From: ys3359@thor.albany.edu (Yazmasterj)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.iranian
Subject: Re: Modest Dress
Date: 30 Sep 92 23:08:45 GMT
Article-I.D.: sarah.1992Sep30.230845.22289
Organization: State University of New York at Albany

In article <1992Sep28.173539.28308@sun1x.actc.res.utc.com> ali@utrcv1 (ALI BABA) writes:
>Dear Yasmin
>
>sexual gratification of women  is  clearly  visible in the western society,
>you  might  not  be called a whore in western society but you  might  be  a
>victim of rape and  sexual  harassment  in  here.  Let's take a look at the
>case in central park in New York city.  Do you think it would have occurred
>in Muslim society and if it  would  what  would  be  the punishment for the
>criminals.  You may be forced to wear (russary) in Iran, but you may  never
>be a victom of the Charles  Staurt  case,  the  one where he killed his own
>pregnant wife so he could collect insurance money.  With all the talk about
>women's right and respect in here, statistics show that over 40% of college
>women attending the University of Connecticut were raped at college  campus
>in 1991.  

If I am to understand your argument, you defend hijab by stating that
rapes occur in the West (especially New York City).  To do this you must
prove that rapes and sexual harrassment do not occur in Iran.
Rape statistics are compiled from sources where rape
was reported.  Reporting rape, even in the United States is a very
traumatic experience for women.  People have the nasty tendency to believe
that they "asked for it".  My ethnic heritage is Pakistani.  In that
society, the mass media glorifies women who commit suicide after being raped
(if they survive the experience) because they have been defiled.  Their
whole life is said to have been ruined and they kill themselves in order
to save themselves and their families from dishonor.  Barring this means
of escape, they just don't ever report it.  Islamically speaking, this is
unjust to the women.  Nevertheless, the stigma exists.  In light of this
analysis, I don't believe it can be said that rapes or incidences of 
sexual harrassment do not occur in Iran.  

Now if you DID manage to prove that rapes did not occur in Iran and that
the reason behind this was the imposition of hijab, I would have to ask
when bullet proof vests and other personal injury deterrents were going
to be passed into law.  After all, people must be protected from murder
and assault as well as rape, don't they?  And men must be protected as well
as women, don't they?  So let's require all men to use protective helmets
and bullet proof vests when they go out of their homes.

Rape is an act of violence.  You cannot "protect" women by restricting 
them and taking away their basic rights.  Violent crimes of all fashions
have been a sad but continual menace in the lives of ALL people, men AND
women.  Protection from these crimes on the part of the state takes the
form of punishment of the criminals, not the decent citizens.  Freedom
should be curtailed for those who hurt, not the victims (or potential
victims).  Preventive measures on the part of the citizens should be left
in the hands of the citizens.  In the case of the rape of a woman, any
preventive measure she exercises should be a CHOICE on her part.  Otherwise
the loss of freedom due to the existence of criminals makes every woman
a victim of those criminals.  

>Women have a very important  place in Islamic society.  But there
>are  still  people, especially in the west, who have misgivings  about  the
>status of women in Islam.  When was  the last time you entered a public bus
>or  a train in the United States and some one offered you his seat  because
>you were standing or when was the  last time your car was broken along side
>of the highway and some gentleman without first glancing at your body parts
>first offered you some help? 

What is this "very important place"?  Until very recently it was not believed
that a woman should be educated beyond knowledge of household chores.  They
were not allowed to exercises any choices in their future.  It was assumed
that they would marry and have children and tend to the home.  This is the
privileged place?  Acts such as offering one's seat on a bus or stopping
to help a person in need are acts of common decency and kindness.  They need
not only be extended from male to female and they need not only go towards
women who are shrouded.  This only singles out women as weak objects who 
deserve help more than others and whose innate sexual qualities must be
hidden as to not provoke anyone.  It would be far simpler for man and
woman for each to treat the other with the basic respect and courtesy
one allots any fellow human.  This goal has not been reached in the US yet.
It will never be reached if men insist that the mere sight of women speaks
of sexuality and must be hidden from sight.  Women must be seen as human
beings first rather than sexual beings.  Hiding them only calls to attention
their status as sexual beings.

>Islam is  a religion of common sense and is in
>line with human nature.  It recognizes the realities of life. This does not
>mean it has recognized equality of man and women in every respect.  Rather,
>it has defined their duties in keeping with their different biological make
>-up.  God has not made man  and  women  identical,  so  it would be against
>nature  to try to have total equality between a man and a woman.  It  would
>destroy the social balance.  Society  would  not prosper, but would instead
>have insoluble problems such as broken marriages, illegitimate children and
>the break-up of family life.  These problems are already visible in western
>society.

What is being called for is an equality of CHOICE.  This way each can
pursue the areas of life to which they are best suited.  This might
mean a man who is best suited as a househusband and a woman who is a brilliant
brain surgeon or vice versa.  The point is that they have the choice.
When you view women as only sexual beings however, you remove their freedom
of choice and relegate them to a sub-human status.

Yasmin

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*                                   *                                    *
*  Yasmin Sohrawardy                *  "Only Nixon can go to China"      *
*                                   *                                    *
*  Internet:  ys3359@csc.albany.edu *            - Ancient Vulcan        *
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