It’s a hatrick people!
We have had trivialisation of rape from world leaders, a criminal lark by schoolboys and now a glorious trifecta!
Anna has already scooped me on “Australian Mufti” Sheikh Taj al-din al-Hilali comments that women who do not wear the Islamic hijab invite rape.
“If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside on the street, or in the garden or in the park, or in the backyard without a cover, and the cats come and eat it … whose fault is it, the cats or the uncovered meat,” the cleric said.
“The uncovered meat is the problem.
“If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijab, no problem would have occurred.”
Besides the objectification of women ’s function as merely “pieces of meat” for men’s gratification and the equally insulting likening of men to predatory animals, the whole debacle is revealing on the hysterical fantasies of the shiekh.
Muslim women and clothing has become an obsession- a fetish of epic proportions for muslims and non-muslims alike inspiring countless debates, stories and controversies.
Not only is the scrutiny women undergo in terms of their so-called morals, dress and deportment torturous it’s also demeaning.
When sexuality becomes the defining aspect of someone’s character, nullifying a person’s achievements, abilities and intellect- it is revealing a deeper anxiety.
When sermons are filled with exhortations on dress, satanic impulses, lusts, busts and temptations is it not merely confirming the western stereotype of Islam (or Muslims rather) as obsessed with sex, harems and houris, rather than emphasising a spiritual path to good works?
This kind of education has a hugely damaging impact on young people. It is a crucible for shame, guilt and neurosis and is not healthy for relationships.
Muslim leaders are free to preach abstinence- but they must do it without exhortations to demonic forces, and be balanced and open in their education.
The positive that has been extracted from this debacle (if that is possible) is that it has strengthened the acceptable parameters of comment on the issue.
Now even conservative leaders and muslim spokespeople have come to a unanimous agreement that the clothing and deportment of a person is never a incitement to rape.
This may seem self-evident- but such a definitive political statement is radical considering the proliferation of “she asked for it” mentalities proliferating even today.
Modern day law cases are filled with interrogations of the clothing, behaviour and even past sexual-life of sex assault victims.
Let’s hope the chorus of voices condemning the Shiekh’s remarks today will echo in those circumstances too.
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