[Boston Globe] Cathy Young - Using the language of tolerance to justify oppressive practices is a grotesque perversion of liberalism. The veiling debate is a case in point. No amount of rhetorical sleight of hand can disguise the fact that the full-face veil makes women, literally, faceless. Some Muslim women in the West may choose this garb (which is not mandated in the Koran), but their explanations often reveal an internalized misogynistic view of women as creatures whose very existence is a sexual provocation to men. What's more, their choice helps legitimize a custom that is imposed on millions of women around the world who have no choice. Perhaps, as some say, women are the key to Islam's modernization. The West cannot impose its own solutions from the outside - but, at the very least, it can honestly confront the problem.
2006-10-27 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive