Tag Archives: Middle East

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It’s Only Blood

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HeadscarvesAndHymens_smHEADSCARVES AND HYMENS: WHY THE MIDDLE EAST NEEDS A SEXUAL REVOLUTION
Mona Eltahawy
Hachette, April 2015, RRP $29.99

It’s hard to not be struck by the universality of sexism and sexual abuse while reading Headscarves and Hymens, a snapshot of sexual politics in the Middle East. Eltahawy paints a picture that is all too familiar. Women mustn’t travel alone, or even walk the streets, for their own “protection”. Wives who are beaten by husbands are asked, “What did you do to provoke him?” And it seems that women everywhere walk the tightrope between purity and wantonness, virgin and slut. You’ll be judged for what you wear, and blamed for provoking any abuse you experience.

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The Scandinavian Wit

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KILLING HOPEkill

Blum, William (Common Courage Press, updated edition October 2008, ISBN 978-1567512526)

In 2009, President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” [1]

Many thought the prize undeserved – on the grounds that Obama appeared too much the enemy of peace. Had he won it, they asked, for prosecuting a war in Afghanistan? Or instead for his proposal to expand the United States military? Or for his plan to send “at least” two additional American combat brigades to Afghanistan? Continue reading

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