“A circular from the Ministry of Islamic Guidance and Culture in Tehran asks TV editors to make sure that women's games are not televised live: ‘Images of women engaged in contests [sic] must be carefully vetted," says the letter, leaked in Tehran. 'Editors must take care to prevent viewers from being confronted [sic] with uncovered parts of the female anatomy in contests.’”
I’d much rather understand people than to negate their beliefs. This is a path I have been on for many years. That sort of logic troubles some people, usually the very same people that would negate another’s belief. “It aint easy understandin.’”
Understanding the behaviors of others makes it easier to cope with the differences and not be fearful of the differences. When we fear differences we defend ourselves from loss, a loss of our own beliefs. To cling to beliefs that we do not understand is an indifference to our Self, our very core Being. We can never completely know ourselves thru doctrines and cultural taboos. Religions and philosophies will never know us like we can know ourselves. Laws cannot be made to know ourselves.
"Fear of Muslim viewers seeing bare female legs and arms on television is also shared by theologians in several Arab states. Sheik Yussuf al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian theologian based in Qatar, claims that female sport is exploited as a means of undermining ‘divine morality’."
I find this belief to be baseless. It only serves to “keep the wimmen barefoot and pregnant.” The only “divine morality” that is undermined is the highly inflated ego of the male that practices this belief, and that can hardly be called “divine morality.”
Divine is a beautiful word... in English, anyway. I don’t know what Arabic word is used for “divine”...and I should before I go any further. But this practice is not so much aimed at women, but the ‘other’ male that may be competition to the offended male. Have the wives and daughters clothed in such a way that another male cannot tell if the woman/girl is happy or sad, beautiful or friendly... clues of attraction that are natural. Beauty is an attractant that is not dangerous, but good. There should be no threat, unless of course, the one attracted is of less-than-desirable quality. That would pose a problem. However, the majority of males that see a woman and is attracted to her beauty, her hair, her butt sashaying, her legs, her hands... these are as valid to view as a beautiful sunset, a forest of pines glistening with the drops from a fresh rain, the movement and play of clouds in the morning sky... a work of art, a song that holds your attention all the way through....
Oppress this gift and you repress a natural instinct, the attraction to beauty. Another instinct arrested and jailed by laws written by those that are fearful and enforced by those who are oppressed. This is a real “fear of God” that goes to the extreme. The woman so clothed has the freedom to view the male, to experience that natural instinct of attraction. The overwhelming majority never follow beyond the initial attraction, but just enjoy the little buzz it gave them... a little fire set under their being to take the mind off the daily mundanity. The women enjoy the experience, but the male...? “God forbid!”
“The question how much of a woman's body could be seen in public is one of the two or three most important issues that have dominated theological debate in Islam for decades," says Mohsen Sahabi, a Muslim historian.’"More time and energy is devoted to this issue than to economic development or scientific research.’ "
Some cultures are so sex fearful that it inhibits their growth. They remain in a realm of denial. These men that preach these beliefs are fearful themselves, fearful of their own feelings, and they see this in other men. It has become common, acceptable behavior, even for the women to completely cover their bodies in front of men. Even the poor women cannot trust the men in their own neighborhoods, not even their own tribes. Likewise this distrust is among their fellow men. Trust must be vacant in these environments. They pray five times daily. This must get their minds off of women. It gives the women a break, too. They do not have to worry about the men when the men are in deep prayer. It takes everyone’s minds off of sex... even for a little while is good.
Obsession of anything leads to dis-ease. Obsessed people are sick people. They have been repressing their natural instincts for so long that they confuse natural instincts with obsessive behavior. What once was a beautiful thing now becomes a fearful thing... beauty turns into the beast and fear becomes the focus. Still attracted to that one something, the obsessed now sees that ‘thing’ as something negative... the beast that scares the obsessed, but yet the attraction still pulls at him...each closer inch and the fear increases... closer and closer he gets, the larger and larger the beast becomes, and the fear increases. “God save me from the Beast!”
“Hijab theoreticians agree on one claim: a woman's hair emanates dangerous rays that could drive men wild with sexual lust and thus undermine social peace.”
I having been a male all my life have never seen social peace undermined by a woman’s hair. Maybe it is a fault of mine. First I look at the hair. True, some men look at the purse, but I see the hair. If I happen to see a woman’s hair that I am particularly attracted to, my next look (depending upon how close I am...), is the face followed by centering on her eyes. If I am at a good distance from the one I am attracted to, I may look at her ass, but if she is facing me, I look to see if her legs are covered. A woman’s legs are a pleasant attractant, even if they are filling the thigh area of the pants they are wearing. So are her breasts... pushing outwards from her t-shirt or blouse is a nice thing to notice in a woman. Having never been repressed from these things, I have a healthy attitude towards appreciating the beauty of the woman.
It would be another situation, however, if all my life I was told or reminded that I could not look at a woman. Even more oppressing – not even seeing a woman’s body. I think I might have a fear for what is under all that garb that other men do not want me to see. If they don’t want me to see a woman’s body, then maybe a woman’s body is something that shouldn’t be seen. I’d pray many times a day to alleviate this fear. When I was of the age to take on a wife, I may very well continue to carry this fear with me and the marriage would be built upon fear of her. The wife remains but an object, just like the women on the streets – clothed from head to toe so other men can never see the wife or daughter of another man. And, please, don’t talk to them... it may undermine the social peace.
“Some theologians claim that any form of sporting activity by women produces "sinful consequences." In 2000, for example, the Khomeinist authorities in Tehran announced a ban on women riding bicycles or motorcycles. The rationale? Riding bicycles or motorcycles would activate a woman's thighs and legs, thus arousing "uncontrollable lustful drives" in her. And men watching women on their bikes in the streets could be "led towards dangerous urges’."
What is apparently meant is “led towards sexual urges.” Those damn sexual urges just can’t be controlled! Every man may become a voyeur at best and a rapist at worst. No man can control these dangerous urges. Seeing a woman pedal a bike is enough to drive any healthy heterosexual man to the brink of the dangerous! And if she is wearing pedal pushers... whoa! Madness is sure to ensue.
This is what can happen when our natural instincts are repressed. It becomes a sickness. Women the world over have ridden or do ride bikes. This is not something the majority of the world considers dangerous. The danger lies in the repression of the innocence of the instinct signaling attraction. This is the power of fanaticism controlling men and women. “More time and energy is devoted to this issue than to economic development or scientific research” ...! The social price for attempting to control women.
I was engaged in a conversation with my mate the other night when she said “The world will never be free until all women are free.” Aside from any puns or jokes, this is certainly true. We must all, men and women, be free in order to experience divine love. When you are in love you have no cause to fear, no reason to suppress, nothing but a joy and bliss alive within and an outpouring to others of the same. Oppression or repression would stifle and choke this love, and who is foolish enough to try and kill this divine gift? The madman that would attempt to, is the very man that needs to find this love within. He is desperate for it... mad for it... he tries to materialize it so he can grab it and run away and hold it for himself. His madness cannot see the real beauty and he has no attraction. Alone and feeling unwanted, the madman fears his mind and this fear is manifested to the world around him. He becomes dangerous, dangerous in defending himself from his own fears, he obsesses about love, but it is intangible at that point. Only those in touch with their own being can help... compassion can dissolve the fear and help the obsessed with their pain... return ease to their being.
Although it is a great assist, law cannot make freedom. Freedom must be wanted by oneself; it cannot be demanded from others. It is only the climate of freedom that can give the seed of love the will to live and thrive. From this love all things can be possible, all fears will dissipate, and all potential can be realized.
“Last year, the Tehran Municipality presented a plan to provide sports facilities for women. It proposed amendments to 37 laws and ordinances that discriminate against women. It also unveiled a plan to develop women-only sports grounds. A model stadium was set up with 12-foot-high walls to make sure that no one could see the women from the outside. The stadium was to operate with an all-female staff, including coaches and administrators.
“The plan was scrapped last February, when critics claimed that the proposed stadium was located close enough to an airport that women in the stadium might be seen by men flying above them in jetliners and helicopters.”
Does Nature have the patience to wait for humanity to grow up? Can humanity find humor in their foolishness? Nature must surely have a sense of humor to bring life to a species such as us.
[note: all quotes taken from http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedc ... /18656.htm]
cecil
03 Oct 04
<center>A Thorny Situation
[cecil's golden barrel cactus]</center>
It is indeed 
I agree with your "negation of the pliable non self...", for we must be pliable as our imaginations to sculpt our being into "the image of god"... wholly attuned. 
