It was well intended.It was meant to be merely a helpful tip on female upkeep.
There are entire TV shows and magazines dedicated to the topic of female upkeep.
Indeed, here in America, said upkeep undergirds a major sector of our economy. Total revenues of the U.S. cosmetic industry are reckoned to approach $57 billion annually.
So when Moroccan state TV aired a feature on how the womenfolk can deal with those blemishes left by a man’s fist – oh, you know, a black eye, a bruised cheekbone, a bloodied lip – the show’s producers surely anticipated no great hoo-ha. (The show’s tip was: Use the foundation yellow, not the white.)
Seemed like merely practical information, as it likely was in Morocco, which is an Islam-dominated country, as are the other countries in that neck of the world.
The makeup tip went out around the same time that the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party on Turtle Bay back in New York was proclaiming “United Nations Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women.” (Yes, really!)
In any event, the waste matter hit the fan.
Via social media, there were righteous feminist outcries that women ought to be speaking out against male violence, not covering it up – whether by cosmetics or acquiescence.
But who would wager against the speculation that more of the outcry emanated from Barnard than Brunei – more of it from, say, the activist sisters of Vassar, Radcliffe, Wellesley and Bryn Mawr than from, say, the hijab’d sisters of Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia or Iran?
From such progressive precincts as the former it’s far easier to decry sexism than it is to do so from the latter. Righteousness comes easier in some places than others.
It’s impermissible to say so, but let us risk it: Sexism in Morocco and neighboring lands is inextricably linked with the dominant religion in those parts.
Even in Morocco – hailed as one of the more “moderate” of the Muslim bailiwicks – large signs outside the mosques greet would-be visitors with the unwelcoming words: “Interdit aux non-musulmans.” (Have you ever encountered a church with a sign: “Non-Christians Prohibited”? Or a synagogue with a sign: “Jews Only”?)
So yes, liberal voices are quick to denounce sexism from safe, privileged perches in America. Such perches, however, tend to be few and far between in other jurisdictions, notably Muslim ones.
Dissent in such places is likely to come at risk not merely of social rebuke but of physical harm. Yet, even in the American and European hotbeds of secular liberalism, criticism of Islam’s patriarchal dogma is circumspect or muted, to the point of virtual silence. In contrast, objections from such quarters to the patriarchy of, for example, the Catholic Church, are voluble, often strident.
The Koran leaves little doubt about the standing of females versus that of males. “Your wives are your tilth unto you,” the Koran (2:223) reassures the Muslim menfolk. “Tilth” means fertile land for planting seed.
“A man has dominion over his wives’ bodies” (note the plural) “as he does his land,” adds the faith’s holy book, which declares itself the direct, literal, immutable word of God.
Hillary Clinton’s “I’m With Her” female brigade would find, if they looked it up, mostly unsettling dogma elsewhere in the sacred text. The Koran evaluates the worth of female legal testimony as one-half that of males (2:282, 2:228). The Koran dictates the same terms for inheritance. It further commands women to lower their gaze in the presence of men.
Any uppity dissenters in Islamic dominions are more than likely to be swiftly and mercilessly squelched. Throughout the Muslim world, truculent punishment is favored for any who balk at going along with the Koranic program.
According to the Pew Research Foundation’s polling:
– 89 percent of Pakistanis, 85 percent of Afghans, 84 percent of Palestinians, 81 percent of Egyptians, 67 percent of Jordanians and 58 percent of Iraqis favor the stoning of females accused of adultery.
– 86 percent of Egyptians, 82 percent of Jordanians, 79 percent of Afghans, 76 percent of Pakistanis, 66 percent of Palestinians and 62 percent of Malaysians favor the death penalty for any Muslims who leave the faith.
Such percentages are surely worthy of some consideration regarding open-arms immigration policy toward Islamic nations.
Certainly the polling numbers resolve any puzzlement that no Betty Friedans or Gloria Steinems have yet emerged in Morocco, much less Saudi Arabia.
Any dissenters to the reigning orthodoxy in such places would face not only social rebuke but physical harm if they did dare raise their voices.
Even in the supposedly more enlightened West, advocacy of the feminist agenda crashes into obstacles of resistance if any criticism of Islam is involved. When it is involved, better watch your step! As a woman named Ayan Hirsi Ali found out.
Somalia-born and Muslim-reared, she spoke out against vaginal mutilation, a barbaric practice not uncommon in the faith, a practice to which she had been subjected herself.
But her critical focus on the status of females under Islam left her unsafe even in the liberal Netherlands, her adopted country where she had become a member of parliament.
When she fled to the United States, she continued to be stalked by ferocious opposition, even in allegedly enlightened venues. Her speaking engagement at Yale fomented frothing protests by dozens of activist groups. Hundreds signed a petition against her right to express her views. At Brandeis, mob-cowed school officials withdrew an invitation for her scheduled appearance there.
The “problem” with Hirsi Ali is likely not only her troublesome focus on Islamism but her stubbornness in not embracing, down the list, all of the “smelly little orthodoxies” of the left, to borrow a phrase from George Orwell.
There are scores of other cases like hers – writers, scholars, artists, who have been forced to take extraordinary, around-the-clock security measures for their safety. (See Paul Berman’s book, “Flight of the Intellectuals.)
Yes, from the tranquil redoubts of a Smith or a Mount Holyoke it’s easy to deplore makeup tips for victims of spousal abuse providing you ignore the context in which the tips are given.
It’s easier, much easier, than stepping forward and noting the context. Easier, much easier, than speaking out fully in such a way as to make yourself, in the French term, a “target of honor.”
– davidneese@verizon.net