Obsessive Segregation Is About Misogyny — Not Modesty – Sisterhood Blog (Forward.com)
We need to recognize that the ultra-Orthodox obsession with removing women
from public spaces is in fact an act of systemic violence that is often
accompanied by pointed violence (cursing, spitting, pushing, beating up,
throwing acid and stealing babies, to name a few incidences from the past
2–3 years). This communal compulsion is a threat to women’s physical and
emotional well-being, and goes against the basic tenets of democracy,
humanity, and even Torah.
Yes, the Torah tells us that all human beings (men
AND women) were created in His Divine image and deserve dignity and respect.
What really irritates me, though, is the language used to defend the
segregation. I would like to see the media and others stop referring to
gender segregation as an act “for purposes of religious modesty”, as the
Jerusalem
Post did this week, for example. The idea that a woman sitting at the front bus is “immodest” implies that a woman who dares to be seen in public is acting sexually, intentionally trying to arouse the men around her. This issue is not about “modesty,” but about misogyny. Obsessive segregation is an agenda created by men who see all women — young or old, rich or poor, fat or thin, educated or uneducated — as ineligible for a place in the front of the bus by virtue of their sex. This obsession is not religiousness. It is, in fact, an abomination.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
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