Interesting article, with many facts I did not know, but the general thrust is something I do think I knew.
It seems to me that the article actually undercuts your argument.
As the article makes clear, although mandatory chador, veil, burka, purdah, are not actually "mandatory" under a purist view of Islam, the mandatory nature of these customs predates Wahabbis, Al Quada and the Taliban.
If the thrust of your argument is that extremist actions like disfiguring or killing a woman for showing something forbidden is something new, I don't think the article can be relied on for that.
You may be correct, I don't know.
I remember at the time the Shah of Iran was overthrown, one of my sisters was dating an Iranian man. She insisted, with great sincerity, that Iranian women liked to wear chador because it was more comfortable and men on the street wouldn't make sexual comments to them.
Hard for a man to understand that many women loathe sexual advances and comments from strangers on the street, but it's true.
At any rate, I didn't believe her. I didn't believe it was voluntary, I didn't believe it was comfortable during the summer.
Her friend went back to Iran and was executed for belonging to the wrong political party, and that was the end of that. |
