Letters to the Editor
Canuckistan Bob
Published Letters: 775 Editor's Choice: 69
-
"Muslim Culture"
[Read the article: Sex and the married Muslim]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I am so tired of hearing that. Folks, there is no such thing as Muslim culture, just as there is no such thing as Christian culture. There is, I suppose, a Muslim World, just as there might be a Christian World, but remember that Christian world includes Catholics, Pentecostals, Baptists, Mormons, Evangelicals, Moonies, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and so on. The Muslim World is actually rather more diverse.
I've lived in a number of Muslim countries, and work here with many Muslim immigrants and refugees. I can assure you that the levels of repression directed at same-sex activity is highly variable (as are the levels of oppression of women generally); in some areas it is pretty damn open, and in most a rather high degree of bisexuality (both male and female) is practised, the result I think, of a rather high level of gender segregation (which is locally cultural, not a universally religious-based phenomena).
Dr. Kotb is not unique, actually, there are other writers and broadcasters (including in Saudi Arabia!, for instance) providing advice. One thing about Islam, it has never ever regarded sex as sinful or impure, which is a lot more than you can say of the Christian tradition.
Another thing that gets me, incidentally, is the rampant Western misunderstanding of Sharia. Sharia is actually not a code of laws, it is more like a framework under which a body of law can be developed, standing to the law rather like the US constitution does to US law. There are a good many ways of interpreting both, and the result is not necessarily oppressive (though it can be in both, cf the Supreme Court's ruling on "partial birth" abortion).
A good example of this would be the fatwa issued last year (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35651) in Egypt declaring that FGM is not an Islamic practise, is harmful for women, and as such should not be practised. This was issued by an international gathering of leading Sunni imams and mullahs, and backed by Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi, the Grand Sheikh of al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's most prestigious university. You really can't get much more authoritative than that.
Yes, damn straight, there are some fascist type insanely oppressive regimes, and the fundies have done rather better than their US cousins have, for a variety of complex reasons. But I don't think that justifies taking a broad brush to smear all of islam, all muslims.
Also, I do think that the good guys seem to winning over all, taking rather more than baby steps, which is perhaps why we are seeing hyper over-reaction by a frightened establishment.
-
What they actually say
[Read the article: Why women stay with abusers]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]From my experience, and that is no small amount of experience, the dynamics of abuse are very very complicated, and there really isn't any one great simplifying idea or principle or reality. But one thing doesn't get enough coverage: if you actually ask women why they stay, you consistently get the same answer. Because he loves me. Because I love him. It's all about love.
What it always sounds like to me is: because I'm addicted.
What is the difference between love and addiction?
-
Child Prostitutes
[Read the article: Katie Couric: Tarting up the news?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]In Canada, there was a major change in thinking about prostitution in some jurisdiction about 8 or 9 years ago. In Manitoba, a general consensus developed that the offenders were the johns, not the workers, at least in terms of street-level prostitution. So they brought in legislation that if you were caught soliciting a hooker (prostitution per se is actually legal in Canada, you just can't communicate in public about it), they got their car confiscated on the spot. It might be returned to them eventually if it was a first offence and they went to "john-school." The primary attack is of course explaining to your wife and/or employer why you no longer have a car.
It had a perverse effect: the johns started focussing on underage workers, figuring that they couldn't be police officers, and the gangs supplied this of course, and child prostitution exploded.
In Alberta, they got it right. They brought in the "Protection of Children Involved in Prostitution Act," which didn't just provide shelters, it provided for mandatory immediate detention for a short term in a shelter, for girls engaged in prostitution-- this involuntary detention is not in a jail, it is in a treatment-based group home. This allowed them to detox (virtually all have drug issues, encouraged by their pimps), be kept securely away from their exploiters, and deal with their issues. It was massively successful with a recidivism rate much lower than anyone expected; recently they have closed a few beds in shelters that were dedicated to this service, as the number of children apprehended has fallen like a rock.
This year, the children protected, they brought in the seize your vehicle bill. The effect has been astounding: street-level drug-fuelled highly dangerous prostitution has dropped like a rock. You still see some of it in urban areas, but it is a fraction of what it used to be.
The massage parlour biz has dropped quite a bit too, once they started raiding them not for prostitution, but immigration violations. Some rather nasty human trafficking types went to jail for a longish time, and recent changes to immigration policies made it less likely that the women would be summarily deported.
Of course, the escort business is going gangbusters, but it seems to be a whole lot less exploitative, and considerably safer for the women.
The lessons seem to be: 1) the problem/bad-guys are the johns, not the hookers, and criminal sanctions should be directed at them, and 2) children are children, and if treated as such can be turned around much more easily than adults.