On Race, Sex, Gang Rape, and Slut-Baiting (Or: Why FrontPage.com Is A Mountain of Fascist Pus-Ridden Poop)

Now...there are quite a few things that really piss me off about the looniness of the Far Right; such as how they use the language of equality and "equal rights" to justify laws and actions that do their best to undermine those lofty concepts; or how they have this magnificant gift of selling their BS political theories as if they were the common people defending themselves from the big, bad, evil "liberal elite" (while all along cashing in their 401Ks and leveraged buyouts; OR how they are so capable of preening themselves as representatives of the "victims" of society..despite relying as their base on the upper 25% of the most privileged White male fundamentalist Christian folk in this country (and being funded by the 1% who control almost 98% of all the wealth in this country).

But never in my wildest dreams would I suspect that these fascist asshats...ahhhhh, I mean, these fine young conservative activists for all things right, proper, and American...could stoop so low as to mock the suffering of a victim of a violent crime.

Well..never until yesterday, when I came across one of the vilest pieces of "journalistic opinion" this side of the White Citizens Council....and while I really hesitated putting this on this blog, the ultimate depravity and wretchedness of this essay is more than deserving of absolute disgust.

I'm sure that you have heard all the stories about the horrific alleged gang rape and assault at Duke University, where the entire lacrosse team (all White save for one Black member who happened to have the good sense to be absent, and all male) allegedly forced themselves (as in brutally raped, sodomized, and physically assaulted) one of two female strippers whom they paid to entertain them at a frat party just outside their campus. (For the record, the woman that was attacked was Black; the other woman was White; she was merely verbally abused.) From the evidence gathered so far, the two women were paid to perform a typical strip tease for the "guys", but decided to pull out when the "guys" got a bit too physical with them and peppered them with racial insults. The women threatened to leave and were about to, when some of the "men" decided to take matters into their own hands. The resulting brohaha (with DNA tests pending on all the team members present; the entire team suspended and the coach fired; and the university taking heat from all sides) has launched a firestorm of debate over not just the climate of racism, male sexual agressiveness, and rape at Duke, but the overall issue of respect for women in general, Black women in particular, and especially, sex workers who run the risk of being targets of such attacks every day.

But while the potential for direct physical assaults are bad enough, the social stigma placed on such women as somehow deserving of their fate because of their chosen profession can be, if anything, that much worse....and Black women who happen to be sex workers face the additional stigma of their skin color to boot. The old right-wing racist myth of Black women as super-sexed nymphs who are useful only as objects to be used and thrown away (and the collorary myth of Black men as hypersexed animals who exist only to hunt down women with their penises) still afflict much of popular Rightist opinion and nature....even though such mythologies have long been proven false.

Try to keep in mind that fact while browsing through the following essay on the Duke calamity which was posted to the "conservative" online journal FrontPage.com last week. Could be really hard, though, considering the rotten stench of raw sewage mixed with that tinge of old-style lynching fluid that flows through that entire article.

A warning for all you progressives in advance: I apologize if anyone is offended by my posting the full text of the article here, since many other sources (such as Kevin at Slant Truth, Bitch Lab, and Feministe have already dissected this piece of turd article without having to endure reading through it fully..or even linking it. However, this crap is so definitive in its evil and its total loopiness that only a full and complete fisking can do it the justice it deserves.

So, here we go....time to break out the Gallon of SmackDog Whupass. The original article appears in italics within the blockquotes; my annotation follows as needed.

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Guilty 'Til Proven Innocent

By David Yeagley
FrontPageMagazine.com April 4, 2006

It’s racism at Duke, all right. Racism against white students. Members of the Duke University Lacrosse team may have abused a black party girl, but, without any proof or trial, the Duke Lacrosse team was punished by the university, suspended from further games. So terrified was the administration of being charged with “racism.” The black female wins again. She is truly an ace on the field and in court.

Hmmmm..right off the football bat, we get the usual right-wing "poor oppressed White folks" card off the top of the deck...as if the attack didn't occur at one of the wealthiest Catholic liberal arts universities in North Carolina (if not the South). And how about the notion that the guys "may have abused a (B)lack party girl"...as if the author had private access to the DNA tests which somehow prove that she wasn't raped or assaulted.

Now, imagine if the assault had occured across town at the very public, very working-class, and predominately Black North Carolina Central University (also in Durham, NC), where members of the NCCU football team or band had assaulted....errrrrrrr, allegedly....two White girls in the same way. I'm real sure that the good folks of FrontPage.com would have opined the same caution about presumed innocence in that case, too. Yeah, right....this is the same site that gives up the intellectualism of Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, and Dennis Praeger...would you expect anything less???

Naturally, the name of the black girl has not been released – appropriate if she is a rape victim, inappropriate if she is engaging in scurrilous race-baiting. The reports say the woman is a divorced, 27-year-old “mother” of two, attending North Carolina Central University. She is not a person of note, and is said to do exotic dancing as a side job to pick up extra cash.

Obviously, (I'm attempting to read Mr. Yeagley's mind here) such a evil anti-White (because only those who really hate White people en masse attend historically Black colleges and universities) "hoochie mama" 'ho slut (and I'm guessing that Mr. Y must be personally wondering what she is still doing in college at the age of 27, which simply proves that she must be such a failure if she's stripping for a living) must be doing the bidding of Tawana Brawley and making all this rape shit up so that she can get paid off the largeese of Duke University and still get laid by the manly men of the Duke lacrosse team...and of course, no woman who flashes her tits and ass for any man other than the special person who uses her as an human incubator should ever be refered to as a mom without the airquotes of mocking disapproval. Unless, obviously, it's for Mr. Y's personal entertainment, I guess.

The entire Duke Lacrosse team and the university may have been severely maligned on all sides. The alleged incident occurred March 13, but as of Sunday, April 2, no charges have been filed against anyone. One report says 46 of the 47 members of the team were required to submit DNA for testing. (The black member of the team, of course, was exempted, since the accuser says she was attacked by white males.)

OK..so how long does it usually take in typical rape cases (especially those involviing gang rape) for charges to be filed or investigations to be held?? And if the "guys" were quickly indicted and charged within a week, would that have made much of a difference in Mr. Y's opinion that, in the immortal words of Justice Clarence Thomas, "The bitch [Anita Hill] set me up"???

BTW..further adding to the "malignment" is the release by The Smoking Gun website of an email by one of the alleged assailants basically promoting the affair as basically one great snuff party where the "bitches" would be killed and skinned alive....but, thank Goddess, not raped. I wonder what our intrepid bigot...ahhhh, I mean, conservative journalist would think of that, too.

The story, as reported in the papers, indicates either profound social retardation on the part of the black “dancer,” or else irrationality on the part of racist-oriented reporters.

Indeed..because only self-hating commie-lib Whites and politically motivated Blacks would ever believe the word of a stupid nig--- ....sorry, a mentally disturbed Black 'ho over such Godly, wholesome, decent men such as these.

Or, to put it a bit more accurately....only a bunch of whiny, bullying Klan-supporting privileged asshats would believe this crap that these "young guys" were totally innocent...but since that happens to be the sole political base and the main demographic of "conservative" screeds like FrontPage.com, why the hell not say it like we think it???

There were two women involved, one apparently white (whose name also remains unrevealed), and the other black. Police got a call from the black woman who claimed she had been yelled at by some guy in the rented quasi-frat house of the Lacrosse team. She and her companion nevertheless went back to the house to “dance,” expecting, they say, four or five college boys to be there. Idiotic mistake No. 1.

Gee...you'd think that Yeagley assumes that the women were actually out there not as dancers but as full blown prostitutes looking for clients??? Or does he think that all "dancers" who dress their way should be assumed to drive men to rape and sexual assault??? And why would they not assume that only five men instead of forty would be there...because all 40 were there hollering at them??? But it's all their fault for not being prepared to give it up...so never mind!!!

Then, she says, the two women were suddenly surrounded by 40-some boys, all coughing up racial epithets—presumably at the black woman. (Remember, she’s a 27-year-old-mother. Some of the team members are under twenty-one, else how could any of them have been charged with under-aged drinking?) The women then say they were so upset and frightened that they left the house.

Then, “helplessly,” the two women went back! Idiotic mistake No. 2.

Some guy on the porch “coaxed” them back, after which time they claim the black woman was abused. So far, there are no witnesses. (So, what happened to the other woman?)

I don't know, Mr. Y....maybe the guys didn't think that the White woman was good enough to assault??? Or perhaps there was a bit to much racial hatred going on that they decided to focus their anger and delayed lust on the Black woman, perhaps???

Notice, though, that somehow the other (White) woman's occupation and age doesn't seem to matter much to Mr, Y...perhaps a bit of projecting of his racist beliefs?? Or a bit of relief that she wasn't attacked as the Black woman was??

Two weeks later, the team was suspended from games. The team captains say that the DNA testing will prove that all the members are innocent. This, of course, if true, will mean that it was either an easy set up for the women, or else the fervor of youthful hormones blinded everyone. In the heat of passion, well-ignited before the girls even showed up, there may have been some rough-housing. That should have been a serious tip-off. Of course, a 27-year-old mother of two certainly must have more sense than a drunken 19-year-old, no? However, our nameless victim showed less maturity than a six-year-old.

Hold on a sec...last paragraph ago, you were criticizing BOTH of them for stupidity for returning to the scene of the crime after being harassed initially...now you go and focus your blame exclusivly on the Black woman for her alleged "inmaturity" dealing with obviously drunk frat guys??? Gee, why isn't her accomplice equally stupid for returning with her...is she less of a "slut"?? Or perhaps she's less stupid because she happens to be....well..White?!?!?! Who writes your copies, Yeagley...David Duke???

All the racial issues in this story are moot. This is a tale of stupidity on the part of two women, particularly the black woman.


Black advocates are trying to play the racist element to the hilt. Rayone Bland, a black divinity student at Duke, thinks it’s that superiority complex of the rich whites. “So being told ‘No’ for the first time, I mean, is mind-blowing for them,” he observes.

Yup...you can't even have a decent lynching anymore without those damn "Black advocates" getting in the way.

If a rape occurred, it is inexcusable, regardless of the race of the victim or perpetrators. However, all the indications raise serious questions about this situation – and the racial hyperventilating makes the case even muddier.

Nice qualifier there: "If a rape occured..." It really does give a nice colorblind sheen to mask the stench of bigotry and presumption that this is only an evil Black urban legend invented by liberal-communist-Whitehaters to embarass Whites for political gain.

So, that black woman said, “No,” eh? First, she’s in a profession where she’s expected to do tricks for clients. Second, she’s walking into a house full of young, drunken athletes, who happen to be white. Third, she called the police and complained once; then she went back, but then left. And then she went back again! That’s a peculiar way of saying “No,” it seems to me. These racist black people just want a role model victim, with mistreatment wreaked upon the weakest of the weak: the black woman. All she has to do is cry, “rape by white male!” and she rules the world.

Weak? How about “strong” – as in a strong manipulator?

Uhhh..hello, Earth calling Astro-Bigot Asshat Yeardley?!?!? First off, the women were there to take their clothes off and dance, not to have sex with any of them...last time I checked, erotic dancers did not do prostitution as part of their work. (At least, not publically; some may do such on the side privately.) But beyond that point, one of the basic principles of common decency is the simple rule that once a woman says "NO", the action ceases immediately...and you kinda forgot that the guys didn't quite take her "NO" seriously..they GRABBED HER AGAINST HER WILL AND RAPED HER, YOU FU&KHEAD!!!! Being drunk is one thing; being drunk and forcing yourself on a woman against her will is something altogether different...and my guess is that this was a bit more than just "raging hormones" mixed with alcohol, since if they were so stoned, they would have attacked both of them.

Sorry, Mr. Y, but this looks like a deliberate sexual lynching of a Black woman who just so happened to be a stripper at the wrong place at the wrong time....and all this pile of shit that is your column does is to dump on her and anyone who has a shred of decency to defend her.

But she had to have the money, right? She just has to feed those children, pay that tuition, rent, car payment, and books. She’s not on welfare, scholarship, or assistance of any kind? Well, whatever she does receive may not cover her expenses. That’s quite possible.

But, exotic dancing—and then to cry “abuse”? This may be pushing victimhood beyond reason.

Translation here: Of course, she didn't need the money...the stupid bitch could have gone ahead and worked for sub-minimum wage or married a nice, Christian Black man who would give her a decent security for the price of being a human baby factory for Jesus (but not too much, though... us White folks gotta keep our majority!!) That she chose to prostitute herself is definitive proof that she got exactly what she deserved...and she's just using White guilt to get paid.

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Such is the sick, sick mind of a unreformed racist pig....the same mindset where the likes of Rush Limbaugh can publically and without (remorse utter his smack about Al Sharpton wanting some "Black 'ho" action at Duke...or, in a slightly related item, Michelle Malkin can break out her official "race card" for Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney for the sin of defending herself against a Capitol security officer who tried to stop her from entering her workplace (Capitol Hill); or "libertarian" radio talk-show host Neal Boortz describing McKinney's decidedly kinky hairstyle as looking like a "ghetto slut"....and so on ad infinitum.


There is a special place in Hell prepared for these "conservative citizens"....and as far as this Black man is concerned, all of them can just take a long trip down a short plank into a steep cliff right down into the abyss straight there..and I do hope that the demons are there to give them the same treatment that this poor woman suffered through.


Memo to all rapists and their right-wing anti-sex wingnut fascist enablers: Kindly make like your boss Dick Cheney and fuck off. Your existence on this earth is a waste of good DNA.

And there's no qualifying "allegedly" here, either.

K (Gently) Bitch-Slaps 'Dog...Details at 10

Right off the bat, my Red Burqa take gets the business from Bitch | Lab: here, I will respond and rebut in kind (that is, with the same love and respect):

bitchlab Says:

April 3rd, 2006 at 5:23 pm
@ Anthony

Oh. Well. There are a lot of issues going on, but real quick:

Do you think that women in blue states should run around steroetyping everyone who lives in poverty in the deep south as the epitomy of what it means to be oppressed?

In other words, would someone in NYC be “cool” if she had an advertisement of a woman symbolically portrayed as southern white trash, laying splayed on the floor beaten, a man over her slinging a beer can in one hand and a clenched fist coming down on her again. Text reads:

Women of the Blue States unite, this is what your fate will be like if you don’t unite against sexism in the Blue states. This is what your government is turning into: the guy in the wife beater tee-shirt and you will be the black and blew trailer trollop getting slugged.

—-

Acknowledged and so noted, Miz Bitch...but still, I don't really think that that was the goal of TennGW to smear Arab women or Muslims..it was to raise interest to the basic notion of women's rights under attack here in the US of A. I do cede that the use of the burqa is well over the line and pretty uncool..but that does not erase the stated goal of those who support anti-abortion and other anti-sex laws in the US, which is to reduce women in the US to third class citizens.

Of course, the sensibilities of Arab Muslim women who do resist the more misogynic and brutal laws and customs of their governments while retaining their right to express their religious beliefs should always be respected..and I am totally in favor of Islamic feminists who attempt to emphasize the more progressive elements in Islam (as I would any attempt from within to transform an institution into something more humane and equal.

My point here, however, is that it's one thing to criticize the misplaced sensibilities of TennGW's ad from a perspective of winning over other groups of women..it's something else to excessively bash them as racist, elitist, and White supremacists for their apparent lack of sensibility to Islamic women. For them, the context is to defend women's rights here in the US, not to reach out to Islamic women as part of the greater world feminist movement. That's hardly what I'd call "Western imperialism" in any way.

Besides...how many of those professed "Islamic feminists" would be willing to openly support the goals and objectives of groups like TennGW in supporting reproductive rights for women...or would that be too "Western" and "imperialistic" and "elitist" for their conservative sensibilities?? As to use your analogy, not all red-state women are or should be cracked on as "White trash" (and that would definitely be a serious example of class and race bigotry)...but the fact remains that many red-state women do indeed reject openly and defiantly the progressive agenda assumed in "blue-state" feminism. Do thier sensibilities have to come before the principles of defending the freedom of women who are under assault from the broader Right..the same Right to which those same red-state women continue to support with their votes??

Similarly, just because there may be a few Islamic feminist women who use the burqa as a means of challenging Islam from within does not erase the basic fact that the majority of those women who defend the burqa tend to be staunch traditionalists (if not fundamentalists) who would reject even the most basic of feminist theory as "gender feminists" and who would ally with the most reactionary forces to maintain their privileges. Should attempts to win these people over trump basic defense of the most fundamental rights of equality here???

[/Bitchlab]
Completely silent are the voices of women in red states. Women in red states are positioned as having no feminist consciousness, as having no agency whatsoever, as being — effectively — incapable of speaking.

Now, thrown in there a scenario where it’s racial stereotyping of southern poor black women and men.

That’s what people are on about.

It comes — at least I assume — from deconstructive readings of imperialist feminism made by the likes of Gayatri Spivak, Mohanty, and others.

No one says you must ask permission.

They DO say: can’t y’all be a little less fucked up about they way you choose to represent those “brown Others”?

It’s a complicated issue, and arguing against the misappropriation of symbols from other cultures — demonizing as much if not more than the US govt has already — is wrong is not the same thing as saying, “Oh yeah, your religion is like so totally cool.” [/BL]

That is more than fair, especially in the current situation...that's the very reason why my critique of them is based on principles of radical anti-imperialism and internationalism rather than mere cracking down on their religion. Just because Islam may be the only institution in th Middle East that is opposing US interventionism in the Middle East does not take away or cancel out legitimate criticism of their base conservative social mores...any more than it would with Judaism or Christianity or any other organized religion which uses the power of the state to enforce their rules.

To make it all hit home, what happens when feminists in blue states tell women in red states that their lives totally suck? A lot of those women say, “You know what, fuck you, you elitist snobs. Im’ sick of you assholes stereotyping us. I’m sick of you mocking our language. I m sick of you making fun of our culture, our food, our mores as somehow low class.”

And the possiblities of actually building a women’s movement that sees our liberation as bound up with their’s, as pithy as that is, kind of falls by the way side as some variants of feminism literally encourage women to side with the very things we on about, defending it and their identies against assaults from people who send off the vibe that they really do think they are incredibly superior to your ass.

Bad juju.

Again, Miz Bitch, so noted and acknowledged. But..I would say that the better way of engaging those who may not agree with our principles is NOT to suck up to their conservative values to the point of undermining progressive values; we've had enough of that with the DLC and the antiporn feminist movement (and what good that has done, too). A much better way is to use the ideas of full equality and respect for difference and diversity, combined with a focus on the institutions and foundational theories that generate and enforce inequality and injustice, to win over those suspectable to right-wing populist ideas to a more humane agenda. And I'm not just talking about just a women's movement, either; I'm talking about a radical movement against all inequal institutions.

Before we can tackle the world, though, let's first address the struggle here in the US, where much of the battles will have to be fought, since here where is the bulkwark of world imperialism and White supremacy and reactionary social policy resides.

Not to say that TennGW wasn't overstepping it a bit..but the reaction just made it that much worse.

That's only my view...to each his or her own.

:-)

The TennGW "Red Burqa" Brohaha: Whose Cultural Imperialism???

Well, what an interesting weekend this has been in the blogosphere...

First, there is the smackdown going on between Browninfempower (BiF) of WOC Blog and DarkDaughta of One Tenacious Baby Mama over the ongoing Women of Color Carnivals and how more sexually radical women are (or aren't) being represented within the larger movement...and a few others have gotten into the fracus...

..and now, we have this nice poopstorm brewing over an ad posted by a women's group called the Tennessee Guerilla Women using the Muslim burqa as a symbolic campaign against repressive anti-abortion and anti-sex laws against women in the US.

I'll save my comments on the former for another time..but the latter issue has me tied in knots due to my real misgivings over the fundamental issues raised.

Depending upon whomever you read amongst the feminist community, the TennGW "Red Burqa" campaign is either a brilliant stroke of "shock and awe" against the continuing attempt to roll back basic freedoms for women...or a gratituous and racist (as in "White Western elitist") putdown of Islam and Islamic women who choose to defend that particular choice of covering as part of their stated beliefs...not to mention totaly wrong headed at a time when "the West" is assaulting Islamic nations as part of the "War on Terror".

Now, I can respect -- and even to a point concur with -- the arguments of those like BiF and Liza at culturekitchen hat say that using the burqa as a symbol of all that oppresses women does indeed ignore the context of the current anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bigotry that has undercut general Middle East politics and cultural debate throughout. And I can see just as clearly how it ignores the issue of how some Arab and Islamic women do defend (if not embrace) the hijab and the burqa as a symbol of their religious beliefs..even in resistance to the more fundamentalist, misogynistic forms of Islam practiced in many countries.

However...there are a few issues that force me to seperate myself a bit from that view.

To begin...let's explain the context of TennGW's campaign one more time, shall we?? It is NOT directed towards women in Iraq or Afghanistan or even Arab or Muslim women; it is directed towards women IN AMERICA who are indeed being threatened with the loss of basic American freedoms by the dominant ruling fundamentalist Right....who indeed openly state their preferred vision of covering up women that is quite similar to the fundamentalist Islamic concept of "burqas". Here's my first question: How in the holy hell is that in any way "cultural imperialism" or in any way a slam against Islamic women???

Please riddle me this: How does resisting laws proposed in Tennessee (and passed in South Dakota) outlawing a woman's right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy (even one conceived against her will) represent "bigoted, racist, imperialist feminism" ??? I guess that "Islamic feminism" is considered more superior, more radical, more "feminist", then, than more traditional liberal/progressive, "Western" ideas of female sexual autonomy and individual choice, then?? That's the only conclusion I can come to after seeing this snippet of opposition to the TennGW ad from Liza at culturekitchen:

With this Red Burka campaign, you can see why they feel so estranged from American feminism.

In truth, I'd feel more comfortable describing this CafePress moment as one of utter stupidity wrapped in the ignorance and lack of cultural awareness that is typical of the privileged. I've always said that gringos of all kinds have the privilege of not having to learn about other people's culture because American Empire needs its citizens to remain culturally clueless so it can spread like a virus far and wide.

Ahhh...pardon me, Liza...but since when did American women have to get approval from "Islamic feminists" to justify their basic rights as citizens to control their own bodies??? That some Islamic women may justify the burqa as their own symbol of feminist resistance from within Islam is their right and perogative, and all progressives should respect their position and give them the respect they deserve...but how does that relate to opposing restrictive laws here in the United States?? The fact remains that whether or not some women do accept the burqa, it remains a symbol of exactly the type of restrictive and punitive sexual code that is being imposed on many Arab women against their stated will in many areas. To label these women who do resist such a restrictive code as "imperialist Western elitists" is no less overgeneralizing and scapegoating than labeling all Islamic people (or all Arabs) as "terrorists" or "Islamic fundamentalists"...and, coming from people whom I assume would oppose restrictions on women's freedoms, simply smacks of the same elitism that they throw like so much cowchips at the TennGW group.

Second point: It is so amazing to see how much some feminists and Leftists still can't see the forest for the trees when it comes to conflating critiques of Islam as a social belief system with "racism" or "cultural imperialism"...as if conservative Islam has replaced Communism and/or antiglobalization as the new progressive social movement against "Western imperialism". It's one thing to oppose the brutal and genocidal occupation of Iraq and the US/Israeli occupation of Palestine on general internationalist, antiimperialist and human decency grounds; it's quite another thing altogether to embrace an "enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend" approach and blindly
ignore the more reactionary context of what Islam as a conservative institutionalized religion stands for. And before you drop the "anti-Muslim" card on me, my critique of Islam is based upon their status as an organized religion, in the same form that I would criticize equally Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Confucianism (sp?) or any other organized religion that uses the power of the State to impose restrictive and reactionary social views on other people.

In fact, I feel that those who are so quick to embrace "progressive Islam" as the next great Left movement (just like those who embraced liberation theology or other fad religious "progressive movements") tend to ignore the structural bases of social repression in which MOST or ALL such movements tend to stand on...most of which are based fundamentally upon the second-class status of women and the full regulation if not total abolition of sexuality outside of the bounds of procreative marriage. There really is not that much difference between the Religious (Christian) Right's advocacy of restrictions on women's sexuality and the Islamic one..in fact, in many cases, Christian and Islamic fundamentalists will set aside their differences and unite together against the common shared threat of sexual liberation and sexual freedom that they say "feminism" (and homosexuality as well) represents.

It's almost as if those who are so quick to drop the "Western imperialist" card on others who don't embrace "progressive Islam" or "progressive Christianity" or other attempts to reconcile conservative social/sexual views with economic radicalism really are willing to impose their own conservative sexual biases on other, less "enlightened" women. Talk about a pot-to-kettle moment.

Now, this isn't to say that Islamic people aren't under attack from a brutal and aggressive form of White supremacy...far from it. The bombs are still dropping freely in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Occupied Territories (and are about to spread to Iran as well) and the underpinnings of simple White racism against any non-White person who gets in the way of the Imperial Guard is clear as day. But that's the exact point....it is crass anti-Arab racism, not anti-Islamic thought, that ultimately lays the foundation for the violence and war there..Islam is only a symptom for the real disease of capitalism, inequality, and racism.

As tempting it may be to embrace Islam tourt court as the basis of resistance; as genuine Leftist sex radicals and secularist progresssives, we have to remain consistent in our insistence that while we respect the rights of individuals to express their personal faiths in whatever nonviolent way they wish, that does not give them the carte blanche to demonize those who choose to explore themselves otherwise.

The best that we as American progressives can do to help the Iraqis and Arabs (including those Muslim feminists who could use some real support) is to do our part to change the policies of our own government to end this imperialistic occupation and get our asses OUT of there ASAP....and then allow local forces to take over from there. After all our government has done to fuck things up, we have no moral standing to lecture anyone -- let alone Muslims -- on their actions.

In the meantime, we here in the United States of America have more than enough battles in our own plate to fight, and retaining basic rights of individual autonomy for women is one of the most important battles we face. The TennGW folks may have been a bit over the top with their Red Burka campaign....but they are a far, far cry from being anywhere near racist, imperialist, or elitist for their intentions. Rather than drown them with our own myopias and biases, why not support them with your time and money, and actually help them roll back the crusades of the Right here at home?? With all due respect to feminists within Islam, we have our own rights to take care of, too.


Of course, Kelley at Bitch | Lab is all over this topic, too..in fact, she's made it a central pillar of her "F*ck Feminists" week...