{"id":13811,"date":"2012-01-08T21:29:13","date_gmt":"2012-01-08T17:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/?p=13811"},"modified":"2012-01-10T19:38:26","modified_gmt":"2012-01-10T15:38:26","slug":"stop-blaming-women-start-blaming-perverted-males","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/middle-east-society\/middle-east-life\/stop-blaming-women-start-blaming-perverted-males\/","title":{"rendered":"Stop Blaming Women, Start Blaming ‘Perverted’ Males"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Men are poor helpless creatures who can\u2019t control their feelings or libidos, or so it seems they want society to think. I\u2019m a believer in the general goodness of most men, but baffled by the attitude that they are helpless in the face of womanly charms and must therefore refer to themselves in derogatory and weak ways.<\/p>\n

Take this comment \u2013 a mild one compared to many \u2013 I came across while reading about a new line of Islamic fashion: \u201cIf a girl attracts other males even unintentionally, it will end up to be a sin [sic] \u2026 So style in Islam is OK, but it should be limited to an extent that won\u2019t create new feelings within the pervert males of today.”\u00a0 Baffling that it\u2019s not the \u201cpervert males\u201d responsible for their warped feelings.<\/p>\n

This is on the same dimension as arguments against women being educated, or driving: that they will spread \u201ccorruption\u201d by entering the public space. Or recent comments by the former head of the women\u2019s studies department at Bangalore University telling women how to dress to avoid rape, but no edict telling men not to rape.<\/p>\n

We get it: men think women are the source of corruption and that in order to stop the world coming to an end you must tell us what to think and how to act (and what to wear) because of course we have no brains, no sense of social responsibility, no spirituality and no reason. Oh wait \u2013 you say we do? Because that is just logic? And because it is our human fitrah to have all of those? And because the Quran says that we are all equal in spirit? Oh right.<\/p>\n

Women are constantly preached to about social responsibilities even though we are not the ones responsible for most domestic abuse, violence, crime, rape or \u201ccorruption\u201d. It\u2019s time for our menfolk to preach to themselves about social responsibility.<\/p>\n

It takes two to tango, so even if your outrageous idea that women are responsible for \u201ccorruption\u201d is true, why don\u2019t you stay away from them? Too weak? Oh dear, how can you run a society if you are too weak to resist a woman?<\/p>\n

So now you have a choice in the arguments you employ: are you too weak in the face of women\u2019s \u201ccorruptive\u201d influence, which therefore means you are too weak to \u201clead\u201d them? Or are you strong enough to lead, which means that it should be water off a duck\u2019s back if women participate in society. Which is it to be?<\/p>\n

I want to emphasise that I believe both men and women have responsibilities to act and dress modestly. To achieve social harmony, creativity and spiritual ease, both must participate fully but be equally modest and respectful.<\/p>\n

So brothers, fathers, male colleagues \u2013 extend a little respect to the womenfolk around you. They are not toys, slaves, maids, objects or chattel to be bought, sold or bartered. Women are people. Yes, people.<\/p>\n

And if you are a man from a society that isn\u2019t majority Muslim in culture (note my use of the word \u201cculture\u201d and not the phrase \u201cIslamic in religion\u201d), please don\u2019t look smug. There is plenty of oppression, abuse, violence and discrimination against women in all societies that no man \u2013 and no society \u2013 anywhere can be holier than thou.<\/p>\n

So for men and societies everywhere, here are your mantras for 2012: be nice to women, be respectful of women\u2019s intelligence and change yourselves instead of blaming women for the \u201cpervert males\u201d.<\/p>\n

This article first appeared in UAE newspaper, The National.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SHELINA ZAHRA JANMOHAMED: If you are a man from a society that isn\u2019t Muslim, don\u2019t look smug. There is plenty of oppression in all societies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":13812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90],"tags":[91,104,162,133,177],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13811"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}