konark_girl:

The answer isn't placing the onus on women and insisting they cover themselves in more and more layers. The answer is having stringent punishments for sexual harrasment or rape.

Well, I believe that LVPD sargent, the municipalities around America, and the state governments, a long with experts on criminology, beg to differ. They say women DO have to cover themselves. And the onus of is a SHARED responsibility; WOMEN SHOULD NOT TRY TO STOP TRAFFIC AND MEN SHOULD CONTROL THEMSELVES. Let's face it, the idea that women may flaunt themselves in public is an attempt at POWER over men for the individual female's personal interests. It is well known that the female body invokes biological responses in pubescent males. This is human nature and is undeniable. Explaoiting this natural response, or using it to gain power or profit, is an underlying motivation.

Konark Girl, it appears that you are deriving your opinions from political philosophy which is detached from reality. You have essentially said that increased public exposure of the female form will desensitize men to being aroused by the female form.

That philosophy of "bra burning" feminism has even been rejected by many feminists, ecspecially after they realized that it doesn't work and only leads to more women being exploited, abused, and even generating a cycle of sexual abuse affecting children.

Humans are not robotic, industrial beings. We are social beings. This means that there will always be segments of the human population engaging in criminal, chaotic, behavior, even good people might sometimes commit crimes, and sometimes they will not conform to norms. Simply making harsh punishments is NOT alone a deterrent. There must be a systemic plan to address human behavior and Islam provides that even in the contemporary age.

You effectively said by women thrusting their charms in the face of men, it will either desensitize them, or if they behave illegally, they will suffer terrible punishment. How is this fair when the matter of visual sexual stimuli is a proven biological reaction?

konark_girl:

Notice one thing -- the countries and cultures that make the biggest show about 'protecting a woman's virtue' --- happen to be the nastiest to a woman who is a rape victim. Tell me, what happens to a victim of rape in an islamic country where 'covering' is culturally mandated? Assuming she is not accused of adultery and thrown in jail, that is.......even if she can prove that she is a 'victim', she is still considered to be a shame to her family....damaged goods, unmarriageable, even encouraged to commit suicide.

Ultimately, the proof of how much a culture 'respects' its women is, IMO, how it treats its rape victims. And I think you'll find that, by and large, there's an inverse relationship between the respect with which a rape victim is treated and how much the culture insists that the women 'cover themselves' so as not to provoke the men.

And as for brothels and sexual-slavery somehow being a result of 'Western corruption' -- surely you kid! Aren't you aware of brothels and sexual slavery in the Middle east ? What do you think has made Syria one of the tourist hot-spots, particularly for wealthy Saudi men?

There is not a SINGLE NATION ON EARTH WHICH IS REPRESENTATIVE OF ISLAM AND MEETS THE MINIMAL SHARIAH REQUIREMENT OF EXEMPLIFYING ISLAM IN LIFE. This also means that the societies of the Muslim world are not representative of Islam.

So the various nations which DO employ prostitutes or have sex slaves in the Muslim world are representative of the kings/presidents/generals who run them- NOT of Islam. So the HYPOCRICY IN THE MUSLIM WORLD YOU CORRECTLY OBSERVED AND WHICH MUSLIMS ALSO OBSERVE is a result of each national regime and the people who support them. It should be noted that a growing majority of Muslims are in favor of overthrowing these regimes, except that the regimes are prepared to kill all or most of their people in order to protect their authority (with Western consent, I might add).

If your measure of a society based on how they treat rape victims, you should know that the Prophet Muhammad (saaw) himself publicly stated that Allah forgives the rape victim. And the Prophet (saaw) said, paraphrased: help the oppressed by liberating them from oppression and by granting them justice and help the oppressor by keeping him from oppressing. I

ts interesting that each year 1 or 2 cases concerning women in the Muslim world gain international attention, but little is mentioned of the scores or 100s of rape cases that are percieved as legitimate. From my recollection, the Saudi govt even executed a rapist recently. I recall the victim's name was protected and the defendent and/or the defendent's family still had to pay restitution to the victim. And I also recall a pedophile sexual predator in Pakistan was executed as well.

How many rape cases are successfully prosecuted in the Muslim world, Konark Girl? What do the numerous regimes do for rape victims, not just the few anecdotal cases which are hyped in the media? Do you know? Or are you judging Islam, the Muslim world, and 100s of millions of people based on a few court cases? And who is shaping your opinion of Islam and the Muslim world? Are you truly free, or are social forces in America shaping your opinions based on provocative stories and ignorant representation?

In reality, Western govts, NGOs, Western media and secular advocates use these anecdotal cases to advance their political philosophies in the Muslim world. The colonial wars continue and the Clash of Civilizations is continually played out with ignorance and provocation as weapons wielded by the West. And the demolition of the Muslim world is motivated by the desire to retain hegemonic control over the resources of the Muslim world to prop up American global primacy.