Soraya Chemaly: A Message to Girls About Religious Men Who Fear You

Fear lives in the shadows of our hearts. It’s easy to exist there, close to the ground, so you don’t have far to fall. Courage gives us the strength to stand up and warm ourselves in the sun.

Remember the Rule: Be good to others; try to not be afraid.

Soraya Chemaly: A Message to Girls About Religious Men Who Fear You.

4 Responses to "Soraya Chemaly: A Message to Girls About Religious Men Who Fear You"

Lamar says:

May 22, 2012 at 9:20 pm

DID you read that article? I thought the whole thing was female chauvinist. But then I would expect nothing less from a feminist. The basis of the whole article was the standard men are evil women are wonderful nonsense.
If boys play on a girls team its wrong, but if girls play on a boys team its good. I’m getting tiered of this feminist double standard.

Reply
1. CJ says:
  
  May 22, 2012 at 9:55 pm
  
  Seems to me that the article was about a class of people (in this case men…often men hiding behind the skirts of religion) subjugating another class of people (in this case women) because of a desire to hold onto power. It’s about restricting freedom and opportunity on objectively flimsy arguments. If you substitute other class referents (race, ethnicity, wealth, stars on belly, etc.), the attempt to perpetuate and justify an arbitrary inequality still holds.
  
  I get it. Parity sucks for those who were reaping the benefits of inequality. There’s a desire to maintain the status quo. But if we’re being honest with ourselves, those atop the proverbial food chain have to ask the question of whether they are in the right or are simply proclaiming the right? Much more often than not, the answer is the latter.
  
  Reply
Lamar says:

May 22, 2012 at 9:30 pm

Here, this didn’t take long.

“In Massachusetts, feminist opposition to boys participation on girls sports teams has raged for months.”
http://antifeministsite.blogspot.com/2012/02/title-ix-and-feminism-in-sports.html

Like I said – feminist double standard.

Reply
1. CJ says:
  
  May 22, 2012 at 10:20 pm
  
  This isn’t a new battle. Back when Title IX still had that new-law smell, some males managed to get onto girls/womens squads, often in field hockey (yes, they did have to wear the skirts as it was part of the uniform). Since then, it’s more likely they will be excluded. It is a double standard. While I understand it, I do often object to it. One gender is supposed to be allowed access to the sports of the opposite gender if there are no options for same-gender participation in that sport.
  
  Arguments are made on the grounds of potential sexual incidents or of males being generally stronger/larger than females. While the first is no different than actually living in the world, the second does warrant some consideration. After all, transsexual females (i.e. male to female) are usually required to be on female hormones for at least two years before they can be considered eligible. The standard for exclusion is based on trying to maintain fairness in the face of biological inequality. This issue of competitive fairness generally doesn’t come up for females wanting to play on a male squad. In fact, it goes in the opposite direction…that the female isn’t sufficiently strong/large to make the team in the first place. (That some force the issue to replace a male who did objectively qualify for the team is heinous.)
  
  So, legally, I’m on the side of the boys playing on the girls team. In terms of fairness, I’m much less certain. There is little doubt that this could be quickly abused. E.g. a state has no HS boys swim team. Boys now try out for the girls swim team and all make it because of biology — they are stronger propelling themselves through the water than the girls are. Now other all-girl teams are at a disadvantage as they are competing against a boys team. Other teams try to level the playing field and in the course of a couple of years the girls swim teams have no girls on them, just boys.
  
  Yes, that’s an extreme and absurd example, but one that demonstrates what a tricky business this competitive advantage aspect is when it comes to fairness. Sometimes it’s simply an unpleasant fact of life that you don’t get to have everything you want. I wanted to play volleyball in HS but there was no boys volleyball–and I wasn’t willing to go to court to try to have my way (these cases were just beginning to be tested at that time).
  
  There are a lot of competing issues at play with Title IX. Football, the proverbial elephant in the room, affects a lot of it because of the amount of resources it takes without there being a female equivalent to balance the scales of fairness. Often the victims are the males who’d rather play sports other than football. We’ve been arguing about these issues for about four decades now. While there have been a lot of improvement, there is still a lot of work yet to do so that girls AND boys get to have their fair share of the pie.
  
  Reply

Soraya Chemaly: A Message to Girls About Religious Men Who Fear You

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