Introducing The Naomi Wolf Award
For too long, extraordinary feats of feminist moral blindness have gone unrecognized. But now, those dark days are finally over.
Today, I am pleased to introduce The Naomi Wolf Award, affectionately known as The Howler.
The award bears the name of author Naomi Wolf, a third wave feminist who provoked a blogospheric kerfuffle last year with her impassioned paean to the Muslim veil. After frolicking through a Moroccan bazaar in a headscarf she was under no obligation to wear, Wolf declared, “I felt a novel sense of calm and serenity. I felt, yes, in certain ways, free.”
The Naomi Wolf Award recognizes the failure of feminist commentators to identify Muslim veils, particularly the burqa and the niqab, as powerful symbols of extremist ideology and instruments of subjugation. Nominees will be judged on their use of the rhetoric of freedom and choice to justify these emblems of Islamic gender apartheid.
So without further ado, the inaugural Howler goes to … Jill Filipovic, editor of Feministe, for her analysis of the French parliament’s proposed ban on veils:
Summary: I think it’s silly, an affront to basic freedoms, and ultimately more damaging to the women it claims to protect. Now France is at it again, trying to ban the wearing in public of any item of clothing that covers your face. The law is clearly targeted at French Muslims and Muslim immigrants.
I understand that many people perceive the burqa, or any full-body covering, as a symbol of female submission. Heck, I perceive the stereotypical conservative Christian floor-length denim or flowery dress the same way, so I get it. I don’t have much love lost for any religious tradition that insists the female body is inherently sinful and must be covered.
But my personal opinions on fashion and the female form, and which religious (or irreligious) path I choose to follow? Not great foundations for legally limiting the rights of others.
Jill’s observations are the depraved spawn of cultural relativism and moral equivalence. There is no parallel between the dehumanizing burqa and a modest “flowery dress.”
She flippantly crams the burqa into the “freedom of choice” category, treating it as a mere article of clothing rather than a prison spun from the threads of tyranny, coercion, and oppression. Implicit in her writing is the question, “”But what about women who choose to wear the burqa?”
As long as the status quo on Islamic gender roles remains in place, as long as the fear of death and disfigurement looms large, there can be no meaningful choice for women. The burqa represents the very antithesis of liberty, free will, and equality, a fact Jill willfully neglects as she pays lip service to freedom and rights.
And so, in recognition of the convoluted mental gymnastics required to twist a partial burqa ban into something more harmful to women than the burqa itself, I hereby present Jill Filipovic with her first Howler award.
Congratulations, Jill, it’s well-deserved.
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Follow Jenn Q. Public on Twitter and read more of her work at JennQPublic.com.
Feminists are pro-prostitution. Slave rags are about taking pride in one's perpetual prostitute status. I see no inconsistency there. Women are objects to be sold and raped to both feminists and Mohammedans. It's really that simple. Of course Mohammedan women are by definition and without exception prostitutes under threat of death and have no choice in who their john will be, and that they acquire this status at one day old. That's feminism, baby!
Good pick for the award. Can anyone forget that women were beaten on the streets of Afghanistan by any Taliban man if her nails were painted or her high heel shoe was seen or made a noise under the oppresive burka. That women are owned and controlled by muslim men. There is nothing free about it and the women of Iran, threw them off until the shah was over thrown and they were forced once again to cover themselves. Nancy Pelosi also looked comfortable wearing her scarf when meeting with the terrorist Bashar Assad in syria! These women wouldn't understand the loss of freedom because they are progressive idiots who would trade freedom to let the government take care of us all! Very Good Article!
if you ever give a man an honorary Howler, can it be Barack Obama? his promise during the Cairo speech to "ensure the right of Muslim women to wear the hijab" is certainly deserving of this award.
Unfortunately, Howlers will not be awarded retroactively. But perhaps President Obama will manage to qualify during his next world apology tour.
I push for the "Burqa" award for leftist boneheads, but the Naomi Wolf Award, The Howler is
dead on. One of the greatest shames in the existance of the family of man is the detestible
treatment of women in the Muslim culture. There is no geting around it, no hiding it and only
through leftist insanity can it be unseen. The hideous conduct of these people should be
put in their face every day, please continue with this exposure,………..Thank You, William
Naomi Wolf pleaded for the Muslim world to attack America
======================
Dear world, please confront America
http://dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=...
By Naomi Wolf
First Published: August 1, 2009
Is it possible to fall out of love with your own country? For two years, I, like many Americans, have been focused intently on documenting, exposing, and alerting the nation to the Bush administration’s criminality and its assault on the Constitution and the rule of law — a story often marginalized at home. I was certain that when Americans knew what was being done in their name, they would react with horror and outrage.
Three months ago, the Bush administration still clung to its devil’s sound bite, “We don’t torture.” Now, Doctors Without Borders has issued its report documenting American-held detainees’ traumas, and even lie detector tests confirm they have been tortured. The Red Cross report has leaked: torture and war crimes. Jane Mayer’s impeccably researched exposé “The Dark Side” just hit the stores: torture, crafted and directed from the top.
The Washington Post gave readers actual video footage of the abusive interrogation of a Canadian minor, Omar Khadr, who was seen showing his still-bleeding abdominal wounds, weeping and pleading with his captors.
So the truth is out and freely available. And America is still napping, worrying about its weight, and hanging out at the mall.
(snip… see link for the whole thing)
==================================
Bonus find:
Veiled sexuality
http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?Articl...
By Naomi Wolf
First Published: August 31, 2008
begin portion
I experienced it myself. I put on a shalwar kameez and a headscarf in Morocco for a trip to the bazaar. Yes, some of the warmth I encountered was probably from the novelty of seeing a Westerner so clothed; but, as I moved about the market — the curve of my breasts covered, the shape of my legs obscured, my long hair not flying about me — I felt a novel sense of calm and serenity. I felt, yes, in certain ways, free.
Nor are Muslim women alone. The Western Christian tradition portrays all sexuality, even married sexuality, as sinful. Islam and Judaism never had that same kind of mind-body split. So, in both cultures, sexuality channeled into marriage and family life is seen as a source of great blessing, sanctioned by God.
end portion
Such a poisoned pen must have been paid forby those who are subverting America for
reasons that need to be understood. If only we could water board Naomi Wolf.
"Heck, I perceive the stereotypical conservative Christian floor-length denim or flowery dress the same way, so I get it."
The "floor length denim" was an invention of the "hippy generation" of the 60s who was a product of the rebelious left. They also adopted the floor length "flowery dresses" calling them "granny gowns". Doesn't she even know where she came from? These people are just propaganda generators. They don't even understand themselves let alone everyone else.
Denim skirts and flowery dresses = burqa? I am not getting it…..once again Alice in Wonderland!
I thought the burqa was being banned for security reasons. It makes it much easier for someone to enter a place and blow it up, when they're completely covered.