The Heart of the Problem, We Agree

In today's W. Post Book World, Anne Applebaum reviews a new book, "Infidel," by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali woman who escaped an arranged forced marriage by getting asylum in Holland and eventually becoming a member of the Dutch parliament.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/01/AR2007020102307.html

According to Applebaum, along the way Hirsi Ali concluded, as I did several years ago while teaching at Mount Vernon College, that "the mistreatment of women is not an incidental problem in the Muslim world, a side issue that can be dealt with once the more important
political problems are out of the way. Rather, she believes that the enslavement of women lies at the heart of all of the most fanatical interpretations of Islam, creating 'a culture that generates more backwardness with every generation.' "

Hirsi Ali had helped Theodore Van Gogh make the movie about Muslim women for which he was killed by an angry, I would say deranged, Muslim radical.

Applebaum goes on to say that "Thanks to this belief in female equality, Hirsi Ali now requires permanent bodyguards."

Personally, I see the enslavement of women as also lying at the heart of Christian fundamentalism and believe we are just lucky that they don't hold enough power in the areas of the world they dominate to be able to oppress most women quite as much, although there are many who are. If you don't believe me, think about the Mormon polygamist sects in our very own West, as just one example. And if you don't know about that, read "Under the Banner of Heaven."

In any event, I hope I don't need a bodyguard for agreeing with Hirsi Ali.