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In reply to the discussion: Video-Amina: Topless Tunisian Protester Tells Femen She Was Beaten,Kidnapped & Drugged By Her Family [View all]BainsBane
(53,032 posts)Rather than imaging you know everything about Islam based on a couple of news reports. You imagine the actions by this family explains all of Islam, a religion that has existed since the 7th century. Have you read Averroes critique of gender differences? Have you learned about the scientific innovations of women scientists like Fatima Al-Majritiya? Do you know of the role of women like Fatima al-Fihri's in forming educational institutions? Did you know that Islamic centers of learning in the Golden Age were filled with women scholars when women in the West were not allowed to seek higher education of any kind? Did you know that women in Islamic societies traditionally had property rights where women in the West were allowed to own none?
What you don't understand is that the fundamentalist extremism that you think characterizes Islam itself has arisen in response to colonialism, occupation, and neo-imperialism. It comes out of a particular political context and does not represent Islam as a whole. In other words, you don't get the whole story from your TV set, shocking as that may seem to you.
Bigotry is not defined by what does or doesn't happen to one woman. It's an inability to understand there is much about Islam people don't know and a refusal to try to learn more.