Maryam was on the BBC World Service yesterday to debate a woman from Hizb-Ut-Tahrir.
Her opponent made me squirm with anger and revulsion.
You can listen via Maryam’s link.… Read the rest
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Amazingly enough, it appears that Gopal wrote that article in complete ignorance of the December 10 protest that got major media coverage and thus the attention of politicians who then firmly rejected gender segregation.
Priyamvada Gopal @PriyamvadaGopal
@dandelionscrews @CEMB_forum @NickCohen4
I have no idea why they are banging on about some demo when I was talking about SR campaign
Ophelia Benson @OpheliaBenson
“some demo”? Are you serious? you wrote that article w/o even knowing about the demo?
That sheds a somewhat new light on the article, but not in a good way. Apparently she simply had no idea what she was talking about, and made a complete dog’s breakfast as a result. Let’s look at a little bit of it … Read the rest
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I said I would continue my disagreement with what Priyamvada Gopal wrote, so here I am continuing.
The fact is that challenging traditions and questioning authority are practices common to all societies; changing in response to circumstances is a human capacity and not one limited to a particular culture.
Again – no kidding, and no one who is criticizing gender segregation said otherwise. It’s the other way around: Universities UK are treating authority (in the person of the external speaker who demands segregated seating) as if it is not to be challenged. It is the protesters who are challenging that authority, and the authority of UUK, from the standpoint of universal rights, which is to say, rights common … Read the rest
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Via Helen Dale* on Facebook, Priyamvada Gopal on gender segregation and the politics of same.
Ours is not an easy moment at which to practice a simultaneous commitment to anti-racism, equality and social justice. It’s a particularly testing time for progressive people who affiliate in some way to Britain’s ethnic and religious minority communities, among whom Muslims are under unprecedented attack. For us, it is especially difficult to practise a commitment to gender equality and social change in a context so heavily shaped by an intolerant Western ‘liberalism’ passing itself off as ‘secular’, ‘enlightened’ and more knowing-than-thou.
That doesn’t bode well.
… Read the restIn the wake of Student Rights’ aggressive campaign, which clearly targeted Islamic student groups, Universities UK –
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The LSE Student Union Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society is not impressed by the way the SU has reacted to the gender segregation controversy. It explains on the SU website.
… Read the restWe are disappointed by the LSESU General Secretary Jay Stoll’s statement that the threat of forced gender segregation is “practically non-existent” (despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary) and his accusation that anti-segregation campaigners are ‘Islamophobic’. We also have good reason to distrust LSESU Community and Welfare Officer Anneessa Mahmood’s defence that only “voluntarily segregated” meetings are taking place on the LSE campus, and that there have been “no meetings at LSE where segregation has been enforced upon people“, even if she states that “as an organisation
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Want a little more Dave Silverman v Fox News aka Fox News takes the bait over and over and over and over again?
What’s amusing about it is the fake outrage of Hannity at the very idea that American Atheists would say something to be provocative. Really? When Fox haha “News” never does anything else?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnCW0pEUVp4… Read the rest
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A slice of life in rural Tanzania…
Lozwi Longinai was preparing for her wedding day last month in northern Lingate village, but at the last minute her groom changed his mind after realising that his 18-year-old fiancée had not been circumcised.
“This is very bad. We are being rejected by our own society because we have refused to be circumcised,” Longinai complained.
While female genital mutilation (FGM) is on the decline in Tanzania, the practice remains widespread in some rural areas, and in Maasai communities like Lingate in the northern Arusha region, dozens of women are being turned away in marriage because they have refused to be cut, according to an NGO working in the region.
That’s grim. I’m … Read the rest
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Have a heartwarming story because why not. It’s a reunion story. I love reunions. I’m like Shakespeare in that way (and no other) – he was always staging separations so that he could stage reunions in Act 5. Cymbeline, for instance; there are so many reunions at the end of that play you have no idea who half the reunited characters are, but you soak your hanky just the same.
This reunion is a little girl and her stuffed friend Roar, whom she accidentally left on a train from York to London. Someone named Lauren found Roar at King’s Cross and posted pictures on Twitter.
She took a lot of pictures of Roar having adventures while waiting to be found, … Read the rest
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Since Maryam saved the original UUK guidance, I’m reading pages 27 and 28 again for the nostalgia. It read as if it had been written by a robot.
The segregation request is not yet in the public domain but the students’ union has an active feminist society which is likely to protest against the segregation request. Other societies are likely to express similar concerns. The event is also due to take place a few days after a number of campus-based activities to coincide with International Women’s Day.
See what I mean? A robot or an extra-terrestrial. There – might – be – some – groups – who – would – not – like – the – idea – of – … Read the rest
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Kate Maltby on the gender segregation dispute.
I spent much of Tuesday afternoon shivering outside the offices of Universities UK. I was there to protest their publication of guidelines which suggest segregated seating of men and women may be legally required where guest speakers demand it. It’s reassuring to learn that protest sometimes works: by Friday, the beleaguered body had shifted their position twice within 24 hours, thanks in part to criticism by Michael Gove and David Cameron.
It is reassuring, isn’t it. I’m still surprised at the speed with which it happened.
… Read the restBut for all their fair words, I’m told the Cabinet have no plans for legislation to clarify the law. And I hear some members of
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Having so appreciated Manfredi La Manna’s comment on the gender segregation issue, I took a look at his website and found a page of contributions to the Times Higher Education Supplement aka the Times Higher aka THES. It’s good value. There’s one on Keith Ward, for instance; Keith Ward is someone I like to see disputed.
… Read the restKeith Ward’s attempt to portray himself as a persecuted seeker of truth deserves comment (THES, October 11). First, it is misleading to lump theology with the humanities and to see the well-deserved criticisms to the former as a general attack against the latter. The humanities are qualitatively different from theology in so far as they have different methodology, aims and ethos. Indeed, after the
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Originally a comment by Manfredi La Manna on Any Questions.
Hate to self-publicize, but the follow-up programme “Any Answers?” has a brief comment of mine exposing a common misunderstanding about the odious document on gender segregation on UK campuses and criticizing Shami Chakrabarti for not taking UUK to task (24:10 into the broadcast). For a longer comment, read on.
What is wrong with “voluntary” gender segregation?
The recent debacle by Universities UK, who had to withdraw their odious document on gender segregation on British campuses, has highlighted a number of interesting issues on the relationship between universities and the public sphere. Before addressing the issue of “voluntary” gender segregation, a few comments on the governance of British Universities are … Read the rest
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I’m listening to the bit of Any Questions – starting 38 minutes in – where they talk about gender segregation. I’ve paused it after Amjad Bashir said his piece (he’s the first) because it’s so good. (It made me get something in my eye for a second.) First of all he just said No, and got applause. Then he said about growing up in Bradford (and he has the Yorkshire accent to prove it) and meeting everybody, from primary school on. Mixing. Meeting all kinds of people. And his children, and his grandchildren, they do the same. This is not Saudi Arabia, where women are not allowed to meet people.
Yes exactly. It’s not just the meddling with … Read the rest
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Didja see Jon Stewart taking on Fox News on the war on Christmas and Festivus and beer cans and Santa is white god damn it of course he is?
(Before I get to that though – how not to start a piece. Also how not to continue it and how not to end it. The sfgate piece on the subject:
Hide your kids, hide your wives because the War on Christmas is here and no ugly sweater or racial stereotype is safe.
Don’t do that. Don’t assume only men can read. Don’t assume you’re talking exclusively to men.)
Stewart shows a bit of the “discussion” between Bill “the Catholic League” Donohue and Shmuley Boteach and … Read the rest
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Taslima is writing a script for a Bengali tv serial about women’s oppression.
… Read the restComing slightly more than a year after her book launch was cancelled at the Kolkata Book Fair following protest by religious fundamentalists, the script will deal with atrocities on women. ‘Dusahobas’ (translated roughly as living difficult), which would be shown on the small screen from December 19 on “Aakash Aath” channel, tells the stories of women in distress and how they are fighting against it.
“It talks about courageous women who became victims of various crimes like dowry, forced marriage, trafficking, rape or were forced into prostitution, etc. It shows that women will keep fighting for their rights,” said the feminist author who drew the ire
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Al Jazeera America reports on online harassment and revenge porn. It’s a revolting read.
Lena Chen, as a freshman at Harvard, started a blog called Sex and the Ivy, where she wrote about her hookups, self-medication with alcohol, recovery from an eating disorder and crushing desire to be liked. All standard stuff for a college student. But then an ex-boyfriend posted naked pictures of her on the Internet.
For some, this was righteous comeuppance for the campus harlot. For others it was just great gossip. Classmates and other titillated parties reposted the images around the Web, and comment threads exploded with colorful debate.
You know the kind of thing. Ugly, whore, disgusting, blah.
… Read the restChen wasn’t so shaken by
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Student Rights has a useful post on the victory, with many links for reference.
The news that Universities UK has announced that it will be withdrawing guidelines which excused gender segregation on UK campuses is a great success for those who have been campaigning on this issue since the guidelines were released in November.
It’s a success in this particular case and, even more, it shows that such a success is possible. So often there are protests but nothing changes; it’s very heartening to see a real result.
… Read the restA demonstration outside UUK’s offices showed that people were willing to turn out on the streets to support the rights of women on campus, and this brought the issue to wider
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There was a new comment yesterday on Nicola Dandridge’s November 25 blog post about the gender segregation bit of Universities UK’s guidance on external speakers. The new comment is by Jane Kelly, who went to the protest.
… Read the restSeats For Women!
On Tuesday 10th December I joined ex Muslims from One Law For All, and various secular groups to attend a demonstration outside 20 Tavistock Square,against sexual segregation at lectures and debates. My mother laughed heartily at the thought of me going on a demo, something I have not done for thirty years, not since I was supporting Polish Solidarnoc. I promised her I would resist knocking off any police helmets.The demo was for a cause which should get the
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You’re wondering what Sayeeda “Baroness” Warsi is concerned about these days, aren’t you. I know how you are. You can’t sleep nights for wondering about it. Well I’ll tell you. I found out via the Telegraph. She’s concerned about the possibility that laws introducing same-sex marriage might not contain enough protections for religious groups. What have they got to do with anything, you’re probably asking yourself. The Telegraph explains.
… Read the restThe former Conservative Party chairman said she could not support the Government bill during votes in the Lords because of “reservations” about how clauses designed to prevent faith groups being sued for refusing to perform gay weddings would work in practice.
She raised the prospect of smaller churches, mosques and
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(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
