I can't believe it's not feminism
Looking for any recent news on the prosecution of Asqa Parvez's alleged killers, I stumbled across this:
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2009/11/12/barbara-kay-quot-discover-canada-the-rights-and-responisibilities-of-citizenship-quot-is-a-watershed-moment-for-the-policy-of-multiculturalism-and-a-banner-day-for-immigrant-women.aspx
National Post blogger Barbara Kay refers to "gender ideologues who can't bear the idea that some forms of violence against women are a culturally imposed pathology and not, as they would prefer, a tragic but predictable example of the inherent violence and controlling instincts of all men." Damned if I can think of one. Neither can Kay, apparently, since she doesn't name or quote one. Out of millions of people over a century there must be or have been some feminists who think that men are irredeemable. But you're actually much more likely to hear that belief from rape apologists than the women's movement. After all, we're hoping to change society; what would be the point if we thought the problem was biological instead of cultural?
Kay is writing about a Canadian guvmint guide for immigrants which states, "...Canada's openness and generosity do not extend to barbaric cultural practices that tolerate spousal abuse, 'honour killings,'... or other gender-based violence." Kay hoots delightedly at the use of the word "barbaric", although she doesn't consider its possible effect on the intended readership. Let's hope the firm language opens eyes rather than closing minds.
Any hypothetical feminists who opposed this initiative, says Kay, would be "not really feminists at all." Someone who characterises Muslim women as too frightened, ignorant, and "brainwashed" to resist is skating on very thin ice when it comes to claiming to be a feminist, let alone dictating who else deserves the description. Squabbles over the f-word aside, I wonder what the Canadian Council of Muslim Women or the Federation of Muslim Women or the United Muslim Women of Canada or attendees of August's Muslim Women conference in Ontario would make of her description of them.
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2009/11/12/barbara-kay-quot-discover-canada-the-rights-and-responisibilities-of-citizenship-quot-is-a-watershed-moment-for-the-policy-of-multiculturalism-and-a-banner-day-for-immigrant-women.aspx
National Post blogger Barbara Kay refers to "gender ideologues who can't bear the idea that some forms of violence against women are a culturally imposed pathology and not, as they would prefer, a tragic but predictable example of the inherent violence and controlling instincts of all men." Damned if I can think of one. Neither can Kay, apparently, since she doesn't name or quote one. Out of millions of people over a century there must be or have been some feminists who think that men are irredeemable. But you're actually much more likely to hear that belief from rape apologists than the women's movement. After all, we're hoping to change society; what would be the point if we thought the problem was biological instead of cultural?
Kay is writing about a Canadian guvmint guide for immigrants which states, "...Canada's openness and generosity do not extend to barbaric cultural practices that tolerate spousal abuse, 'honour killings,'... or other gender-based violence." Kay hoots delightedly at the use of the word "barbaric", although she doesn't consider its possible effect on the intended readership. Let's hope the firm language opens eyes rather than closing minds.
Any hypothetical feminists who opposed this initiative, says Kay, would be "not really feminists at all." Someone who characterises Muslim women as too frightened, ignorant, and "brainwashed" to resist is skating on very thin ice when it comes to claiming to be a feminist, let alone dictating who else deserves the description. Squabbles over the f-word aside, I wonder what the Canadian Council of Muslim Women or the Federation of Muslim Women or the United Muslim Women of Canada or attendees of August's Muslim Women conference in Ontario would make of her description of them.