Filed under: Politics, Society, Spirituality & Religion | Tags: Misogyny, Muslim, Qatif, Rape, Sex Crimes
Hi Folks!
Sorry we haven’t been in touch in while! I particularly have missed not hearing from Blaze for awhile!
Anyways….I’ve been following a number of stories in Pakistan, The U.A.E., and in Saudi Arabia. It seems that the “Muslim” world is being forced by circumstances to begin facing some more of it’s own dirty laundry. That is particularly the case when it comes to rape.
For the past year I’ve been following the story of the “Qatif” girl. A girl gang raped…..she went to the police…and consequently the Saudi Court System looking for justice for her brutal experience. It seems that they have also punished her….for going against the segregation laws of Saudi. She is due to get 6 months prison time….and 200 lashes! The ironic thing about this situation…it would be funny if it weren’t so disturbing and sad….is that Saudis regularly mix privately in all kinds of places …..and quite freely in public in Jeddah and Al-Khobar. So…she has been found guilty of a crime that countless young people in Saudi could also be found guilty of. The danger is that in future girls may be less likely to come forward when this happens to them….as the system may…out of their embarrassment lash out at the victim as a consequence. This is a debate that seems to have been settled in the West a long time ago. And yet we will still find conservatives who will try to find some reason to blame the victim…., “Oh….she had it coming to her….look at how she dresses.”
Pakistan’s current President was caught on audio tape….talking about how it was a commonly held perception in certain circles in Pakistan….that a girl will…..”get herself raped…and get Canadian citizenship.”
The UAE….a country with Dubai as it’s P.R. best has been surprisingly caught unawares…as expats have complained over the rapes of their children not being taken seriously.
“Sexual Crimes” in the present “Muslim” world….are as well investigated today….as such things once were investigated in America in the 50′s. Sex is seen as such a personal matter that people desperately try to avoid bringing such things into the open. The Qatif girl particularly seems to have suffered the most in this regard as her cries for an appeal to the media have reaped a harshed judgement upon her…specifically because she tried to use the media to influence the court. Smells of insecurity to me?
The poor reactions in these societies suggest to me that Islam has largely been replaced with Paternalism…..that in fact societies like these are not largely run on the principles of equality that their “Prophet” seems to have brought them. Evidence such as this….shows how too much power in the hands of men…has corrupted them in their relationships and treatment of women.
People working in these countries have told me how many young men view women in a state of perpetual immaturity….that a woman’s tendency to be emotional makes her unable to make her own decisions in life and thus requires a male guardian to look out for her safety. Well folks….the male guardian has chained up his charge and is raping her again and again. Will this be ignored as the beating of women was ignored…as long as it was by their husband….and that rape by a husband was not possible as it was her husband?! The West doesn’t have much to say to the rest of the world on such matters….we have as much hypocrisy as any. I just hope that the reforms I’ve been witnessing in this part of the world will be extended into dealing with these kinds of areas as well….and therefore as societies…they will protect the true victims and punish the true criminals.
+ Robyn Graves +
