Many governments that sign up to treaties such as CEDAW face resistance from conservatives at home.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Loudspeaker Plan for Oxford Mosque Not Popular
Jan 14th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Neighbours think it might be a tad noisy and intrusive. And theological.… Read the rest
Gina Khan Interview Part 4
Jan 14th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Inayat Bunglawala is a good example of what I mean by the extreme version of Islam.… Read the rest
Gina Khan Interview Part 3
Jan 14th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Islamists would disable half the body of Islam by reversing the rights of women.… Read the rest
Steven Pinker on the Moral Instinct
Jan 14th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Who is most moral: Mother Teresa, Bill Gates, or Norman Borlaug?… Read the rest
Gina Khan Interview Part 2
Jan 14th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The first time my husband slapped me after I questioned him he said ”Don’t question my authority – in our religion you are not allowed. I’m your husband.’… Read the rest
Westminster Journal Interviews Gina Khan
Jan 14th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Pain figures in the lives of many Muslim women because of accepted Muslim social practices. … Read the rest
Fauziya Kassindja ran away
Jan 13th, 2008 3:50 pm | By Ophelia BensonKpalime, Togo, 1997: Hajia Zuwera Kassindja apologized to her late husband’s cousin, the patriarch of his family, for having helped her daughter Fauziya run away to America to escape having her genitals cut off. She had given her daughter nearly all of her money to run away.
”What the mother did pains me a lot,” the patriarch, Mouhamadou Kassindja, said in a scolding tone…”She is my brother’s wife. It is for me to take care of my brother’s child since he is no longer alive. She acted as though the child were hers. She and the child made the laws. That is why the child did not want to follow the customs.”
She acted as though the child were hers … Read the rest
The Huckster’s Artful Dodging on Evolution
Jan 13th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
It is unacceptable for a presidential candidate to advocate a clearly unconstitutional educational policy.… Read the rest
Defiant Levant Republishes Motoons
Jan 13th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Syed Soharwardy of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada filed a complaint.… Read the rest
Ezra Levant to Alberta Human Rights Commission
Jan 13th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The commission is acting as a censor. That’s human rights?… Read the rest
Blasphemy Laws on the Skids
Jan 13th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Archbishop of Canterbury will not oppose abolition.… Read the rest
Children Baptised for Sake of School Place
Jan 13th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘A great compliment from the community at large to the quality of the Catholic school system.’… Read the rest
Sighting hate
Jan 13th, 2008 11:40 am | By Ophelia BensonSyed Soharwardy tells us why last year.
Syed B. Soharwardy today filed two formal complaints with the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission against the publishers of Jewish Free Press and the Western Standards for sighting hate against Muslims. After filing the complaints, he spoke with the media and said that this is a first step towards putting an end towards the hateful and non-Canadian attitude.
Yeah good idea – put an end to the hateful attitude, and do it by force; that’s always a good plan. I don’t like hateful attitudes myself, so I’m glad they’re all going to be put an end to.
… Read the restSyed Soharwardy thanked the mainstream Canadian Media for protecting the freedom of the press with
Mohanty, Nussbaum, MacKinnon
Jan 12th, 2008 12:21 pm | By Ophelia BensonHere’s a sampling of the wonderful and famous “Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses” for your delectation. I have to tell you – it’s kack. Read that and then read a page of Martha Nussbaum – for instance her essay ‘Judging Other Cultures: the Case of Female Genital Mutilation’ which I just read this morning; or read a page of Susan Moller Okin or Catharine MacKinnon or Katha Pollitt – and you will see a difference. Mohanty is all pretension and extended jargon-mongering; the others are clear (without necessarily being easy, much less dumbed down) and precise and specific. Mohanty is not really trying to argue a case (if she were, she would do it in a different … Read the rest
The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief
Jan 12th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
By Tom Flynn (editor), Richard Dawkins (foreword).… Read the rest
Ben Goldacre on Clinical Trials
Jan 12th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
You can’t change your mind about what you’re counting as your main outcome after you’ve finished and the results are in.… Read the rest
Why Ratzinger is the Pope and Jesus is Not
Jan 12th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Ratzinger has such clever ideas.… Read the rest
Jesus and Mo on How Fallible Humans Know
Jan 12th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A moment of infallibility does the trick.… Read the rest
Spate of Executions and Amputations in Iran
Jan 12th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Judicial authorities amputated the right hands and left feet of five convicted robbers this week.… Read the rest