Most cultures agree that rape is bad. But, some seem to experience higher rates than others. What is truly alarming is that these patterns seem to reflect more of a radical religious belief than any particular ethnicity or culture per say.
Egyptian legal scholar, Nabih al-Wahsh, shared this week on a popular nationally syndicated television show in Egypt this week that it is the patriotic duty of men to rape women.
Nabih al-Wahsh said women wearing clothing should be punished. He warned:
“Are you happy when you see a girl walking down the street with half of her behind showing? I say that when a girl walks about like that, it is a patriotic duty to sexually harass her and a national duty to rape her.”
The shock remarks came in a panel show broadcast on Al-Assema during a debate over a draft law on prostitution and sparked outrage across the country. Egypt’s National Council for Women now plans to file a complaint against the lawyer and the TV channel.
The council also urged media outlets not to host controversial figures who make remarks that incite violence against women.
These controversial remarks are the last thing Egyptian officials want people hearing about right now.
The furore follows last month’s revelation that Cairo is the world’s most dangerous megacity for women, and has become more perilous since the 2011 uprisings.
France 24 reports that Cairo came in last of 19 megacities for its ability to protect women from harassment and rape on its streets.
A study conducted by the Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights in 2008 found that 83 percent of women said they’d been sexually harassed, many of them daily, and 62 percent of men admitted to harassing women; advocates believe the percentage of women harassed is significantly higher.
It would seem more likely than not that there is a correlation between Nabih al-Wahsh remarks and the rates of predatory violence experienced by Egyptian women.
Furthermore, research shows these findings are not restricted to just Egypt. Similar reports are also found in various regions around the globe plagued by men who ascribe to Nabih al-Wahsh’s more radical religious persuasions.
Most people likely don’t think Islam when they think of Cape Town Africa. But, there is a moderate Muslim population in that region. Independent scholar and lecturer in Religion, Gender, and Politics, Vanessa Rivera de la Fuente, found similarly alarming findings during her time assisting a rape crises center in that region.
During my months in Cape Town, as you know, I engaged in critical education in Gender and Islam through workshops with Muslim women from the Cape Flats, where the rigid dynamics of researcher-object of study, gave way to an equal interaction of “people talking.” A recurrent theme, as I said in a previous article, was sexual violence and the discursive tenets that facilitate it.
In the light of the controversy aforementioned, I want to share excerpts that I recorded during our sessions of the sincere statements of Muslim women between 25 and 60 years old from different suburbs of Cape Town on Rape Culture and religion as they live it.
Here are the testimonies. They are revolting and experienced by women around the globe in unprecedented numbers where those of this radical persuasion of faith congregate in any great numbers.
“I now know that your husband can rape you. This is something I experienced in my marriage. Maybe one of my pregnancies was the result of forced sex. I saw it as normal — sometimes this happens, men are complicated — that kind of stuff.”
“I was molested by my cousin. When I told my mother, she said that must be a secret for my own sake and it was time for me to start wearing the hiyab.”
“My niece was raped by her father between the ages of 6 and 14. My sister asked him to leave, only that, no one denounced him. I was too young to do anything. The Sheikh told my sister that according to Islam, her duty as a Muslim was to cover her husband’s faults. Then she said nothing. Recently, the man asked her to live together again. In the mosque they told her that she should receive her husband back, because Allah had forgiven him and he was her husband. She accepted him back.”
“You’re the one to blame. You are a failure if you are raped or sexually abused. There’s something wrong with you or your faith. This is the worst part for me; you’re the victim. What happens to you, it’s your responsibility and maybe it happened because you need a test like this to strength your faith.”
It is important to note that Vanessa Rivera de la Fuente is herself a Muslim and that these comments have nothing to do with disparaging her entire religion. But, rather, to condemn the antiqued attitudes towards women still lurking in great numbers among more radical members.
This is a human rights issue. End of story. Any attempt to turn this into something else is an attack on human rights and gender equality.
Source: Breitbart Feminism and Religion
Another idiot in the news. How quickly can we get him deported and gone??
This guy does not need to be here if thsts sow the idiot feels. He is a danger to women. He needs to go!