How Feminism Is Censured, and Censored By the Western Media (as a follow up to my earlier statements about Chesler and Hirsi-Ali.)

Phyllis Chesler, whose Feminist bona fides cannot be questioned IMO, here laments how she has been relegated to the ranks of the ignorant by the New York Times (wherein she used to publish.)

As I asked a few days ago... isn't anyone interested in truth any more? Must Feminists play this game? Must we all be 100% "Liberal" on every count, in order to be considered Feminists at all? To be heard??

WHO IS MAKING UP THESE RULES FOR US???

Since when do we give (mostly male) editorial boards more power than we give the soldiers in our own ranks?

Please note that I am not taking sides in the Israel/ Palestine conflict. I am merely pointing out that a Feminist ought to be able to call it as she sees it. And not be censured by western media sources. Indeed, this tendency of our *supposedly* Feminist intelligensia, to disqualify dissenters has ... in many ways ... led to an untimely "Death of Feminism."

Oh, the lies we tell our daughters (and sons.) For shame!

What? No "Victoria's Secret" in Somalia?? Ya don't say! (Women being whipped for wearing bras under their burqas.)

Remember when Naomi Wolf wrote that inane article on how sexy and liberating it was to wear a burqa? And then Phyllis Chesler called her out on it?

Well, Wolf's version of "sexy and liberating" is apparently NOT toleratedin Somalia where women are being whipped for wearing bras that enhance the firmness of their breasts.

From the FOX report:

A Somalian Islamic group reportedly has started whipping women in public for wearing bras that violate Islam, the Daily Mail reports.

Residents claim insurgent group Al Shabaab sent gunmen into the streets to round up women who appeared to have a firm bust. The women are inspected to see if their suspected firmness is natural or from a bra. Officials reportedly make the women shake their breasts after removing their bras.

"Al Shabaab forced us to wear their type of full veil and now they order us to shake our breasts," a resident, Halima, told Reuters, adding that her daughters had been whipped on Thursday.

The new bra rule adds to the long list of religious restrictions in Somalia...

Followed the FOX link back to The Daily Mail. There it is reported that as of late...

"You just find yourself being whipped by a masked man as soon as leave your house."

H/T to PUMA PAC for calling my attention to the FOX report.

Naomi Wolf Would Like an Apology from Phyllis Chesler, Chesler Would Like Wolf to Wake Up and Smell the Coffee

Wow. Just wow! Things are really heating up over at Dr. Chesler's blog. If you are a Feminist and you'd like to observe one of the bigger hurdles facing the Fourth Wave ... you really MUST come over and read. Not only today's response to Naomi. But also Phyllis' piece that started the whole brew-ha-ha. And Naomi's piece before that.

It's really high time, in my opinion, that the Second and Third Waves of American Feminism faced off in the boxing (uh, er debate) ring. Doncha think?

For research and accuracy, I'll put my money on Phyllis.

Can't rule Naomi out though... cuz she has the high falutin' connections.

SYD

So The Leftie Rags Are Our Friends Again? (Conservative "Feminist Hawks" Gaining Momentum!)

I find it quite odd how much attention Feminism is being paid in the Leftie Rags all of a sudden. Don't you? I mean, publications that were rife with overt and unapologetic sexism during the 2008 elections are suddenly our friends again. Strange.

WAPO, as I posted a few days ago. And also NYT.

What gives, I wonder?

A little trip over to The Chesler Chronicles may shed some light. Read her essay titled "Feminist Hawks Unite" for a list of clues. Quoting Phyllis now:

>"Among writers concerned with women’s rights are: Frontpage editor Jamie Glazov; Anat Berko; Tammy Bruce (who was once the President of Los Angeles NOW); Nonie Darwish; Brigitte Gabriel; Professor Donna Hughes; Nancy L. Kobrin; Robert Spencer, Wafa Sultan; and countless others. I will be adding more names to this list.

I know, I know: Many of the above writers are conservatives, not liberals. Some are new-comers, others not. But they are all, myself included, “hawkish” on the subject of the war against women and a) will not engage in cultural relativism to avoid being called “racists” or “Islamophobes;” b) will not be held hostage to one of two political parties; c) will not sacrifice Israel, America, the West, Muslim democrats/dissidents–or the truth–in order to remain politically correct and aligned to social, political, and funding networks.

I think Dr. Chesler has hit on something. The Left is awakening from it's Obama kool-ade stupor, and finding a groundswell of "Conservative" Feminism. They realize they've somehow missed the boat... and they are paddling hard to catch up. The Left's cultural relativist ideology is locking horns with pure Feminist Hawk-ology. This is not what the "Third Wave" expected to encounter in the wake of it's great SuperFemiMan "victory."

Not at all.

SYD

Phyllis Chesler and Marcia Pappas TONIGHT on No We Won't Radio

Dr. Chesler's thirteen books and thousands of articles and speeches have inspired people on many diverse issues. Her books include: Women and Madness; Women, Money and Power; About Men; With Child: A Diary of Motherhood; Mothers on Trial: The Battle for Children and Custody; Sacred Bond: The Legacy of Baby M; Patriarchy: Notes of an Expert Witness; Feminist Foremothers in Women's Studies, Psychology, and Mental Health; Letters to a Young Feminist; Woman's Inhumanity to Woman; Women of the Wall: Claiming Sacred Ground at Judaism's Holy Site; The New Anti-Semitism. The Current Crisis and What We Must Do About It; and The Death of Feminism. What's Next in the Struggle for Women's Freedom. A revised and updated edition of her classic, best-selling work, Women and Madness, was published in 2005. Her work has been translated into more than ten languages.

No radio needed Our show is online- If your computer is down no problem call on the phone and hear the entire show right on the phone- Please come ! Monday 10 PM eastern/ Bring your questions.
Call-in 347 539-5420 .

Event: Free Us Now Radio Show
What: Performance
Host: BettyJean Kling
Start Time: Monday, April 6 at 10:00pm
End Time: Monday, April 6 at 11:30pm
Where: BLOGTALK RADIO
Call-in: 347 539-5420


These are two very outspoken critics of Shari'a law for women. I HIGHLY recommend tuning in. (And I sure hope I can stay up this late.)

Links to recent essays on the subject are HERE and HERE

Feminist Sticky Wickets: Women and Radical Islam

Recently found this excellent Feminist blog, by a well respected scholar who I am familiar with from my college days. It deals alot with Muslim-American issues. It's now linked in my blogroll, in case anyone else wants to track it from the Stray Dawg Blog.

Dr. Chesler is so well published that I cannot even begin to list her works here. Suffice to say that they are impressive. She is unabashedly pro-Israel, which may be a turn off to some. I, personally, do not see the fight against anti-semitism, to be all that different from the one against misogyny. Oppression is oppression. No form of it should ever be tolerated. So I am OK with Chesler's leanings. Plus, I appreciate *knowing* her "bias." (Most non-Feminist authors don't divulge biases. That is a fact.)

Women's issues in Radical Islam are truly one of the stickiest wickets in Feminism today.... and I give Chesler high marks for attempting to grapple with it! For my money... she is quite accurate in her assessment of the state of crisis that Feminist scholars find themselves in over the subject. I'll be ordering some of her newer books now, to read after I return my Spring Break journeys.

Speaking of books... I'd also like to recommend that everyone who is REALLY interested in this topic read "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortensen. If you take the time to do that... you will find his insider's view of Pakistani and Afghani politics invaluable. Mr. Mortensen insists that the education of women/ girls is the ONLY solution to Radical Islam in those parts of the world. Warring in the areas is, not only unhelpful, it produces more enrollees in militant madrassas. So it's counterproductive. Note: The author is NOT a pacifist. He is a former soldier, in fact. But.... he tries to share *what works.* And his "argument" (if you want to call it that) is impressive.

I am spending quite a bit of time on this subject right now. And will be posting a few blogs on it soon... I hope. But, in the meantime, here is an excellent essay by Artemis March about Feminism's desperate need to break with some of the taboos related to "multicultural relativism."

Peace,

SYD