual evolution of humanity as much as possible, and derail it altogether, given the opportunity.
A new coalition of the totalitarian far left (Castro brothers, Chavez, Ortega, Putin/Mevdevev), with Radical Islam (Iran, Taliban, Hamas, Hezbollah, Saudi Arabia, et al) is coalescing around the plan for a 2nd Jewish holocaust and hate to Israel.
They have advanced much in Europe, as Geert Wilders warns us daily. Immigration control is critical, but the trend under Obama is going the opposite way. The common sight of hundreds of women with Burkas in London, with all the baggage of abuse we know comes with it, may soon be coming to a neighborhood near you, unless we do something about it, and soon.
Mar 24, 2009 - 9:06 am 4. David S:Violence against women is wrong, regardless of who perpetrates the violence, and regardless of their religious convictions.
Focusing on the religion of the perpetrators is a distraction from the fundamental struggle against all violence.
Your misunderstanding of the “cycle of violence” reveals a lack of insight into the current plight of women in the world.
What is most disturbing is that you pile on with others in attacking a religious tradition, rather than recognizing the importance of divorcing religion from violence.
A universal doctrine of women’s rights does not require a blanket condemnation of religion.
Peace.
DS
Mar 24, 2009 - 9:23 am 5. JED:You have me convinced. How do you intend to convince the guy with the exploding vest?
Mar 24, 2009 - 9:28 am 6. Evil Pundit:Why only women’s rights? Who only condemnation of violence against women? Surely all people should have rights, and be free from violence.
Feminism is an inherently sexist doctrine.
Mar 24, 2009 - 9:55 am 7. NMSC:Good article, Dr. Chelser. But I think you are missing a critical element. I actually have a lot of compassion for many feminist leaders, especially the white American ones, because they have been shamed into silence on many of these issues. You haven’t yet asked WHY they are quick to adopt these cultural relativism stances. The reason is pure racial politics in this country, and in particular, positions led by a segment of non-foreign, American women of color feminists. I think white feminists are very enraged by misogyny committed by men of color everywhere, but they have been shamed into silence repeatedly by their feminist women of color comrades, and they DO care what they think. They’ve become obsessed with gaining approval from the most critical American “WOC” and their allies. The anti-racist movement has gotten so McCarthyite, that these WOC feminists have the power, and have used it with great effect, to ruin the careers and reputations of white feminists who they deem “racists” for speaking out on these issues. And it works – many white feminists’ reputations have repeatedly been ruined by WOC shakedowns. Therefore, it is understandable that white feminists watch what has happened to others and fear speaking out. If you want this to change, you need to do less criticizing of many of these feminist leaders who are afraid of being called racist, and rightly so, and zero in on the surprisingly small, but very vocal segment of American women of color feminists who lead the anti-racist (which isn’t really anti-racist it all, mainly just anti-white), cultural relativism moral code in feminism and who so maliciously carry out their anti-white agenda, no matter what the cost. We need to hold women of color feminists responsible for the ways in which their shakedowns of white feminists have helped to silence much of outrage of the misogyny aimed at, ironically, other women of color around the world.
Mar 24, 2009 - 10:05 am 8. BL:Ladies,
A truly wonderful piece! Count me in as a male who is pro-women’s rights for ALL women. May the powers that read and act on the insights you offer and the possible solutions so that all women can live free with men and pursuit their rights to life, libety and the pursuit of happiness.
This is one of the best things I’ve ever read about feminism. I anxiously await to hear more from both of you.
Mar 24, 2009 - 10:10 am 9. American Muslim:This racist, Islamophobic screed is disgusting. I shall not bother to refute this worthless diatribe other than to point out that Muslim women are honored, protected, and given far more substantive rights than are those in other cultures.
The triumph of Islam is inevitable, and with it will come the universal application of Allah’s (swt) law (Sharia). All women will then truely be equal.
The time grows short. Renounce your false religions. Embrace Islam now and live in peace in submission to the will of Almighty Allah (swt).
Your grandchildren will be Muslim.
Allahu akbar!
Mar 24, 2009 - 10:47 am 10. Una Doctrina Universal de los Derechos de la Mujer « Occidentalmente Hablando:[...] 24 Marzo 2009 Una Doctrina Universal de los Derechos de la Mujer Posted by José Javier under Mujer, derechos Humanos Por Phyllis Chesler y Marcia
Mar 24, 2009 - 11:00 am 11. A Universal Doctrine of Women’s Rights. « ACT Northern Virginia/Richmond/DC Metro Chapter. Dedicated to the Defense of our freedom from Islamic Ideology.:[...] Source: Pajamas Media [...]
Mar 24, 2009 - 11:03 am 12. MiamaMan:4. David S.
Of course violence against women is wrong, regardless of the perpetrator. Up to there you are correct.
Now, piling with others attacking a religious tradition? I suppose you are referring to Islam. How do you propose to divorce here religion from violence? Please enlighten us on this issue. It happens that the religion named Islam is centered on the abuse of women, in many forms. Whatever you say matters none to the Mullahs and Imams of the Taliban, Saudi Wahhabi, and others bent on preserving a system of oppression invented 1400 years ago without evolving, without any type of restoration or change for the better. That’s the issue here sir, the beheadings, stonings, mutilations, floggings, in plain 21 century, and add the fact that they want to impose it on us right here.
7. NMSC
Very good point, I think you are right, and your dimension add to the complexity of the baffling behavior of some of the white liberal feminists in the US. This hijacking by an activist and vocal minority, even within an already vocal and activist group, is a phenomenon that also manifest within the black, African-American activism, anti-white, when none of them denounce the incarceration and torture of Dr. Biscet, an African-Cuban, by Castro, who just for pure dissension was given 25 years in jail where he rots. Were this to happen in so-called white-racist America, well you know.
Mar 24, 2009 - 11:03 am 13. john:Good article and a praiseworthy politics. For the sake of further discussion, here are my two quibbles: 1) I know little about the Promise Keepers, but the comparison of their beliefs to Sharia strikes me as rather dubious cultural relativism on the authors’ part. Sharia is a system for regulation of every aspect of life. Christian conservatism, in the context of American civil and family law, is surely hardly comparable whatever you think of men’s responsibility to take a certain kind of lead in making the space for family life. We all have to “submit” to some cultural norms (the word itself should not be made into an ideological fetish; tell us instead what it means in the the family lives of Promise Keepers): “cultural relativism” is also submission – to a romantic ideology that pretends not to submit to any value system, to put one above the other. But we all have to bow to some god, to serve somebody; and that’s why it matters what we serve, that we not fall unthinkingly for the “it’s all good” line, or the romantic lie. Show me any couple, any kind, that does not fall into some kind of differentiated gender roles… it’s necessary to a shared life that we find how we complement each other.
2) distinguishing “forced” veiling, from some freely chosen veiling (whatever that would be in a highly-ritualized culture): in a Western society, we can accept women choosing to cover their hair, but it seems to me people should recognize some minimal requirements for public interaction, e.g., that we accept the individual person as sacred and that this doesn’t mean it’s all your choice how you appear but rather that we can expect to engage the other in some kind of inter-personal dialogue as trusted equals. The possibility of this is greatly diminished by veiling the face (as it would be if you came to work or school naked): to choose to veil your face is an act of hiding information about your personhood necessary to a maximally free interaction; it is an act of limiting or questioning others whom you should face as trustworthy equals. Our Western society and economy is based on being able to trust strangers and to engage them in all kinds of ways. But that also means we must behave as not total strangers but as open ones. If we are against cultural relativism we have to stand for something, even when that means we are going to have to fight with people who stand against cultural relativism in their own different way.
Mar 24, 2009 - 11:08 am 14. MiamaMan:9. American Muslim
Yeah, baby, sure. I would not be surprised to find out that you picked up your Muslim great religion where it is now spreading the most in the USA: in American prisons.
Ha,ha,ha, the triumph of Islam inevitable? You sure bro? The more we know about it, the unlikeliest it becomes.
You Allah (FH) is undoubtedly Satan. The Houris virgins in heaven waiting for you male Muslims, really are, since they have no soul and are only objects of pleasure to be used and reused again, plastic replicas of real women. Only problem, you cannot mutilate them there.
Keep up the good work of the Heavens and the Houris and Allah (FH)and all that BS, see if you can get in touch with Mohammed Atta for confirmation first, asking about the temperature of the place first.
Mar 24, 2009 - 11:24 am 15. Icelandic Feminist:You enlighten a very important point. Being a very ardent women’s rights advocate, it is surprisingly (in the light of your article) very easy to get wrapped up in one’s own local agendas and forget that some people in this world did not experience the advances in women’s rights that most of the western world has – reading your article, it all of a sudden becomes evident that issues such as longer and better paid maternity leave might just have to wait until until followers of midieval dogmas have decided that women are human beings – then maybe we can allow ourselves to go into the radical details of equality…or what?
I’ve heard people ask if it is even morally sound to fight for a woman’s right to equal pay, when there are battlegrounds in the world in which women are still killed and mutilated just for being women. Though I do not have an answer, I think this discussion of various degrees of feminisms is interesting.
Mar 24, 2009 - 11:35 am 16. Halal Snackbar:“I shall not bother to refute this worthless diatribe other than to point out that under Islam, women are routinely raped, forced into underage marriages, mutilated, beheaded, enslaved, used as human bombs, and have far less worth and dignity than those in other cultures.”
Fixed it for you~
Note the difference between the term “Muslim women” (meaning those that live devout and subservient lives of pleasing their husbands) and “Women under Islam” (that is, those women whom Sharia has dominion over and are routinely persecuted for not submitting).
Never forget that Islam is BOTH a religion and a political ideology. It calls for the execution of Gays, Atheists, Hindus, and forces the Christians and Jews into an oppressed lower class and makes them pay protection (called the Jizya tax). These beliefs are not just preached regularly in the middle east, but also in Mosques throughout Europe and North America.
Mar 24, 2009 - 11:41 am 17. wancow:What this is is ISLAMOPHOBIA! It is a fear of islam, or more accurately, a fear of offending muslims.
When are we going to get it though our collective heads that Islam is not a religion. It is a socio-economic ideology cloaked in religion. It is the enemy of freedom and freedom loving peoples.
We can publish piss-christ or dung mary, but make a drawing of Mohammed and all hell breaks loose! Why do we tollerate this?
The only true way to defeat Islam is to expose and humiliate the practicioners for what they are.
Mar 24, 2009 - 11:44 am 18. Steve:Re: 9. American Muslim:
You should leave this country as soon as possible.
People from all over the world are welcome here to be free.
Mecca is calling you. You should live there for the rest of your miserable life.
Mar 24, 2009 - 11:46 am 19. tanstaafl:I’m sorry to report that many so called feminists and past and present members & leaders of NOW are simply unable to state the simple truth and call slaughter what it is when it comes to (male) Muslim on (female) Muslim crime.
They are afraid to breach some universally political correct bromides they’ve adopted, (”oh, we wouldn’t want the many good Muslims to be included in a blanket indictment”) and are cowards, to the core.
Their cowardice and duplicity of spirit were most clearly in evidence when so many in NOW refused to criticize one William Jefferson Clinton during the Monica fiasco. Their “thinking” seemed to be…WJC supports government provided daycare for the children of working women, how can we criticize a President who supports OUR agenda ?
Silence then, silence NOW. Case closed. These women are not to be taken seriously.
Mar 24, 2009 - 12:05 pm 20. tanstaafl:American Muslim:You should leave this country as soon as possible.
American Muslim is actually an angry Filipina, and not really a Muslim at all.
Muslim women are honored, protected, and given far more substantive rights than are those in other cultures.
She also isn’t very bright.
Mar 24, 2009 - 12:10 pm 21. gordo 12:I feel bad for women that are forced to live under Islamic law.
We have a political machine in place now that is terrified to take a stand against anything.Except pushing their taxation at all costs.
We are loosing are rights every minute of the day. Why? Hope and Change.
Schools in Iraq are avalable for Iraqi girls, the right to vote for Iraqi women.
Are there any women in the MSM singing the praise of our troops and the liberty they are starting to provide for these women? NO.
Are there any Muslim women in Buffalo protesting the mercy killing, or better yet women not of the Muslim faith protesting. NO.
Yell and scream all you want. Equality has left the building.
Mar 24, 2009 - 12:30 pm 22. wancow:tanstaafl, actually, there are quite a few muslims in the Philipines. I’m still livid over the use of the term “Islamophia”. I’m not an islamophobe, I’m an islamogynist.
Mar 24, 2009 - 12:55 pm 23. Tonya:#9. American Muslim:
This racist, Islamophobic screed is disgusting. I shall not bother to refute this worthless diatribe other than to point out that Muslim women are honored, protected, and given far more substantive rights than are those in other cultures.
The triumph of Islam is inevitable, and with it will come the universal application of Allah’s (swt) law (Sharia). All women will then truely be equal.
The time grows short. Renounce your false religions. Embrace Islam now and live in peace in submission to the will of Almighty Allah (swt).
Your grandchildren will be Muslim.
Allahu akbar!
Come say that trash talk in Texas out loud and see what happens. Come on buddy, we will be waiting for that day to come. It would be your worst nightmare.
Mar 24, 2009 - 1:11 pm 24. Self-hating Boomer:Why so specific? Doesn’t “thou shalt not murder” cover all of this and more?
Mar 24, 2009 - 1:34 pm 25. Norman Simms:Violence against women is violence against every human being alive. It is utterly and totally unacceptable. It cannot and must not be tolerated. This is not a matter of religious preference or sexual orientation or gender bias or national tradition. It is a matter of whether or not we choose to be civilized and moral human beings.
Norman
Mar 24, 2009 - 1:50 pm 26. gboisjo:American Muslim
Scr-w you and your religion. Mohammed was a psychopath and you are not going to heaven. You and your Muslim brothers are not going to take over the world. Everytime you face off man to man with the infidel you lose. You hide behind your woman and children like the snakes you are. The modern world has alot of tolerance but the day will come when you and your ilk have pushed to many buttons and then you will be driven back under the rocks from which you came…
Mar 24, 2009 - 1:54 pm 27. Ed Wallis:THE AUTHOR: “It is time for feminists, both women and men, of all faiths, and of no faith, to stand together for a woman’s right not to be murdered in the name of family honor.”
EXCUSE ME…buuuuuuuuut weren’t YOU and your friends the ones telling us only months ago how great our now-President was going to be…in spite of all indicators (err…sometimes that actually included FACTS, ma’am…)?!
Fight your own damned fight. We TRIED to tell you. But NOOOOOOOOO, you just HAD to “Hope’n'Change” your way with your (pardon the irony, but: HA!) MESSIAH?! Oy vey!
Don’t come crying to us anymore.
Next time, TRY THINKING.
Mar 24, 2009 - 3:32 pm 28. Tonya:There is a simple solution to the problems of these oppressed, tortured Islamic women. You go down to the store and tell the clerk you need some rat poison to kill some really big rats.
That is called SELF DEFENSE in your case. Especially if you are being raped or mutilated, for Heavens Sake.
Do not set around and wait to be stoned or beheaded, because no person should have to live that way. Take up for yourselves.
No more rats….End of story.
Mar 24, 2009 - 4:13 pm 29. GregGS:“including Islam, to stand with us against female genital mutilation/castration, forced veiling, child marriage, arranged marriage, polygamy, and “honorcide,” and in favor of a woman’s right to live as a westerner”
Uh… Good luck with that, in KoranLand. Forget the Lawyers, you’ll need only Guns & Money…Lotza Guns.
Mar 24, 2009 - 4:14 pm 30. David S:@12. MiamaMan:
Thanks for accepting my first premise. Now to your objections….
You are correct, Islam does seem to be the religion under attack here.
The same could be said for Judaism, Mormonism and Christianity. All these religions are subject to many varied interpretations, some of which involve various abuses against women and others. Christian religion is still being used in the USA to justify similar abuse – but identifying Christianity as the problem would be inappropriate – only a subset of each religion insists on such interpretations.
Here you start to see the picture. The Taliban and Wahhabi are not Islam. They represent a limited interpretation of the religion, and one that most believers don’t accept. Christian religion was used for many centuries to justify similar oppression in the West.
Again, this is not Islam – it is a very narrow interpretation of the faith that is not the most widely shared. The truth is that any religion that claims to know the absolute truth is dangerous, as has been proved by Christians and Muslims throughout history.
Please let me know if you need me to explain the subtleties in more detail…
Peace.
DS
Mar 24, 2009 - 4:17 pm 31. lucy:#9
Your granddaughters will dress like Britney Spears and dance like Madonna.
Mar 24, 2009 - 4:48 pm 32. gboisjo:MiamiMan
You are wrong. Islam overall is a backwards looking religion unlike any other in the world. To compare Jews or Christians with Islam only reflects your ignorance.
Mar 24, 2009 - 6:05 pm 33. tanstaafl:The Taliban and Wahhabi are not Islam.
In fact, the Taliban, Wahhabists, Salafists, Deobandi are Islam.
They claim the milder sects of Islam, such as the Sufi, are not Islam. They even claim that the Shi’ite branch of Islam is not Islam. They teach that Allah requires violent jihad and the spread of Islam to every corner of the earth. They use passages in the Koran to justify their views of what is required of a Muslim.
So how about we dispense with the amateurish generalizations, David S, and just divide Islam up into those who want to behead you and those who feel justified in beating women they deem to be disobedient (as the Koran advises) and those who don’t want to behead you and who don’t feel their Holy Book gives them permission to beat up their wives.
Deal ? We could call it “good” Islam and “bad” Islam. Only your good Islam, David S, Osama bin laden and many of his fellow Salafists consider bad Islam.
It’s all so complicated, n’est ce pas ?
Mar 24, 2009 - 6:14 pm 34. PeteS in CA:Thank you for a very enlightening pair of articles! I do have to quibble your comparison between NOW’s opposition to Promise Keepers (PK) and kid-glove handling of Islam. In particular, this comment:
Under the leadership of Patricia Ireland NOW launched an effective media campaign against fundamentalist Christians a.k.a The Promise Keepers, a misogynistic, mainly Caucasian group.
Having attended PK events at the Oakland Coliseum and Candlestick Park (California) during the time that NOW was protesting PK, I can assure the authors that Promise Keepers is neither misogynistic nor mainly Caucasian. PK is not even remotely close to being either, and, frankly, is the opposite of both! Nor, in the context of the history of Christian Fundamentalism, is PK fundamentalist (and I’m not even referring to the Catholics who attended).
That said, I think that enlarges NOW’s inconsistency that your article pointed out – shrilly campaigning against PK, while soft-pedaling what happens among many Muslim cultures – to the level of straining out gnats while swallowing camels.
Mar 24, 2009 - 6:33 pm 35. tanstaafl:To the wandering cowboy…of course there are many Muslims in the Philippines, many of whom are of the peaceful variety that NOW claims it is so loath to offend by expressing outrage at atrocities being committed by Muslim men against Muslim women.
There are other Muslims, too, in the Philippines, Al Qaeda like groups terrorizing and threatening non-Muslims, beheading non-compliant Muslim farmers & slaughtering Christian school girls
And more bad news on the Muslim front, the Taliban and Osama’s henchmen have recently gained ground in northwest Pakistan, wrenching concessions from the shaky Pakistani government to have Shari’a prevail in the region of the Swat valley. Tribespeople in the region are worn out, intimated and currently “accepting” the Taliban to provide order, any order, just as the Afghans did, at first, in Afghanistan, before coming to be terrorized by those same people. It’s happening right now, again, radical Islam is building a homeland, brick by brick, and slaughtering any indigenous people who get in their way.
The Taliban believe education for women is against the will of Allah and have bombed schools in Afghanistan.
If only 1% of Britain’s current Muslim population of around 2 million is currently heeding the radical screeching of Anjem Choudary, that’s 20,000 people thinking about making bombs & blowing up airplanes and subways as we speak.
These are determined people and politically correct waffling such as demonstrated by many feminists today (and David S) is just what the doctor ordered to enable the stealth jihad for North America (outlined by the Muslim Brotherhood) to prevail.
Mar 24, 2009 - 7:04 pm 36. David S:@33. tanstaafl:
That’s great – exactly the kind of distinction that has been otherwise ignored. We can do the same with all religions regarding their treatment of women and respect for other faiths.
Yep, just like those “bad” Catholics versus the “good” Unitarians. Got it.
Not so complicated, really. Ne convenez-vous pas?
Peace.
DS
Mar 24, 2009 - 7:18 pm 37. BattleofthePyramids:Nice try, Ms. Chesler, but this is a waste of your time. None of the so-called mainstream feminist organizations will go against Muslim violence directed against women, no matter how savage it may be. For proof of this, look no further than the lack of support of ANY feminist group towards the victims of honor killings right here in the USA.
The reason for feminist silence on this issue is rather simple, I would imagine. Fear. Feminists know full well that not only do Muslims not care what they think, but they might very well be next on the list of mutilations, honor killings or acid throwings if they draw attention to themselves. No, you will not find any willingness to stand up to Islamic geder apartheid from women in the USA.
Mar 24, 2009 - 7:41 pm 38. SusieQ:One of the most racist expressions I’ve ever heard is the fact that Muslims killing Muslims, whites killing whites or blacks killing blacks is somehow acceptable because ‘they’re from the same group.’
Ditto can be applied to genders killing genders and women killing women…..by their loud silence.
Great article!
Mar 24, 2009 - 7:43 pm 39. fred:See Jamie Glazov’s new book, “United in Hate,” for the definitive explanations why you will never see the feminist Left defend Muslim women.
Mar 24, 2009 - 7:45 pm 40. Mike Blackadder:“The same could be said for Judaism, Mormonism and Christianity. All these religions are subject to many varied interpretations, some of which involve various abuses against women and others. Christian religion is still being used in the USA to justify similar abuse – but identifying Christianity as the problem would be inappropriate – only a subset of each religion insists on such interpretations.”
So which interpretations of Judaism, Mormonism and Christianity are resulting in us flogging, stoning or beheading women? In what circumstances are such acts of violence considered LEGAL in a country founded on Judaism or Christianity?
I’m also curious to hear about how Christian religion is used today in the USA to justify similar abuse. Leaving aside what you think qualifies as “similar abuse” (given the fact that the left thinks sleep deprivation and waterboarding is equivalent to pealing people’s fingernails off) I’m genuinely curious because I don’t see any connection between Christ and violence against women.
Mar 24, 2009 - 7:48 pm 41. Mike Blackadder:David S,
“Again, this is not Islam – it is a very narrow interpretation of the faith that is not the most widely shared.”
So an interpretation of the faith that is “not the most widely shared” is therefore not part of Islam. How marvelous; Islam, the only world religion whose doctrine is decided democratically.
The thing is that David’s position here isn’t actually as ridiculous as what Chesler criticizes. At least David acknowledges that the Wahhabi, radical fundamentalist interpretation of Islam actually exists. He isn’t trying to pretend that these women who are stoned and beaten to death, who are decapitated because they seek a divorce, are all cases of incidental or typical violence that has no connection to religious belief.
David, the question that us conservatives are trying to pose here is why is this atrocious violence committed against women in the name of what you might call dangerous religious fundamentalism ignored by left wing feminists? Why do they ignore the fact that these injustices are the result of religious fundamentalism? Why do these left wing feminists worry about the “Promise Keepers” but not Sharia law? I do not understand how you can not see the hypocrisy in that.
Mar 24, 2009 - 7:52 pm 42. Mike Blackadder:David S,
Sorry, I should convert that last statement to a question, since I presume you are playing devil’s advocate here and probably agree with some of us more than you let on.
Question restated: Do you not also see the hypocrisy in that?
Mar 24, 2009 - 8:01 pm 43. Kevin:You want it, but ain’t getting it. The UN sure as heck isn’t going to take up the banner of universal women’s rights anymore. As one poster on another site said, the UN now stands for “Ummah Nation”. This is a fight you have waited too long to fight. The same old tactics will no longer work. Time to find a new strategy, and with the One in the WH and not allows GWOT to be used anymore, no help there.
Mar 24, 2009 - 8:05 pm 44. David S:@40. Mike Blackadder:
Here’s a more complete article on the topic…
Judaism – “..the concept of shalom bayit has been misused by some who place on women the sole responsibility for maintaining peace in the home and even has been used to pressure women to remain in or return to homes in which they have been the victims of abuse.”
Christianity – “Christian history is filled with examples of church leaders justifying abuse of women by men.”
I suppose I could dig deep and provide a plethora of examples – but if you really think that Islam is the only religion used to justify violence against women, I won’t be able to convince you with a laundry list. Just keep in mind that women were considered property under these traditions for most of their history – and that the vestiges of misogyny are still with us. In some cases alive and kicking.
I guess the assault on abortion rights in the USA doesn’t constitute violence against women in your opinion – but in mine, it most certainly does. Forcing a woman to bear a child against her will is violence against her at the most fundamental level. I could go into more detail, but honestly, if you can’t connect the dots, any further assistance will be of limited utility.
Peace.
DS
Mar 24, 2009 - 8:52 pm 45. Fern Sidman:Dr. Chesler is to be lauded for penning such a superlative, extremely well written and exceptionally important exegesis on the inherent dangers of radical Islam. Her words should be taken with the gravitas that they are written in simply because the inherent dangers of Islamofascism pose an existential threat to the lives of all non-Muslims.
Clearly, the leaders of NOW and other mainstream feminist organizations have morphed into timorous creatures who live in abject terror when it comes to extolling the unexpurgated truth about the murder of Muslim women by their menfolk in the name of family “honor”.
The original credo of the feminist movement was to preserve, protect and defend the rights of women everywhere irrespective of race, religion and nationality. We thought it would be the feminist movement who would transcend the agenda of the western liberal academy; a movement that would divorce itself of politcally correct trends and seek justice for those women whose voice was forcibly taken from them.
The puritanical origins of this movement of liberation have been sullied by political expediency and special interests. Radical Islam is a political ideology that often couches itself in religious precepts but one thing is clear. Their main objective is world domination and the first ones they seek to oppress and subjugate are their women. And they won’t stop there. The rcord speaks for itself. In their feverish desire to slake their quest for world power they have engaged in the most heinous forms of violence. All women in the western world are targets including those holding positions in NOW.
There is no question that a clear distinction exists in the realm of domestic violence and honor murders. The latter is often a premeditated crime inspired by a purported religious fervor of protecting the honor of the family.
When the owner of Bridges TV beheaded his wife in Buffalo, NY, this ostensibly western man who garnered financing for his station via-a vis Wall Street venture capitalists reverted back into the provincial Islamist that he was raised to be. Because his wife was seeking a divorce it is clear that they motivation behind this horrific slaying was “honor”. He was fully cognizant that the Western world that he was so deeply ensconced in offered other alternatives but he chose to return to his roots.
Leaders of NOW must realize that this pernicious phenomenon is burgeoning at record breaking speed. Now is the time to call it as it is; not only for the sake of Muslim women in the Middle East, Europe and North America but for the sake of every woman and every individual that cherishes freedom, justice and democracy.
Mar 24, 2009 - 9:04 pm 46. Northstar:I see a lot of sidetracking form what the articale is about. Why pick on the “feminists”? Where are the “malist” or other “ists”? Seems to me the so called feminists are just behaving like the rest of our society, sticking there heads in the sand.
Mar 24, 2009 - 9:31 pm 47. David S:This is a human rights thing. Religion as we refer to it today, has almost nothing to do with beliving in “God”. All religions havs a “God”. The “religions” part is only different methods of a few gaining control of the many. Let’s quit trying to blame some particular monicure of “religion” and start blaming the people behind it that are so bent on control they will use any cultural superstition (aka religion) to get what they want.
@46. Northstar:
RAmen!
Peace.
DS
Mar 25, 2009 - 12:07 am 48. john:if you can’t connect the dots, any further assistance will be of limited utility.
Peace.
DS
-smug, condescending, clueless, and not at all peaceful. If you can’t see that the spirit of the Christian Gospels is fundamentally different from that of the Koran… In other words, whatever the failings of Christians in matters of violence, the Gospels are clearly preaching a message against sacrificial violence. Jesus is the scapegoat who reveals once and for all our dependence on scapegoating and associated violence.
The Koran also seeks redemption for wrongdoing but in a different spirit. It curses and threatens and predicts horrors for the non-believer on almost every page… “Kafir” is still today the ultimate though frequent term of abuse among Muslims. You don’t hear Christians going on about “dirty infidels” unless it’s some kind of joke…
And if you can’t see the link between correct and polluted status in matters of belief, and the treatment of women, well then…
Mar 25, 2009 - 12:19 am 49. D. Grant Chee:No matter what the crazies hide behind, robes,
Mar 25, 2009 - 5:52 am 50. D. Grant Chee:dresses, turbans, masks, camels, mosques,
mullahs, clerics or other terrorist’s tricks,
the crazies will be found as Saddam was found; in a hole in the ground, and eliminated. Shia, sunni and et al of
islam must seek allah, mo-ham and the 12th. Imam, (or well dweller) because the infidel’s are coming for you; just as we came for Hitler and other crazies. All sharia loving
crazies will regret offending “Kafirs” and
paradise for crazies is closed. Virgins are all accounted for by infidel’s; stay away from our women, watch ahead, watch behind, I
come quickly as a thief in the night–you have demanded your fate once too often; mercy for you has been deleted. Repent and be saved or go to your home, Ishmael, HELL!
FeMENist are not feminine! Feminist murder
unborn female citizens then whine about the treatment of females; a true paradox. Films of abortions demonstrate the unborn citizen screams and squirms when murdered by their
mommies. Infidels will defend women from s’haria, shia, sunni and other crazies–but
feminist can defend themselves.
DONG CHEE, Male Chauvanist, born alive!
Mar 25, 2009 - 6:06 am 51. LynnS:#14 Miami Man
“The Houris virgins in heaven waiting for you male Muslims, really are, since they have no soul and are only objects of pleasure to be used and reused again, plastic replicas of real women.”
Blow up Dolls?
I also read that wives will be in each corner blind not seeing each other so that male believers can come in and take pleasure with them.
And let’s clear something up;
In the teachings of Mohammad the founder of Islam which come from the Words of Allah as spoken through the Angel Gabriel.
Women’s testimony is worth half a man’s.
Women are like a field or domestic animal for the man’s use.
Women if not obedient to a man can be beaten and then worse if the beating does not work.
Women are the main inhabitants of Hell which Mohammad saw for himself when he visited.
It is the religion. It is the religion. It is the religion.
Mar 25, 2009 - 8:18 am 52. David S:@48. john:
The Christian Gospels are not fundamentally different from the Koran. Both assert divine inspiration and world domination. Both have been used to advocate for violence and against it.
Any belief based on the scribblings of ancient tribes strikes me as small-minded. And Christians have been “going on about” heretics and nonbelievers ever since Rome made their faith legal.
It is only since the advent of secular humanism that women have gained their rights, slavery has been abolished, and religious dogma has been open to honest questions. Dogmatic religions in general are a pox upon our planet.
Peace.
DS
Mar 25, 2009 - 9:27 am 53. Instapundit » Blog Archive » PHYLLIS CHESLER: A Universal Doctrine of Women’s Rights….:[...] PHYLLIS CHESLER: A Universal Doctrine of Women’s Rights. [...]
Mar 25, 2009 - 10:43 am 54. No there:The Saudis have it right – kill women like women kill the unborn. It all evens out.
Mar 25, 2009 - 10:52 am 55. Richard Aubrey:It depends on the narrative.
Mar 25, 2009 - 10:53 am 56. john:Feminists were all over the Duke non-rape case because it furthered one of their favorite narratives.
The real rape–the guy got out on bail and did it again–gets no attention whatsoever because that narrative is icky.
So icky, in fact, that the victim was abused by some of the usual suspects in the Durham area.
Narrative counts. Women’s issues count if they help with the narrative. Otherwise, the narrative comes first and women’s issues are ignored or actively opposed.
DavidS
Christianity teaches one to separate what is owed Caesar and what God; it teaches the Gospels by translating the Bible into local vernaculars and hence helping to build up new high cultures in many lands; it does not recognize forced conversions; it preaches that the Kingdom cannot be of this world. And you call this a desire for world domination? Once again you show you don’t know how to distinguish the spirit of the Gospels from nominally Christian kingdoms going to war for worldly reasons. Frankly, I think you don’t understand history, as you seem to think that “secular humanism” is something distinct from the Judeo-Christian culture from which it emerged. But it’s not. Christianity is an inherently secularizing religion because it is anti-sacrificial and minimizes the difference between god and man, making personhood on the model of Jesus sacred. Many historians and thinkers have pointed out the connections between the neoclassical spirit which mixes Christian and classical philosophy and the growth of a secular, scientific, free market modernity in the West, something that has yet to take much root in the Islamic world because Islam does not provide the model of a sacred person who, being himself the centre, the temple of truth, can be free to radically rework human relationships, questioning a ritualized world, an orthopraxy. There is a reason such a person first grew out of the Judeo-Christian West and is still rare anywhere else.
If you don’t like dogma, stop preaching it.
Mar 25, 2009 - 10:56 am 57. Malvolio:Polygamy? How did polygamy get stuck in there?
Polygamy may not be the best option in the modern world, but to mix it in with FGM and honor-killing seems dishonest.
Mar 25, 2009 - 10:59 am 58. Paul A'Barge:You had me right up to the “arranged marriage” canard.
I’m sorry but I know tons of folk from India who are happy and mutually respecting in arranged marriages.
Remember these are “arranged” marriages. That does not mean “forced” marriage. You need to know the difference. In many arranged marriages in the Indian culture the couple getting married have an opportunity to meet and get to know each other before getting married. Thus, the marriage is consensual.
Please take the time to know a bit more about your subjects before you decide to issue manifestos about them.
Mar 25, 2009 - 11:15 am 59. wancow:35 tanstaafl: “These are determined people and politically correct waffling such as demonstrated by many feminists today (and David S) is just what the doctor ordered to enable the stealth jihad for North America (outlined by the Muslim Brotherhood) to prevail.”
44 DavidS “I guess the assault on abortion rights in the USA doesn’t constitute violence against women in your opinion”
No, the OPPOSITION to Abortion Rights, the Excersize of FREE SPEECH against abortion rights, in your opinion, constitutes an assault on women… But, of course, blowing up Jewish Children, that’s perfectly acceptable…
This is why you have no credibility
capish?
Mar 25, 2009 - 11:18 am 60. Paul A'Barge:I will stand with some of the other commenters in pointing out that your decision to include polygamy is a mistake on your part.
You may not like polygamy but if the marriage is consensual who are you to judge the women who choose to enter a polygamous marriage?
Once again, you have poorly chosen to piggy back your personal judgments on issues that are almost universally accepted as anathema in the West. For example, I’m sure we all support your fight against female genital mutilation and child marriage.
You do yourselves no favors by tossing into your pot of evil everything you do not happen to like.
Mar 25, 2009 - 11:19 am 61. Emerson:Feminism and Women’s Rights can only be defined by etablished women’s victims groups, who make exceptions for any primitive culture that hates America, Capitalism and white people in general.
Mar 25, 2009 - 11:21 am 62. Dr. Bukk:#57, Polygamy is THE pivotal cause of the misery of women and it is sanctioned by Islam. Mohammed, in his lust, rejected thousands of years of Judaic and Christian wisdom. Polygamy requires that extra men are sent to die in war, or they turn upon themselves and slaughter each other. It debases women to subservient chattel. It causes birth defects due to inbreeding. It causes child rape. It requires women to cover up to hide bruises. It brings out the brutal nature of man instead of calling upon him to emulate God. By that I mean the men are expected to rape woman much like a stallion around a male in heat, rather than show any compassion or nobility.
Mar 25, 2009 - 11:36 am 63. Dr. Bukk:Hey I meant a female in heat. Can you change my mistake?
Mar 25, 2009 - 11:38 am 64. MiamaMan:.52 David S:
People, don’t rebuke David S… anymore, he loves it! He is really a reincarnated Houri from Allah paradise, verily a Blow Up Doll reincarnated.
Obviously, all his arguments are flawed, but he continues with his masochism, like an impotent Arab male (very common), or like Mohammed Atta’s instructions in his testament asking the person that arranges his body for burial to wear gloves around his genitals (and this is true, history, I did not invent this).
Hurray for the great and peaceful Islam, and Allah El Loco (FH), may the peace of Allah (FH) be with you.
Mar 25, 2009 - 12:11 pm 65. Jeff:“We call upon men and women of all faiths, all skin-colors, to join us in this task.”
You call upon the very men that you spent the last 30 years attacking and expect us to join you? Piss off!
Mar 25, 2009 - 12:36 pm 66. aardvark:Polygamy? not evil?
It’s easy maybe to think that if you figure it’s just something that a few people are ever going to want to do, by choice. But it was common in the ancient world, and still is in a few places, and at a certain point of frequency it will start to rip a free society apart, as competition for mates is fundamental to the human and if some monopolize mates, freedom is denied to others and hence in many ways throughout society. A society that condemns large numbers of young men to never marry is not only evil to women who will never know what it is to have an undivided love, and to be treated as prized property. For example, could the 2006 mass rape in downtown Cairo, that the MSM ignored, have anything to do with the great difficulties young men, without wealth, have of getting married? I’m not excusing the violence, only noting it.
http://www.sandmonkey.org/2006/10/30/the-eid-sexual-harassment-incident/
Mar 25, 2009 - 12:46 pm 67. analogy:This is mostly a moot point, with the great, terrorism-smothering victory of Democracy in Iraq.
Bush’s accomplishment will be remembered as the moment when the power of the people and, specifically, women, turned a corner in the Muslim world, the moment that set women on the path to basic rights.
Mar 25, 2009 - 1:15 pm 68. Frank H:I’m not willing to support so much as one word of this unless there is a companion document called the Universal Doctrine of Men’s Rights and unless its content is given parity. Yes, Islam and Islamic communities are brutal to women and they are shining examples of what American feminists call”the Patriarchy.” But there is a growing matriarchy in the US and elsewhere, especially among African-American families where single-motherhood is the norm, where equivalent misandry grows and portends to be as bad or worse.
Mar 25, 2009 - 1:24 pm 69. Dotar Sojat:Radical Islam was the enemy of Bush. The enemy of Bush was their friend. Now they’re trapped.
Mar 25, 2009 - 2:24 pm 70. Watcher of Weasels » Corrupt Democrat Names Names, Exposes Weasels:[...] Submitted By: Right Truth – Chesler Chronicles at Pajamas Media – A Universal Doctrine of Women’s Rights. [...]
Mar 25, 2009 - 2:46 pm 71. Oligonicella:David S –
“The Christian Gospels are not fundamentally different from the Koran.”
That sir, is bull. They are fundamentally different.
“Both assert divine inspiration and world domination.”
The first through persuasion, the second through violence.
“Both have been used to advocate for violence and against it.”
Ah, I see your problem. You cannot distinguish between what is written in the books and what a percentage of their followers do.
“Any belief based on the scribblings of ancient tribes strikes me as small-minded. And Christians have been “going on about” heretics and nonbelievers ever since Rome made their faith legal.”
Like many apologists, you keep stressing the last couple thousand years. David S, we’re talking about *now*, not 1800, 1200, 800, or year 10. This is another fundamental difference, there is really only one religion that hasn’t evolved over the last thousand years and that is Islam.
Mar 25, 2009 - 2:59 pm 72. Mike Blackadder:David S, #44. That was pathetic.
Why can’t you admit that it’s a bad thing to oppress and torture women under Sharia law without simultaneously claiming that all religions are doing the same when in fact they are not?
This bit of nonsense, along with the hypocrisy you share with the left wing feminists in this article (ie. when you rushed in to defend Islam and then later went on to summarily condemn all religions as small minded and a pox on the planet) demonstrates two things.
First, although you imagine you understand something we do not, there is actually no intellectual substance behind your convictions. Moreover, you show poor judgment in not allowing yourself to discriminate between very different things such as a) stoning a woman to death and b) being of the opinion that an unborn child should have rights as a living person even if it comes at the expense of the mother’s right to have control over her own body.
Second, although progressives claim to act in the interest of those who need help, when push comes to shove, your agenda comes first.
Mar 25, 2009 - 8:16 pm 73. Yaakov Watkins:David S.
You are correct that there are varied interpretations of all religions. So let’s not talk about interpretations.
If you want to group outlawing abortion with violence, that is fine. But by the same token you would have to call the FDA’s limitations on using potentially life saving drugs as violence also. Not to mention all the restrictions on medical procedures by hospitals and physician groups. Or forcing children to attend school. (The children can be taken from their parents for being truant.) So let’s not talk about violence. Because that can confuse the discussion.
How many Christian and Jewish husbands have murdered their wives or daughters for immodest dressing over the last 20 years?
There are several legal theories by which governments are organized. Parliamentary systems, based on English Common Law. French Law. Constitutional systems. The traditional Communist system. Shaaria. Jewish Law. Traditional Chinese law. All of these systems have comprehensive coverage governing human activity. Each has their own subgroups. They are all, at least, slightly different from each other. Which subgroup system practiced by over one million people permits a husband to execute his wife if he suspects she is unfaithful? Which subgroup system practiced by over one million people permits a father to execute his daughter if she is involved in a relationship with a man the father doesn’t approve of?
You are trying to obfuscate the facts to excuse murder. Sorry, nobody is buying it.
Mar 25, 2009 - 8:33 pm 74. Melody Caine Bier:This article came at the very time I needed it.I had just returned from the SF police dept after filing a report on getting attacked by 8-10 Arab “youth”.I am 64,5ft 1″ & weigh 100 pounds sopping wet. My husband (63)& another couple in their 30s were trying to go home after countering an ANSWER Israel/America hate fest when we were “swarmed” by the group who followed us to the station. We literally had to fight them off…I really thought that this was it! Yet the lefty “feminists” with ANSWER did not see anything wrong with thugs attacking someone old enough to be their grandma. But heaven help the person who offends their “morals”!The SFPD was so supportive and helpful but of course it was out of their hands.The Arab community applied pressure & you all know the “politics” of SF-do nothing that may offend Arab sensibilities. Not ONE SINGLE person stepped forward as a witness…especially not the women. The station was then flooded with Arabs & ANSWER people yelling about us being racists. Didn’t even care when someone mentioned an “old lady” (me) was attacked. Needless to say all the charges were dropped due to “politics” in SF…not the Police who tried so hard to make the case to the DA and support us. We were willing to brave the possibility of a “circus” trial, but to no avail. So don’t tell ME about how Islam “respects & protects” women. Sadly enough,many of the feminists & especially lesbians in our area have not taken up our cause and actually blame us for not understanding “differences” in our cultures and now consider us to be racists. You can’t even mention honor killings or genital mutilations.You’re met with a blank stare of disdain for not understanding the “culture”. At this point we are at rock bottom and have no group to support us and offer help. It seems that in SF there are more Jews against Israel/America or at best think it doesn’t apply to them. Any ideas out there…besides moving? I refuse to surrender this land to them.
Mar 25, 2009 - 11:10 pm 75. MiamaMan:74. Madame Bier:
I am so sorry to hear your story, I sympathize with you and wish you well.
Does SF mean South Florida? South Florida is a mosaic of different communities and things vary wildly from one place to the other, even near, not only demographically, but also from the police force angle.
ANSWER is a very radical group. David Horowitz in his masterful website discoverthenetworks.com has classified it well as a major anti-war and pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel group:
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/Articles/answerprofilestand.html.
When you mention so many Jews against Israel/America, in SF and actually everywhere, I agree. Really, you Jews at first appear to many as a baffling lot. That the majority of American Jews would support and vote for Obama defies reason (I heard 72% or so voted for pro-appeasement, pro-Islamic Obama). How can you explain Jews like Obama-mentor Saul Alinsky, America-hater Noam Chomsky, Castro-friend Steven Spielberg, or lady-of-the-clouds Barbra Streisand? But then on second thoughts, and after reading Eric Hoffer’s “The True Believer” one learns that the Jew is the most isolated individual, thus the most frustrated and prone to enter mass-movements, and what is Obama’s movement but a typical mass movement? Remember also how Lenin’s friends and lieutenants were mostly Jews: Trotsky, Litvinov, Sverdlov.
Point in case, my son’s Jewish history teacher in Miami-Dade public school is a rabid Obama supported and lefty, who tries to meddle in the student’s opinions.
Also, you can contact Dave Gaubatz’s organization. A former counter-terrorist agent, they specialize in investigating and visiting Islamic organizations throughout the country, alerting law enforcement when needed: http://dgaubatz.blogspot.com/
Shalom!
Mar 26, 2009 - 4:51 am 76. Jesus is Lord, A Worshipping Christian’s Blog » Blog Archive » “A Universal Doctrine of Women’s Rights” By Phyllis Chesler and Marcia Pappas:[...] Read the rest of the article here. [...]
Mar 26, 2009 - 5:11 am 77. A Universal Doctrine of Women’s Rights :: Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.):[...] A Universal Doctrine of Women’s Rights – by Phyllis Chesler and NOW’s Marcia Pappas “It is time for feminists, both women and men, of all faiths, and of no faith, to stand together for a woman’s right not to be murdered in the name of family honor. Indeed, we welcome men and women of all faiths, including Islam, to stand with us against female genital mutilation/castration, forced veiling, child marriage, arranged marriage, polygamy, and ‘honorcide,’ and in favor of a woman’s right to live as a westerner in the West without being threatened and beaten for refusing to wear hijab, wanting to have non-Muslim friends, wear makeup, attend college, drive her own car, or end an abusive marriage. Muslim and Sikh women have been honor murdered in North America for all these alleged crimes against their religion and their culture.” Read it all… [...]
Mar 26, 2009 - 9:55 am 78. Greenconsciousness:Melody Caine Bier
I too am so sorry and disgusted that this is what it has come to in the USA. Never confuse those hate groups with real feminists. Have you gone to the FBI to report a hate crime?
Mar 26, 2009 - 11:33 am 79. Bonnie_:Soon going to a public gathering will be a large group event for conservatives. We’re going to have to go in packs or face beatings or worse from ANSWER, Islamists, or Obama thugs. Better yet, stay home and use other methods of persuasion. Writing or calling your Congressman may be better than facing thugs with bats and rocks. Leave the streets to these morons and let them beat each other up.
Things are going to get very bad very quickly. There’s a reason ammunition is sold out across the entire US.
Mar 26, 2009 - 3:34 pm 80. linda clarke:This is an important and sophisticated analysis. It is further evidence that Chesler is the most relevant and distinguished American feminist currently writing. A powerful collaboration with Pappas which I hope continues.
Mar 26, 2009 - 8:32 pm 81. Melody Caine Bier:Thank you all for your kind words. Let me clarify one thing…SF stands for San Francisco. The city that established the gold standard of political correctness. I didn’t go to the FBI but we DID go to the ADL(Anti Defamation League) and they did just as we expected… nothing. The best they could offer was to go to a seminar for dealing with anti-Semitism. They are good at gathering statistics but are completely out of touch with day to day reality. The rep hadn’t even heard of ANSWER so what does that say? And by the way…where are all you conservatives?? I hear a lot on talk radio but none ever show up, even at well-advertised events. I don’t want to point but it’s time for us ALL to join alliances. I myself, like Phyllis, was a member of the left. I want to stand with ANYONE willing to hold an American or Israeli flag. Writing letters is NOT enough. I just don’t know what there is to do, especially with such small numbers. Again I plead, before we lose our country (like Londonistan) what can we do? How can we reach out to each other? We have to form groups to combat this. I’m 64 and still willing to make a stand…will anybody join me? PLEASE.
Mar 26, 2009 - 9:17 pm 82. MiamaMan:San Francisco! Wow, my apologies to South Florida.
I would not live in SF not even for free. It has come to represent the many things that are going wrong in this country, and they are not done yet.
I restate: “Also, you can contact Dave Gaubatz’s organization. A former counter-terrorist agent, they specialize in investigating and visiting Islamic organizations throughout the country, alerting law enforcement when needed: http://dgaubatz.blogspot.com/” May be you can put together something similar in SF.
Also, some people in Oakland now in Kalifornia glorify a cop-killer with a mass demonstration (4 cops killed by the same murderer). It seems that there is a pestilential emanation coming from the Obama swamp empowering Ghouls (mythological Arab monster)and other creatures of the underworld.
Mar 27, 2009 - 3:55 am 83. Watcher of Weasels » Benito Hussein Obama:[...] Third place with 1 1/3 points – (T*) – Chesler Chronicles at Pajamas Media – A Universal Doctrine of Women’s Rights. [...]
Mar 27, 2009 - 2:17 pm 84. Dan:Old line feminists reject this as a cause because there is nothing tangible for them to gain. There is no political power, no entitlement and no public praise.
Mar 31, 2009 - 3:50 am