No Burqa, thank you

After reading 1000 Splendid Suns, I’m more thankful than ever for my female freedoms! The book – by Khaled Hosseini, author of Kiterunner – followed a couple of Afghani families through the 50s till present-day. This encompassed the Afghan government in the 1970s, then the Soviet occupation of Aghanistan in the 1980s, the  Mujahideen resistance to the Soviets (which splintered and caused  civil war), and the  guerrilla group the Taliban in the 90s (Muslim extremists backed by Pakistan.)

I mean, I’ve always been a fan of Title 9, having played college soccer. But it’s unthinkable that in today’s modern world, some (fundamental interpretations of) religions force women to cover their face. During Taliban rule early this century,  Afghani women couldn’t work, couldn’t leave home without a male escort or burqa (a mesh gridded headwrap), faced stoning to death for adultery, couldn’t refuse their husbands sex….etc.

It was a novel, of course. The main characters, Mariam and Laila, got to taste a morsel of female freedom (if not equality) during Soviet-backed rule, but then it was whisked away. Their husband punched them, kicked them, raped them, ripped their hair out, sent Laila’s daughter to an orphanage, stuck a gun in Laila’s throat, not to mention the mental abuse. Then Mariam was sentenced to execution by Kalashnikov when she murdered Rasheed (husband) in self defense.

The biggest shocker is that these monstrosities are happening in this age, over the same years I’ve been playing soccer, going to school, wearing short shorts, merrily contemplating a career…Meanwhile, halfway across the world women are being denied basic human rights and civil liberties in a society that allows barbaric behavior in the name of GOD!?!?!? How can any lucid being not see the pure insanity of that reasoning? Ok – my rant is over.