Here’s a woman who Gets It:
“In the United States last week there were people who wouldn’t let boys play a baseball championship final because a girl was on the opposing team. She’d already had to sit out two games because of their demands. Why? Did she, a competitive athlete and a member of her team, chose to? Was she being good and respectful when she acceded to their demands? Why were they not asked to forfeit their games? What messages were sent to her and her teammates? This is not complicated. It sent the wrong messages. Confusing messages. Incoherent messages. You need to know that she should have been allowed to play and not have had to sit out two games. These people, and others like them, all over the world, led exclusively by religious men, are scared of you and will not let you be.”
and
“…whereas [not playing a baseball game because there is a girl playing for the opposition] is a type of daily, seemingly harmless micro-aggression and the other [honor killings] is a lethal macro-aggression they share the same roots. The basis of both, and escalating actions in between, is the same: To teach you, and all girls subject to these men and their authority, a lesson: “Know your place.”
This author, Soraya Chemaly, really really does get it. She sees the connections, both large and small, that make the Patriarchy such a pervasive, corrupting influence on women. Almost everything she says also applies to minorities. And LGBT folk. And anyone who isn’t a middle-aged well-to-do white male.
Read this article. Pay attention to it. Like so many other injustices and unpleasantries in this world, you must start fighting them at your local level, one-on-one.
I would say they should have the right to play or not play as they please but would also agree that in not playing they should be subject to a forfeit. If the girls are were bonafide players of a team in the league then the league should have settled this at the time of the game. So this is a bit confusing to me as an example..
As for the misogyny in Islam, haha do you really want to go there? But there is some hope.
In Gulf countries where expatriates outnumber citizens, in some cases (United Arab Emirates, think Dubai, and Qatar) by 4 to 1, there is a government imperative to get female citizens educated and into the workplace. All kinds of social changes are coming down the shutes, Will be interesting to see the whole house of cards come down..
For every single example of official pronouncements of giving women a stronger social presence in Muslim countries, there are a thousand examples of honor killings, stonings, hatred and fear, and ostracizing of women. The very act of forcing women to hide their bodies in public points out the attitude that the Islamic world has toward women.
In Paige Sulzbach’s case, the opposition’s objections stemmed from a determination to segregate women away from mainstream sports activities of all kinds — yet another example of the female ghetto.
What does “proper boundaries” mean? Keeping women in their places. Typical Catholocist doctrine.
Totally agree.. oh you might enjoy this:
http://www.7daysindubai.com/Girls-jet-skis-make-boys-act-crazy-police-chief/story-16135938-detail/story.html