Zafir Posted June 8, 2006 If ever one wanted to illustrate the cultural chasm between western and Muslim worlds, this is how. In Britain, newspapers and magazines publish special supplements telling women how to manipulate their partners during the World Cup, by requesting £500 Mulberry handbags during a penalty shoot-out. While in Iran, women have been banned from entering football stadiums because it is decreed un-Islamic to look at the naked legs and arms of male strangers. Even - oh, even - if they took no pleasure from the sight. So there it is in black and white: handbags or hijabs; a metaphor for gruesome decadence on one hand, and repression on the other; and how disturbing it is that spoiled western women take their freedoms so lightly when other women are so discriminated against. Yet are the differences really so great? In both worlds, it is clear, women are patronised and face barriers - both real and cultural - to stop them entering a male preserve. Source Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
