In response to the "Hussein" topic:

Americans do not know how far they are from good relations with the Muslim world when you insult anyone with the name "Hussein". Anyone named "Hussein" is most likely named so out of reference and deep respect for the most famous and most revered Hussein in history and Muslim culture: the prophet Muhammad's (saaw) grandson, Hussein bin Ali (raa). He was a man of excellent character, nobility, dignity, and greatly respected by those who were good. Hussein sacrificed himself on the battlefield against insurmountable odds in the name of God to stand as a beacon for justice against tyranny. His sacrifice is deeply revered throughout the Muslim world in so much as anyone who does not love and does not show respect for Hussein is looked down upon, unless of course they are ignorant of what they are talking.

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Second, I sympathize for Topazz's dilemma. But the way for a young manchild of 17 to respect women is for him to know what it is to be a man. Meaning, he needs to know the full identity of being a man (not referring to the sexual inference here). Men and women are equal before God and the State, but men and women are not identical- rather we are complimentary. I sometimes think some American women want to make boys into womanized drones by eviscerating masculinity completely. As if the notion that a man wants to take care of or protect a woman is insulting, and that a man's physical features and natural tendencies are reprehensible.

I certainly am not trying to tell Topazz how to raise her son, but I know from my own experience being raised by a single mother in Midwest America, a young man must come to know himself regardless of how the women in his life attempt to define and shape him.

If I had a twin sister and a mother and no father in my life, perhaps I would overcompensate any manliness or male identity in order to offset the predominant feminine and female identity in my life. As well, as a father of a 14 yr old boy, I see many male characters in pop culture today (TV, movies, music) that are completely misandrous, emasculating, demoralizing. These two factors would either demoralize a boy or make him overcompensate. In fact, one could make a thesis that male characters in pop culture today now invoke emasculating misandry in greater numbers and dimensions than past female characters invoked misogyny.

As for the actual classroom event:

Would a man simply sit down and drop his head for several minutes in defeat, right in front of his class? Perhaps. Richard Simmons might, but then he'd jump up and start shouting/shrilling/crying or whatever he does. But in either case, that sent the wrong message to the class right at the moment they needed to be taught a lesson.