Quote of the Day:
Unfortunately, liberal feminists pick and choose which types of violence against women are worthy of this studiously nonpartisan approach.
–Ayaan Hirsi Ali in today's New York Post
The MeToo Movement has, as Ayaan Hirsi Ali observes in this morning's New York Post, cut across party lines. It has taken down powerful men who abused women.
Unfortunately, it refuses to confront some forms of violence against women. Which ones? Hirsi Ali writes:
For example, female genital mutilation, forced marriage and honor violence seem not to be considered egregious enough to be taken up by the broader women’s movement. Instead, these barbaric violations of human rights don’t make it onto progressives’ radar. Rather, they’re excused or ignored by feminists because the perpetrators inflicting the violence tend to have brown skin.
If it were a tradition among white men to remove the genitals of girls and sew their vaginas shut, we can assume the women’s movement would suddenly take an interest. FGM is intended to make sex less pleasurable for women and to impose patriarchal norms about purity and virginity on their bodies. If we can call out the patriarchy in the influential, high-paid, glamorous world of media and entertainment, why on earth aren’t we calling it out when it is being violently imposed between the legs of little girls?
The right of women and girls to be free of abuse has been sacrificed at the altar of political correctness.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali's concerns are particularly timely as the Violence Against Women Act is up for renewal. Wouldn't it be good if VAWA put more emphasis on violence against women through genital mutilation and forced marriages?
Read the entire article.