Tracy,

You obviously have an issue with Islamic countries, evidenced by the litany of inane posts you make about supposed abuse of women in Islamic countries. What comes through in your posts is your complete lack of knowledge about these countries or about the role of women there. I am pretty sure that you will not be able to find Malaysia on a map even if you tried. Your hit pieces on Islamic countries are as sensational as they are light on information. Women are NOT required to wear head scarves in Malaysia. There are dress codes requiring modesty in all Islamic nations--and in most nations around the world, Islamic and non Islamic--for both men and women. Since you will come up with a hit piece on Iran soon, since you are obsessed with Iran, please know that sisters took on the burkah during the Islamic Revolution to counter the corruption of the Shah regime. Women in Iran outnumber men in universities and have had a powerful role in the construction of that nation.

I am Muslim, and I know that your white U.S.-centric values do not define me. I have also traveled--throughout the Arab world and most of South and South East Asia (the latter is where Malaysia is, something I am sure you were unaware of). I strongly recommend that you travel a bit--or quite a bit. Read a wide variety of books on women and gender, but first try to shed your biases. Understand that judging women on your Bay Area hippy criteria does not serve anyone but you. Educate yourself by attending cultural events.

Yes, women around the world have it bad. They had it bad in sub-Sahara Africa, they have it bad in Hindu and Shikh communities in India, they have it bad in South America. You will serve women better if you learned about these communities, and tried to inform us from a position of knowledge rather than from one of enmity towards Muslim cultures. I don't know how old you are, but seriously, your pronouncements about women are less sophisticated than what I teach from the 4th graders I teach.

Also, Kuala Lampur is a wonderful city. Look it up, at least, since I cannot see you shedding your white-girl-on-a-soap-box arrogance long enough to actually venture out of your closet.

There is much to value all over the world, and westerners probably do misunderstand quite a bit. But when Ms Clark-Flory chastises another country because it pushes techniques like not wearing makeup or not wearing heels as a way to avoid rape, this is not because of difference between our cultures but because of similarities. America may not be as extreme as other parts of the world, but it all boils down to this"

Saying that it's lipstick that causes rape, or high heels, or short skirts or bikinis or dancing or flirting or kissing or drinking is saying the exact same thing regardless of where on the planet it is being said.

It is saying, "rape is the woman's fault, and it is up to her to prevent it."

And whatever language you want to use, whatever culture you come from, that is just plain bullshit.

If proclaiming that makes you feel better about yourself, then go right ahead. But generally, I find that anyone making an argument which amounts to saying "context doesn't matter" and "screw nuance" is flailing their arms and stamping their feet in the face of a complex situation that they don't care to try to understand.

This is another example of the either-or mentality. You would think that it would occur to either you or Tracy that there is no inherent conflict between saying that A) rape is not the woman's fault, and B) knowing the regressive cultural attitudes and social reality of some Muslim areas, there are nevertheless some things a woman would be wise to do in order to avoid being raped. But of course thinking that way wouldn't be as much fun for Internet arguments and opinion-mongering, would it?

It seems to me that the pamphlet was designed towards a practical end rather than a philosophical discussion about feminism. Here's a helpful analogy: if someone tells me not to walk through the ghetto at 4 in the morning wearing massive amounts of gold jewelry, I can get on a pedestal and give a speech about how muggings are not the victim's fault and I should be able to walk freely anywhere I want at whatever time I want. But until conditions in the ghetto improve, it's still pretty good advice.

For the record, about 30% of the population of Malaysia is non-Muslim (mostly Chinese). A different set of day-to-day laws applies to this population as opposed to the ethnic Malay (Bumiputera). Muslim women must wear scarves, etc., but Chinese women, non-Muslim Indian women, Thai women, etc. are allowed to express themselves in any manner they choose. Non-Muslim women wearing scarves, etc. is all but unheard of.

The flyer is silly, and I doubt that proportionally more non-Muslim women in Malaysia become victims of rape than scarf-wearing Muslim women. What a stupid idea.

Call me silly, but I believe that women are human beings who deserve the same treatment as men. Perhaps I've got that white-boy-on-a-soap-box arrogance you refered to.

Here are a few ideas: Perhaps the Muslim world should stop blaming women for violence against them, or even implying it by dictating what they can and cannot wear. Perhaps many of these countries should consider actually enforcing laws against honor killings instead of giving guilty male relatives a slap on the wrist and a wink. Perhaps many of these countries should stop stoning women for adultery or restricting them from leaving the house with a male that isn't a relative. Perhaps then the rest of the world will stop viewing their treatment of women as barbaric.

In the meantime, I thank Ms. Clark-Flory for keeping us informed about what is going on over there.

Didn't Malaysia ban chewing gum at some point?

While warnings about makeup may not be the best battleground for international feminism versus Islam, I think there is some truth that societal roles for women in rural, patriarchal societies are more fixed and restrictive than in urbanized western cultures. Most of the culture wars are precisely religious/cultural rules bumping up against the rights of the individual in places where the rules no longer work (at least for many of the individuals). Makeup guidelines in Malaysia are not that different than how twenty or thirty years ago (or today) parents in rural parts of the U.S. felt their girls should appear and behave.

Maybe an article about how cultures behave/react/change in the face of personal freedom would be a more insightful area for Clark-Flory's energy.