Tag Archives: islam

Women On Afghan TV Told To Wear “Less Makeup, More Veil”

Jessica WakemanFebruary 16, 2012 //
Killed For Baby Girl
baby girl photo
An Afghan woman was killed for bearing a baby girl. Read More »
Today's Lady News
Today's Lady News
An Afghani rape victim has been ordered to be released. Read More »
Abuse Victims
abused woman photo
NGOs estimate 90 percent of Afghan women are victims of abuse. Read More »
TV presenter photo

Your daily reminder that as screwed up as our government’s attempts to control women’s bodies is sometimes, it could be worse: female TV presenters in Afghanistan have been warned by the government to lay off the makeup and wear veils more frequently. The Information & Cultural Ministry asked TV networks to require women to wear a veil and forgo “dense makeup” in respect to “Islamic and Afghan values.” The ministry was reportedly pressured to make this advisement by a council of Islamic religious scholars. The continued policing and controlling of women’s bodies is just another example of how misogyny is still very much afoot in Afghanistan. [AFP]

Finding God In A Vibrator

Jessica WakemanDecember 30, 2011 //
Mind Of Man: Sex Toys
mind of man photo
John DeVore bought a sex toy ... almost. Read More »
Utensil Or Sex Toy?
Quiz: Sex Toy Or Kitchen Utensil?
See if you can tell which is a sex toy and which is a kitchen utensil! 34 Photos »
Scary Sex Toys
We're pretty liberal, but some of these sex toys are intimidating. 10 Photos »
WTF XMas Sex Toys
XMas Tuggie
Christmas-themed sex toys! 18 Photos »
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I once spent a 4th of July weekend with about 15 hardcore evangelical Christians. (Ex-Mr. Jessica’s sister was a born-again.) Explaining to some of the women what kind of website I write for proved to be awkward. But when I told one woman that The Frisky was similar to Cosmopolitan magazine, she exclaimed, “Oh, I read that!”

“Really?” I asked. “Isn’t it a little … uh … raunchy?”

She laughed. “Oh, I just flip past all the shirtless guys and stuff about sex.”

Then what part of the magazine do you actually read? I thought to myself.

That conversation popped into my head again when I saw this article on The Daily Beast about religious websites selling sex toys and the horrifying — not being hyperbolic here — opening story about a Christian woman who was married for 25 years before she finally bought a vibrator and had her first orgasm. Praise be! Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: Saudi Arabian Women Can Vote Or Run For Office Without Male Approval In 2015

Jessica WakemanDecember 29, 2011 //
  • Saudi women will be able to vote and run for office without a male guardian’s approval in 2015, an official has announced. Women in Saudi Arabia require a male guardian’s permission — usually a father, brother or husband — to work, travel, study abroad, and marry, along with numerous other activities. Some see King Abdullah’s recent support of giving more rights to Saudi women as a slow sign of progress. [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]
  • Argentina’s president Christina Fernandez de Kirchner has thyroid cancer and will take 20 days off in January for surgery and recuperation. [BBC]
  • Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tops the list of most admired women in the world, according to a Gallup poll. Clinton is followed by Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama, Sarah Palin, and Condoleezza Rice, respectively. [New York Times] Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: Italy Wants To Ban The Burqa

Jessica WakemanAugust 2, 2011 //
  • It will be illegal to wear the burqa and other face-covering Muslim veils in public if a new bill can get the support of Italy’s Parliament. A draft version of the law has already been approved. Face-covering Muslim veils have already been banned in France and Belgium. [BBC]
  • A “boat club” in Illinois plans to hold a vote on admitting women as members. You let us know what it feels like to join 2011, okay, boys? [Chicago Tribune]
  • NBC claims their new show “The Playboy Club” is all about empowerment. Look, NBC. I’m going to watch your show. It looks fun. But let’s not kid ourselves here, OK? [The Hollywood Reporter]

Keep reading »

Saudi Woman Challenges Her Dad Over Male Guardianship Law

Jessica WakemanJuly 5, 2011 //

Imagine that you could not travel or go to school without your dad’s permission. You need him, your brother, or a male driver to take you anywhere you want to go in a car. He even has a say in who you get to marry.

This is life under Saudi Arabia‘s guardianship law — a combination of the legal code and religious doctrine within the kingdom. Men have guardianship over the unmarried women in their families, which usually means a father is guardian to his daughter (but in his absence, a son or uncle can fill in). When a woman marries, the guardianship switches over to her husband. Even when Saudi women are no longer minors, they are still treated like children in the eyes of the law.

One woman is trying to change all that: a 43-old-old doctor, going by the pseudonym “Samia” in press reports, is challenging her father’s guardianship in the Saudi Supreme Court. Keep reading »

Muslim Beauty Pageant Contestant Katya Koren Stoned To Death

Jessica WakemanJune 2, 2011 //

Katya Koren, a 19-year-old contestant in the Miss Ukraine beauty pageant, was found stoned to death in a forest this week. Police are not clear on who killed her, but the main suspect is a mentally unstable 16-year-old boy who confessed to killing Koren, a Muslim, for violating sharia law by participating in pageants. The boy was possibly a “stalker” who was “obsessed” with Katya Koren and may have raped her before killing her. Other reports say that Katya Koren was stoned to death by a whole group of Muslims enacting sharia law. According to the UK’s Telegraph newspaper, enacting sharia law in that part of the Ukraine is rare.

It’s incredibly sad in either case. But as someone who is extremely critical and unsupportive of beauty pageants, I just wanted to note that something I scoff at in America is, in other parts of the world, a freedom that I take for granted.

[Telegraph UK]
[Daily Mail UK] Keep reading »

Saudi Women Plan Major Protest Of Driving Ban On June 17

Jessica WakemanMay 24, 2011 //

On June 17, women in Saudi Arabia are planning a protest of the country’s ban on women drivers en masse by getting behind the wheel. Women in Saudi Arabia are forced to rely on male relatives or male drivers to get anywhere by car, and are not allowed to travel outside the country without a male relative’s permission or to vote. The Women2Drive campaign, which is gaining support through a Facebook group called “I will drive starting June 17,” will be an act of civil disobedience that could perhaps lead to a sea change of women’s rights in the Saudi kingdom. According to The New York Times, the protest will not have a centralized location. Women with valid drivers’ licenses from other countries are asked to get behind the wheel of their car, put on their seat belts, and drive around, going about their usual day. If they are able to, women are asked to film themselves driving and upload the video to YouTube. Keep reading »

France’s Ban On Face-Covering Muslim Veils Goes Into Effect

Jessica WakemanApril 12, 2011 //

France‘s ban on face-covering Muslim veils, like the niqab and the burqa, took effect yesterday. French citizens and tourists alike will be fined $215 for covering their faces in public or they must attend a class on French citizenship. Anyone who forced a woman to wear a veil in public faces a year in prison and a $43,000 fine — and fines are steeper if the person being forced to wear a veil is a minor. Muslim students are already banned from wearing headscarves in classrooms.

At least two women were taken in by police yesterday for daring to cover their faces with Islamic veils in public and a 27-year-old woman received the country’s first-ever fine for wearing a veil. Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: Hijab-Wearing Muslim Girl In NY Assaulted By A Classmate

Jessica WakemanMarch 31, 2011 //
  • A Muslim girl on Staten Island in New York was shoved, punched, kicked and had her hijab (headscarf) nearly pulled off by a 12-year-old classmate, , reportedly because of her religion. The young boy had allegedly been harassing her for months and has been charged with a hate crime, which is a felony. People, this boy is IN THE SIXTH GRADE. [Gothamist, Staten Island Advance]
  • The New York Times has published a follow-up piece to the victim-blaming crapshow it ran earlier this month about an 11-year-old girl in Cleveland, Texas, who was gang raped by 19 boys and men. The editors and/or reporter felt it necessary to mention that the girl wore makeup and dressed like she was older than 11. Let’s hope this one is a bit better? [New York Times]
  • Controversial writer/public intellectual Katie Roiphe asks, Is Tina Fey good for feminism? Uh oh, we’ve had this argument before. [Slate]
  • The Gossip’s Beth Ditto says Miss Piggy is one of her favorite feminist heroes. LOVE! [Aux.TV]

Keep reading »

Al Qaeda Launches A Jihad Cosmo-Esque Magazine

Julie GersteinMarch 14, 2011 //
Muslim Women Discriminated Against
Today's Lady News
A bus driver refused to drive women wearing Muslim veils. Read More »

What do the fashionable jihadists of the world read? Why, Al Qaeda’s “Cosmo-style” (that’s Fashionista’s words, not ours) ladymag Al-Shamikha, which means “majestic woman.” The glossy 30-page magazine boasts interviews with martyrs’ wives, beauty advice on how to keep skin clear (not surprisingly, that boils down to “staying inside with your face covered”), and helpful hints for single ladies trying to score a “mujahideen,” or Muslim fighter. Keep reading »

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