Fatima contacted the BBC World Service citizen journalism project, Your Story, because she wanted to share her experiences of sexual abuse growing up within a strict Muslim family in Abu Dhabi.

She suffered many years of abuse before she finally told her mother what had been going on.

Fatima is now 26. She lives in the United States of America where she has just been given asylum and citizenship after establishing that she would be in danger if she returned to her home country.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7966086.stm



Yeah, the premise is "We love our women so much and we men are so prone to temptation that... we'll cover up our women and keep them on a very short lea... we'll keep them close at all times." If that truly were the case, maybe men should not have any rights without a woman present; they might give into their temptation otherwise! It seems rather convenient for men that their defect is what allows them to control women. It almost even seems self-serving. But what do I know?

But don't try to pretend that Christianity is very progressive in terms of women's rights either: it may be in practice, but life for Christian women would be pretty lousy if the Bible were followed to the letter.

Keep in mind these are all New Testament passages, so these haven't been officially swept under the rug.

I Timothy 2:11-14

Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.

Ephesians 5:22-24

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

I Corinthians 11:8-9 KJV

For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.

I Corinthians 11:4-7

Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven. For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.

I Corinthians 14:34-35

Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.

thoughts?