Miss Afghanistan could be charged over contest

[Superfly]

Fucking intolerant cultures. I cannot believe, that in this day and age, culutres still hang on to traditions and laws that are designed to keep women as non-citizens and only as objects that bear children. The fucking hard-line muslims need to change.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/990993.asp?0cv=CB20


<snip>

A 23-year-old woman who is the first Afghan in three decades to take part in a beauty pageant could face prosecution if she returns to her native country, a senior justice official said Saturday.

<snip>

:puke:

[RichM]

1. The US has a very long way to go, before it can criticize any other

culture.

Also, participating in beauty pageants is stupid & vulgar - itself a consigning of femininity to the category of subordinate sex object. If we were going to hope for positive cultural change elsewhere, hoping for Muslims to approve of women's participation in pageants should rank about last on the list.

[Superfly]

2. First things first

I am not "the US", I am one person and I am criticizing tha Afghan culture.

Second, participants in pageants do so willfuly. The women who participate in pageants want to be winners among their peers.

The Muslim culture, for even denying women the opportunity to participate in pageants or anything (like voting, driving) without ridicule, can kiss my ass.

[RichM]

5. Good point. My subject line should have read "Americans have a long

way to go, before they should presume to criticize any other culture."

[ant]

7. to be fair

This isn't about the "muslim culture," it's about extremists within that culture. There are Muslim countries that have had female heads of state, after all, so clearly Islam is not incompatible with feminism.

I'm also getting annoyed with this "beauty pageant contestant threatened with death" story. She's been out of Afgh for a while now, was she EVER planning to go back anyway? I don't see why this continues to be a story. It happened, it was reported, I doubt anyone was surprised, let's move on.

Edited for spelling.

[iverglas]

11. and your outrage

... will register on my outrage-detection meter when I hear it directed at the harassment of women attempting to attend post-secondary education in Afghanistan. Just for starters. And so far, I don't think I've detected any of it.

I think I might be speaking for a lot of Afghanistani women when I say that, too.

"The Muslim culture, for even denying women the opportunity to participate in pageants or anything (like voting, driving) without ridicule, can kiss my ass."

Anyone who doesn't see this as a blatant and extraordinarily dimwitted ethnic slur, raise yr hand. (And anybody reaching for an alert button had better be doing it double.)

Of course, anyone attempting to raise his/her hand at this point would also appear to have had too much to drink to be posting on a public discussion board, and should really just sit on it for the rest of the day.

I mean, sheesh, where's all the outrage about how some posters make DU look bad to the rest of the world?

Or is it only the right-wing world those outraged folks get upset about ...

.

[Muddleoftheroad]

3. So beauty is now bad?

What, in your opinion, are allowed activities for women to participate in?

Personally, I think whatever legal activities they wish are allowable.

[leesa]

6. I don't believe he said beauty is bad. Beauty pageants are meat markets

and I know a lot of women are willing to ignore that in order to get school scholarships, help with career promotion, etc., but beauty pageants and woman's and men's mags that foist a particular unreal image of woman onto the world are NOT good for women. Why do you suppose we have these incredible volumes of cosmetic surgery going on? Women do not feel they can be valuable unless they fit this model of woman pressed on us by these pageants and by the media. Unfortunately men are going the same route and are losing their 'right' to be just themselves.

Now the issue of being arrested and punished for participation in this kind of thing is ENTIRELY different. Of course this shouldn't happen. This is a social education issue to help men and women accept themselves and their bodies as they are, as long as those bodies are functional.

[Muddleoftheroad]

8. People looking good

To me, WITHIN REASON, is a good thing. Celebrating that is also good. If you go back far enough, that was part of the Olympic Games.

One of the problems with freedom is not everybody uses it the way any of us would want them to. Some women feel free and wish to enter into these contests either for their ego, money or career advancement. (If you are an actress, winning these contests can probably help.)

I disagree with your comment about being just themselves. Suppose being just themselves entails being in such a contest?

I disagree with your last point. America is fat. We all (self included) eat too much and too many bad things. Celebrating better bodies and healthier bodies is a good thing.

[DIKB]

4. I'm confused.

We're supposed to be outraged that the Muslim population is opposed to the "pop-culture propoganda machine."

I can understand liberals and freethinkers getting upset at this, but your typical neo-cons ? Most are fundamental christians who support a form of belief that makes women little more than property. These people are ignorant of the similarities of their religions. Read Judges 19, and tell me that a similar situation today wouldn't have xtians foaming at the mouth.

I'm tired of their hypocrisy.

I was talking to a conservative about my oppostion to the war, they did the typical brain-washed response "You don't think freeing the Iraqi people was right ?" Considering that a majority of Iraqis are Shiite (Fundie Muslims) strongly opposing westernization ? No I Don't.

It would be akin to a nation coming in removing our leaders (let's not all get happy yet) and forcing our country to allow abortions of all forms, legalizing drugs, and giving all women TRUE equality. In that light, Fundie Xtians would be foaming at the mouth. The methods of oppression are different, <They> have just become more subtle about it, using propaganda, religion, and terms like "partial-birth abortions" to support their agenda.

The methods are different, but at the core, it's the same thing. The same thing is happening here. So tell me why should I be outraged ?

[don jose]

9. its funny how many neo-cons bash Islam for being misogynist

when they are are usually femenist hating, anti-choice males themselves.

[Clark Can WIN]

10. I don't know which is more offensive

The notion that a womans dress (or lack thereof) is anybodys business

Or the notion that a woman must parade in a bikini like a poodle at a dog show to validate herself.

[ScreamingMeemie]

12. Locking

2. The subject line of a discussion thread and the entire text of the message which starts the thread may not include profanity, excessive capitalization, or excessive punctuation. Inflammatory rhetoric should also be avoided.


Thanks,
MrsGrumpy
DU Moderator