A girl of 14 was forced to marry an older man who raped her to conceive a child to make the marriage work.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
There Must Be Violence Against Women
Jan 4th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHuman rights organizations fuss, but wives, daughters, sisters have to be controlled by men.… Read the rest
Taslima Nasreen: ‘I Am Like the Living Dead’
Jan 4th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBenumbed; robbed of the pleasure of experience; unable to move beyond the claustrophobic confines of my room. … Read the rest
Hitchens on the Iowa Scam
Jan 4th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMedia report the open corruption of the Iowa caucuses with an astonishingly deadpan and neutral tone.… Read the rest
Eutopia
Jan 3rd, 2008 1:09 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe Vatican seems to have a strange lack of acquaintance with reality – at least its Council for the Family does. It has a statement on the family and human rights which floats weirdly free of the difficulties that humans tend to encounter.
The father and the mother, as a couple, with the characteristics proper to them, procreate and raise the child. The child thus has the right to be welcomed, loved and recognized in a family.
That’s a pretty idea, but the trouble is, it’s the Vatican itself that does more than any other human institution to make that right impossible to implement. It’s the Vatican that forbids birth control, thus removing (in intention at least, which is what’s … Read the rest
What seems to be the problem?
Jan 3rd, 2008 12:47 pm | By Ophelia BensonA lot of women in Saudi Arabia attempt suicide. Now there’s a surprise.
Within family circles, boys always get preferential treatment. What is more, there is very little or no communication between girls and their parents. The report highlights many factors that can lead women to consider killing themselves, one of them being forced marriages.
Others probably being things like no freedom of movement, no ability to walk around in public looking at the sky and the flowers and anything else that comes along, no sense of having equal rights and duties. That must get a trifle dispiriting.
Disregarding a woman’s free will and her right to choose her life can simply lead her to desperation.
Well yes. It … Read the rest
Why Saudi Women Attempt Suicide
Jan 3rd, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDisregarding a woman’s free will and her right to choose her life can simply lead her to desperation.… Read the rest
Chicago Man Accused of Killing Pregnant Daughter
Jan 3rd, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAnd her husband and child. The husband ‘belonged to a lower caste.’… Read the rest
Jeff Weintraub on the Hijab and Social Pressure
Jan 3rd, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMany Turkish secularists foresee a situation in which social pressure will force women to wear hijab.… Read the rest
133 Women Killed in Basra Last Year
Jan 3rd, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMurdered and then dumped in the garbage with notes saying they were killed for violating Islamic teachings.… Read the rest
Cover Your Hair or We’ll Kill You
Jan 3rd, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Next time I want to see you wearing a hijab or I swear to God the three of you will be killed immediately.’… Read the rest
Hijab: Freedom or Coercion?
Jan 3rd, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIf everyone is free to wear the hijab, is anyone free not to wear it?… Read the rest
Two Women Attacked by Mob in Mumbai
Jan 3rd, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe women were teased and harassed by a crowd of men outside a hotel.… Read the rest
‘Give Ken a Third Term’
Jan 3rd, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBecause the undersigned say it is ‘in the best interest of the Muslim communities of London.’ … Read the rest
Assassinated Because She Was a Woman
Jan 2nd, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe fear of women, of women’s freedom, runs through Islamism. It is a large part of Islamist hatred of the West.… Read the rest
Persecution of Ahmadis in Pakistan
Jan 2nd, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Militants’ have stamped thousands of rupee notes imploring believers to ‘put them to death.’… Read the rest
Startling, Fresh, New Insight on ‘New’ Atheism
Jan 2nd, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt’s god-bashing, shrill, screechy, intolerant, hectoring. Wo! Haven’t heard that before.… Read the rest
Seeing People Killed Is as Bad as it Gets
Jan 2nd, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSeveral hundred Kikuyu people sheltered in the church; 30 were burned to death.… Read the rest
Horrible Echoes of Rwanda
Jan 2nd, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOdinga’s supporters accused of ethnic cleansing; Kibaki’s camp accused of genocide.… Read the rest
Kenyans Want an End to Violence
Jan 2nd, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘All we want is a return to peace. But all we have seen here in Eldoret is terrible violence.’… Read the rest