It's an old problem.

Post #270,327 by Another Scott 10/14/06 8:49:39 PM Reply	It's an old problem. I think most of us would regard gender equality as a joke in [link\|http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5346968.stm\|Pakistan] after reading things like this: In Pakistan, rape is dealt with under Islamic laws known as the Hudood Ordinances. These criminalise all sex outside marriage. So, under Hudood, if a rape victim fails to present four male witnesses to the crime, she herself could face punishment. This has made it almost impossible to prosecute rape cases. According to the country's independent Human Rights Commission, a woman is raped every two hours and gang-raped every eight hours in Pakistan. These figures are probably an under-estimation as many rapes are not reported. Emphasis added. Typically, these apparent contradictions are addressed by saying "don't confuse Islam with a particular policy of a government" or some such. That assumes the problem is separable, and usually it isn't. IMO, if one doesn't have a consensus definition of words like "equality" then there's little hope of meaningful cross-cultural conversations on whether Islam or Protestantism or whatever treat their people better. My $0.02. Cheers, Scott.
Post #270,477 by JayMehaffey 10/16/06 8:30:24 PM Reply	Heh It is a given that when talking about equality among muslims you are talking about equality among male muslims. Islamic ideas of equality between the sexes makes fundamentalist christians look good. Jay
Post #270,500 by Ashton 10/16/06 10:50:06 PM Reply	Most unfortunate, too - for underscoring so much else - that is non-negotiable. Because in the Lands of shoot-from-the-hip, such an obdurate position makes it so much easier to tag 'em all with one of our typically infrahuman nicks, like ragheads. And, after the first successful next massacree, nearby - those Lands are apt to Not-ask, "How many legions have the ragheads?" -- instead, just call in the Bag Man. We could be closer to that scenario than ever before... Recall the colorful adjectives attached to -Kulaks, here, in the days of Fail Safe, Dr. Strangelove and Gen. Curtis LeMay? But a lot of them Russkis were..umm er Aryan-type + even a few discernible WASPs -- so.. we.. stifled ourselves from experiencing that Victory Rush felt just-before-Launch. [Also - we Knew Our Turn would happen next. So not much credit accrues re that particular stifling, now does it?] Now: no balance-of-Power counters Our Bag Man, unless the Soviet State of Putin were to toss in his Entire Lot with the nonproductive masses of duelling-ragheads [???] I see.. I see damn Few details over which a compromise is possible amidst these folks: perpetually afflicted with a clan-wide Certainty-fetish just like Our Fundies, constantly at each others' throats for centuries -- and despising US now even more than Them. {sigh}

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