Pakistani Bikini

Recently the president of Iran mentioned there is no homosexuality in Iran. I am not sure about Persian, but in Arabic there is no word for homosexual.

And the reason is that it is the norm. Sexual and gender relationships are beyond twisted in the Lands of Islam—and not in a cool way. Homosexuals are lashed and executed. While at the same time male sexual abuse is common, and in places like Afghanistan male homosexuality openly rampant.

There is guilt, repression, misogyny and sexual activity for which there is shame, but no name.

Last year I discussed this in the context of a woman from Pakistan who won a beauty pageant.

President Ahmadinejad has made that old post timely.

Here is Pakistani Bikini:

Islamabad is formally taking up the matter of Mariah Moten with the Chinese government. They are distressed to no end that last week in a pageant in China she was crowned “Miss Bikini Universe.” The problem is Miss Moten was wearing a ceremonial strap with “Pakistan” inscribed on it. She is a twenty-two year old Pakistani citizen currently living in Houston.

Culture Minister Spokesman Chaudhry Hafeez said the situation was “shameful” and rhetorically asked,” How can somebody use Pakistan’s name in such a contest?”

The government controlled newspaper commented, “In Pakistani culture, there is a tradition of cattle shows only, whereas women are connected with respect and honor of the family.”

Likewise some of the Muslim bloggers are getting all jihad about it. One guy commented “The firepower and obscene wealth of the West was going to be a liberating force for women. However, the honorable women of Afghanistan and Pakistan have not stripped their veils for the miniskirt. In frustration, the media attempted to kick start the process of ‘liberation’ by parading a semi-nude Pakistani woman in a human cattle market i.e. a beauty contest.”

So I guess the issue is whether it is the hijab or the bikini which liberates women.

On first glance, if you are a traditional feminist, the rant against beauty pageants might stir a sympathetic chord in your breast. Of course if you said “breast” in their ideal society, you’d be beaten with a cane for daring to suggest that such an anatomical object exists.

But I digress. In answer to this hilarious commentary, if one must compare anything, it would be the traditional selling of the female to prospective buyers—oh I mean grooms—via a male relative who most likely described her feminine attributes, propounds on her fine feminine abilities such as cooking, cleaning and taking care of the home.

What Mr. Hafeez and company object to is not the selling of a woman’s body in such a manner—but the idea that it is “semi-nude” and not done by her closest male relative—as this somehow implies respectability.

I am going to get to what is really bothering him in a second. But do take note how he tries to sell his idea by subscribing them to women’s rights and protection against objectification-- as if this does not exist in a “real” Islamic society. And this ploy finds a receptive audience in the Left and feminist enclaves—where Orwellian twists of words are part of the daily ritual—and if it smacks of anti-Americanism it must be true.

The real problem is that in the Muslim World women’s sexuality and social independence represent major threats to male supremacy and are tightly controlled. Men and women are taught to be vehemently opposed to pleasure—especially of the sexual variety. Men are raised to not only not touch women—but to even look at them. Sex before marriage is not just a sin—but a criminal offense—punished by a severe beating at best—execution at worst.

Moroccan feminist Fitna Sabbah says in her book Woman in the Muslim Unconscious there is a disturbing conflict in the lands of Islam between sexual libido and repression. Socially segregated from women—Arab men succumb to homosexual behavior. But, interestingly enough, there is not a word for “homosexual” in their culture in the modern Western sense. This is because having pre-marital sex with boys or effeminate men is seen as the norm.

There is silence around the issue. It is this silence which legitimizes sexual violence against women—such as honor killings and female circumcision. It is this silence which also forces the Arab boys into invisibility. But even though their society does not see their sexual exploitation as being humiliating—these psychological scars are a given. Traumatized by the violation of their dignity and manliness they spend the rest of their lives trying to get it back.

The problem is that trying to recover from sexual abuse and recover one’s own shattered masculinity is quite an ordeal in a culture where women are hated and love is not suppose to be a factor.

The idea of love is removed from men’s understanding of sexuality. The essence of Muslim masculinity is reduced to hurting others by violence—just as they were victimized. In relations with women no harmony, equality or affection is allowed to exist. And in relationships with other men affection, solidarity and empathy are left out of the picture—because they threaten the hyper-masculine order of things.

It is excruciating to imagine the sexual confusion and repression of these men. But it is no surprise they find their only avenue for gratification in the act of humiliating a foreign “enemy”—whose masculinity must be violated—again—just as theirs was.

I have commented from time to time that my Muslim sisters may be the best hope for their society. You might think this proposition sounds preposterous. But look—one Muslim woman can precipitate an Islamic International crisis simply by wearing a bikini.