Atheism, fuck yeah!
Welcome atheists, skeptics, freethinkers all,
to this little corner of godlessness.
~Mooglets

Allowing women to drive in Saudi Arabia would mean no more virgins and an increase in homosexuality, according to academics at Saudi Arabia’s highest religious council, Majlis al-Ifta’ al-A’ala, it has been reported in the Telegraph.

More pornography would be used if women were allowed on the roads and rates of prostitution and divorce would also rise, the report stated.

Produced in conjunction with Kamal Subhi, a former professor at the King Fahd University, the study into repealing the ban predicted that there would be no more virgins left in the Arab kingdom in 10 years.

Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world which bans women from driving.

Professor Subhi described sitting in a coffee shop in an unnamed Arab state where “all the women were looking at me“.

“One made a gesture that made it clear that she was available,” he said. “This is what happens when women are allowed to drive.”

The report was produced for the country’s legislative assembly, the Shura Council. However this institution has no power as Saudi Arabia is ruled by a monarchy with absolute power.

The state’s controversial ban on female drivers last came under attack in September after Shaima Jastaniya was sentenced to 10 lashes just days after Saudi King Abdullah granted women the right to vote. The punishment was overturned after international and domestic pressure.

Saudi Arabia is currently considering a law for women to cover up their eyes if they are deemed too“tempting.”

HuffPo

WHAT. WTF Saudia Arabia. Seriously? 

All bolding in the above is mine. Because WHAT.

Seriously, Saudi Arabi, what the fuck are you doing. 

I cannot respond to this coherently right now. Jesus fucking christ.

~Mooglets

A minor 16 years Moroccan decided to end her life in Larache (North of Morocco) after being forced to marry her rapist, ten years older than she, and by the mistreatment to which she was subjected.

Says daily local “to Massae” in its edition of this Tuesday, last Saturday the girl decided to eat a rat poison in the House of the family of the husband, desperate for the ill-treatment to which he was subjected by this and her husband, as well as the rejection of his own father to receive at home.

The history dates back to a year ago when the family of the victim deposited a complaint with the Attorney general of Tangier accusing the perpetrator of sexual violation, points daily.

After an intervention by acquaintances of the two families, was decided to marry the girl to her rapist with the authorization of the judge.

This type of marriage is imposed by the force of tradition, especially in rural areas to safeguard the honour of the young and “resolve” the damage caused after the violation.

Also, according to the Moroccan penal code the rapist is exempt from punishment if he admits to marry his victim.

Claims of feminist movements include the amendment of this article, according to Hafida Elbaz, Director of the women’s solidarity Association, it is a “trap” to evade sanctions.

The Delta World

HERE’S what a woman in Texas now faces if she seeks an abortion.

Under a new lawthat took effect three weeks ago with the strong backing of Gov. Rick Perry, she first must typically endure an ultrasound probe inserted into her vagina. Then she listens to the audio thumping of the fetal heartbeat and watches the fetus on an ultrasound screen.

She must listen to a doctor explain the body parts and internal organs of the fetus as they’re shown on the monitor. She signs a document saying that she understands all this, and it is placed in her medical files. Finally, she goes home and must wait 24 hours before returning to get the abortion.

“It’s state-sanctioned abuse,” said Dr. Curtis Boyd, a Texas physician who provides abortions. “It borders on a definition of rape. Many states describe rape as putting any object into an orifice against a person’s will. Well, that’s what this is. A woman is coerced to do this, just as I’m coerced.”

“The state of Texas is waging war on women and their families,” Dr. Boyd added. “The new law is demeaning and disrespectful to the women of Texas, and insulting to the doctors and nurses who care for them.”

That law is part of a war over women’s health being fought around the country — and in much of the country, women are losing. State by state, legislatures are creating new obstacles to abortions and are treating women in ways that are patronizing and humiliating.

Twenty states now require abortion providers to conduct ultrasounds first in some situations, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization. The new Texas law is the most extreme to take effect so far, but similar laws have been passed in North Carolina and Oklahoma and are on hold pending legal battles.

Alabama, Kentucky, Rhode Island and Mississippi are also considering Texas-style legislation bordering on state-sanctioned rape. And what else do you call it when states mandate invasive probes in women’s bodies?

“If you look up the term rape, that’s what it is: the penetration of the vagina without the woman’s consent,” said Linda Coleman, an Alabama state senator who is fighting the proposal in her state. “As a woman, I am livid and outraged.”

States put in place a record number of new restrictions on abortions last year, Guttmacher says. It counts 92 new curbs in 24 states.

“It was a debacle,” Elizabeth Nash, who manages state issues for Guttmacher, told me. “It’s been awful. Last year was unbelievable. We’ve never seen anything like it.”

Yes, there have been a few victories for women. The notorious Virginia proposal that would have required vaginal ultrasounds before an abortion was modified to require only abdominal ultrasounds.

Yet over all, the pattern has been retrograde: humiliating obstacles to abortions, cuts in family-planning programs, and limits on comprehensive sex education in schools.

If Texas legislators wanted to reduce abortions, the obvious approach would be to reduce unwanted pregnancies. The small proportion of women and girls who aren’t using contraceptives account for half of all abortions in America, according to Guttmacher. Yet Texas has some of the weakest sex-education programs in the nation, and last year it cut spending for family planning by 66 percent.

The new Texas law was passed last year but was held up because of a lawsuit by the Center for Reproductive Rights. In a scathing opinion, Judge Sam Sparks of Federal District Court described the law as “an attempt by the Texas legislature to discourage women from exercising their constitutional rights.” In the end, the courts upheld the law, and it took effect last month.

It requires abortion providers to give women a list of crisis pregnancy centers where, in theory, they can get unbiased counseling and in some cases ultrasounds. In fact, these centers are often set up to ensnare pregnant women and shame them or hound them if they are considering abortions.

“They are traps for women, set up by the state of Texas,” Dr. Boyd said.

The law then requires the physician to go over a politicized list of so-called dangers of abortion, like “the risks of infection and hemorrhage” and “the possibility of increased risk of breast cancer.” Then there is the mandated ultrasound, which in the first trimester normally means a vaginal ultrasound. Doctors sometimes seek vaginal ultrasounds before an abortion, with the patient’s consent, but it’s different when the state forces women to undergo the procedure.

The best formulation on this topic was Bill Clinton’s, that abortion should be “safe, legal and rare.” Achieving that isn’t easy, and there is no silver bullet to reduce unwanted pregnancies. But family planning and comprehensive sex education are a surer path than demeaning  vulnerable women with state-sanctioned abuse and humiliation.

The New York Times

This is seriously one of the most disgusting articles I’ve read recently.

~Mooglets

SPAT upon and branded a “slut” for dressing “immodestly”, Na’ama Margolese has become a national heroine following her recent appearance on TV, in which she and her mum spoke of the harassment they suffered at the hands of Jewish extremists in the Israeli town of Beth Shemeth.

More than that, Prime Minister Netanyahu – according to this report – has now promised to clamp down on “radical groups” seeking to banish women from the public sphere.

Netanyahu also asked Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein to see to it that laws preventing the exclusion of women are upheld by local authorities.

The Sisterhood blog reported that Na’ama told TV audiences of her fears while walking the short distance from her home to Orot Banot school, after numerous occasions when she was cursed at and even once spat on by the Haredi demonstrators.

Israeli viewers watched as her mother, Hadassah, holding her hand, tried to convince her to make the short walk as she cried, whined and protested; it’s a ritual they go through every school day.

To the residents of Beit Shemesh the story of Beit Shemesh and the intimidation of Orot Banot girls is nothing new, said The Sisterhood

But until now, the public had remained relatively indifferent to the trials the school girls and the residents of Beit Shemesh were undergoing.

Members of an extremist Haredi group that have settled there over the past several years have been pushing for the creation of gender-segregated bus lines, designating parts of the city where women and men were directed to separate on public streets, and harassing the girls of Orot Banot on the ground that they did not dress modestly enough.

Last week, the extremists caused outrage when they dressed in Nazi concentration camp gear to make the point that opposition to their gender separation ideology was tantamount to persecution.

Immediately after Na’ama appeared on Channel 2, Facebook groups were organised and demonstrations in Beit Shemesh planned by angry citizens who wanted to take action. The power of the press had truly flexed its muscles. (The extremists were clearly aware of the damage done to them by the television coverage, as they demonstrated when they attacked the reporter when he returned to Beit Shemesh on Sunday for a follow-up story.)

In the aftermath of the Channel 2 story and the reaction, the ultra-Orthodox mayor of Beit Shemesh ordered workers to take down street signs that directed women to cross the street and “not linger” in front of a synagogue. As they did so, Haredim threw rocks and called the municipal workers ‘Nazis.’

The Sisterhood commented:

The fact that the government took action only after the media paid attention to Beit Shemesh is infuriating. The girls of Orot Banot have been under siege since school opened in September. They deserved firm action and government protection long ago: Na’ama should never have had to be terrified in the first place.

On Friday, hundreds of women gathered in Tel Aviv to protest against religious zealots wanting gender apartheid. Among them was Adina Bar Shalom, daughter of the Shas’ spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. She said:

The Torah elevates women. It holds women in the highest esteem … This isn’t about which door we board the bus from. It’s about women’s honour. Women are powerful, if is wasn’t for us, men couldn’t afford to study the Torah.

The Freethinker

(There is a video of the interview available at the link.)

What the hell is it with the news giving me things to rant about today?

This story is nothing short of disgusting. These men are hoisting their own insecurities and the belief that women are temptresses ONTO PRE-PUBESCENT CHILDREN. IF YOU PEOPLE ARE TEMPTED BY PRE-PUBESCENT GIRLS, THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH YOU, NOT THEM. GO AND GET YOUR FUCKING HEADS LOOKED AT. 

Do you even know what ‘slut’ means? I AM PRETTY DAMN SURE A SEVEN YEAR OLD GIRL WOULD BE A VICTIM RATHER THAN A SLUT. 

Jesus fucking christ people.

I honestly cannot believe these school girls have had to endure this absolute fucking bollocks since September and have only now been given any sort of hint of reprieve because it hit the national and international news. 

Oh, I’m sorry Netanyahu  - you’re perfectly fucking happy to let injustices like this stand, so long as the international media don’t find out about it and start giving you and your country a bad fucking name!

Jesus.

Just. All of this. All of the rest of this. Of segregating women on fucking busses and bus stops. Of trying to make women less than second class citizens. Of blaming women for things men are taught they have no control over. I am getting incoherent with rage.

~Mooglets

Many of us have been watching in horror as a fringe element of haredim in Israel advocate the exclusion of women from all forms of public life.

Over the last week we have seen violence erupt with rioting in Beit Shemesh that included throwing stones at police officers, the threatening of a Ynet female photographer, and perhaps more disturbingly than anything else was the harassment of a seven-year-old girl on the street for not being dressed “modestly enough.”

As the father of a little girl, my outrage can barely be contained.

The idea that women should not be involved with communal affairs and, for all intents and purposes, be treated as second class citizens, is nothing new. Women have been treated this way by men of all cultures, religions and backgrounds for centuries up until relatively recently.

The fact that Jewish communities and their norms, in some ways in the past, went along with this is something we should be embarrassed of, but is not surprising.

Nonetheless, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has mentioned, a perusal of the Torah and the holy Scriptures clearly shows that woman are not to be seen or treated in this light – much to the contrary.

Certainly today, when it is clear that women are as capable, and arguably more competent and efficient in many ways, than men, there is no excuse for this type of jaundiced attitude.

To say, as this fringe group does, that excluding women is a matter of modesty is nothing short of a smoke screen for what we would otherwise call bigotry.

The idea that women shouldn’t have a say in how things are run because of issues related to modesty is clearly misogyny and male chauvinism dressed up in the cloths of piety. It must not be tolerated at all.

Ambitions know no boundaries

History has taught us that when the rights of women are trodden on, all groups should start to be concerned for their rights. If this is allowed to occur towards women, it will inevitably also turn its attention towards other groups.

Who may be next? Will it be you? Will it be me? Perhaps both of us. Witness how Saudi Arabia treats people who practice a religion other than Islam, or even how it treats members of its own Shi’a minority, for a modern day illustration of this point.

When you examine human nature you will notice that people often remain unsatisfied even after they achieve their stated ambitions. The goalposts seem to keep moving.

When it comes to achieving positive for the universe, for oneself, and for one’s family this is a good thing. Unfortunately, however, this same type of thing happens to people with nefarious aims.

For a long time there has been a tacit approval of woman being relegated to a somewhat lesser status in many religious communities. Even in the Brooklyn enclave of the relatively enlightened Orthodox Jewish community of Crown Heights, women have been barred from voting for the local Jewish Community Council.

But this is changing, at least in Crown Heights. The current Council president, Mr. Zaki Tamir, promised the New York Times in April 2011 that he would reverse this, and women would be allowed to vote in the next election held in 2013.

In some communities, however, there has been no such progress. In fact, the opposite has occurred – the fringe zealots have been emboldened and the standing of women has been slowly eroded.

In Jerusalem, women have been relegated to sit at the back of buses. While visiting Israel last year, for the first time ever, I saw Jewish women in the Geula section of Jerusalem wearing clothes that completely covered their entire face, similar to the Islamic niqab or veil. Companies have been pressured to remove women from their advertisements.

These are all relatively recent additions in many Jewish communities. They are certainly light years away from the Judaism which used to celebrate the 15th of the month of Av as a day when single boys and girls would mingle in the vineyards to meet potential marriage partners.

All types of bigotry must be opposed. But somehow religious bigotry towards women is more difficult to counter because it often comes garbed in the clothes of piety. It is precisely for this reason that we must be vigilant in calling it out and oppose it at every level and immediately whenever and wherever it rears its ugly head.

This responsibility falls primarily to the leaders of the community and the women within the communities. But it also must be opposed by the rest of us.

If a sense of justice does not motivate us, then this should: If bigotry is allowed to thrive in this form, history has taught us that its ambitions know no boundaries.

From Jewish World

Interesting read. 

~Mooglets

In a country that produced one of the democratic world’s first female presidents Golda Meir in 1969, Israeli women are getting concerned about the rising prominence of Ultra-Orthodox Jews who are waging a campaign against freedom of women in public life.Israel’s civil laws are very plain about the status of women.

The country, according to The Los Angeles Times, has one of the world’s strictest laws about sexual harassment and rape, which is not surprising, considering that women occupy influential positions in the country, both in the Supreme Court and in the political parties. Israel is one of the few countries in the world in which women are drafted into active military service.

Yet, in recent times, Israeli feminists and women activists say their is a rising clamor from the Ultra-Orthodox community to reverse Israel’s decades of enlightened progress in gender issues.

Recently, Israel’s ranking on the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index dropped from 36 in 2007 to 55 in 2011. The ranking is based on assessment of such factors as workplace discrimination, and differences in pay between the sexes.

The Los Angeles Times reports the growing influence and voice of Ultra-Orthodox Jews in public life in Israel is encroaching upon the public space of women. Until recently, sex-segregation and discrimination against women in public life was limited largely to religious centers such as the Western Wall where women are not allowed and other places of religious worship.

But Ultra-Orthodox Jews have been campaigning for an extension of sex-segregation practices in Jewish society from religious places into public places.The Los Angeles Times reports that Anat Saragusti, director of Agenda, an Israeli group concerned with welfare of minority groups, says:

“The pattern is one of creeping encroachment…They try a little, see if it works, and then push the envelope a bit more every time until things reach a critical mass and are irreversible. That’s when people wake up. But by that point, it’s often too late.”

Rachel Liel, executive director of the New Israel Fund, an advocacy group in civil rights issues, also says:

“We are going backward and losing all our achievements…A 21st century democracy is not a place where women sit in the back of the bus.”

Feminists say women moving to the “back of the bus” seems to be the trend in every aspect of life in Israel now. The main issue in contention is the Ultra-Orthodox insistence on segregation of the sexes as a major aspect of religious observance.

Now, in many of Israel’s religious neighborhoods, women are treated in the same way African-Americans were in the 1960s. Women are expected to enter public buses by the rear door and use seats specially reserved for them in the back while men take the front seats.

 The Los Angeles Times reports there is no law enforcing sex-segregation in public buses, but most women in Ultra-Orthodox communities observe the regulation to avoid victimization.Digital Journal recently reported an ongoing conflict between national religious and Ultra-Orthodox Jews over relocation of a girls’ school.

The Ultra-Orthodox Jews say the presence of “immodestly dressed” prepubescent girls too close to their community violates their religious rights and are demanding that the school either be removed or strict Ultra-Orthodox dressing code, which requires that females cover their entire bodies, be enforced. Digital Journal reports:

“With their growing numbers, the Haredim have been trying to impose their religious and social mores on the entire community, insisting on strict observance of dress code, the sabbath, segregation of sexes in public places and even demanding a ban on electricity and driving.”

Last year, Ultra-Orthodox men in Jerusalem’s Mea Shearim neighborhood constructed a special side-walk for women’s use and enforced its use.

The Supreme Court declared the action discriminatory and therefore illegal, but this year, the men defied the Supreme Court order prohibiting segregation of sexes in public places and banned women from mingling with men in the streets during a religious holiday.

The parallels between increasing opposition to civil rights of women in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and conservative opposition to civil rights of gays in the U.S. Army are glaring. Women dancers were forbidden from dancing along with men in a Sukkot holiday ceremony last month. 

The Los Angeles Times reports that some conservative male cadets walked out in protest of women singers at an official event of the IDF.Ultra-Orthodox Jews have blamed secular and liberal Jews for violating their religious freedom and preventing them for living according to “traditional values,” by trying to impose modern ideas and ways of life on Jewish society. 

The Los Angeles Times informs us that what the Ultra-Orthodox Jews take to be “traditional values” include:

“…restrictions on television and the Internet, modest dress codes and segregation of the sexes, which haredi leaders say is needed to protect women from sexual exploitation and men from temptation.”

Leader of a coalition of Ultra-Orthodox Jews Rabbi Shmuel Pappenheim, grumbles about the corrupting influence of secular and liberal Jews:

“Women walk down the street as though they are at the beach…If in the past this was typical only of Tel Aviv, today it has reached Jerusalem as well. They encroach on our way of life, prompting our people to impose new restrictions, deepen separation and erect higher barriers to keep it away.”

Rabbi Shmuel Pappenheim denied allegations that the Haredi are out to suppress women and violate their civil rights. He explains that Ultra-Orthodox traditional values are not meant to discriminate against or oppress women but “protect women’s honor and dignity.”But Hila Benyovits-Hoffman, an Israeli blogger, answers Rabbi Shmuel Pappenheim:

“With all due respect, women are quite capable of defending their own honor…This insane gender separation and obsessive attention to women’s bodies have nothing to do with religion. Perhaps it is sexual repression or frustration out of control.”

Commentators have noticed the strong misogynist leaning in the Orthodox Jewish tradition. According to 972mag.com the cadets who walked out of women singing in an official IDF event defended their action by reference to the Gmara:

“The cadets felt they were prohibited from listening to them sing, under the principle of Jewish law known as ‘a woman’s voice is ervah,’ [the Hebrew word ‘ervah’ refers to a woman’s genitals]…This phrase, commonly used by religious authorities in Israel, implies that very essence of women is lustful and indecent.”

YnetNews.com reports that Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, defended the action of the cadets, saying:

“It is made clear in the Gmara that the voice of a woman is ervah [pubis]. And the reason it is considered to be like her ervah is that the sound of a singing woman is pleasant, and leads to desire and rumination…In order to prevent such friction in the future, I suggest that in events such as these, where many of the soldiers adhere to the Torah and follow the dictates of Mitzvahs, only males should sing.”

972mag.com concludes on the implication of the learned Chief Rabbi’s statement:

“In other words, the pubis should not sing. Because females are not males, but rather, a mound of flesh growing some fine hairs.”

From Digital Journal

Do I need to repeat myself on the ‘it’s not only Islam that insists women cover themselves head to toe so the men don’t have to look at them’? No? Good. 

This is some misogynist bullshit right here, it really is.

~Mooglets