Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Women's Issues / Honor Diaries

Last night, I finally viewed the "Honor Diaries" on Netflix.  It is only one hour in length and presents the views and voices of a variety of women, some Muslim, some Christian from the Middle East, and some Sikh.

The concept of "honor" is explored, especially in "patriarchal" societies.  The honor of a family seems to be deeply connected to the subjugation and conduct of women.  With Sharia law there are expectations for women's decent behavior but they are not clearly spelled out, leaving women exposed to the vagaries of  subjective judgments and unexpected harassment, dangers and punishments.

Girls are married off as child brides, or have no say in choosing a husband. They must stay in the house, they may be deprived of education, employment, normal freedoms and joys.  They suffer female circumcision, acid in the face, threats, intimidation, beatings and are murdered.  The cruelty is astounding and reprehensible.  How can you treat a child or a woman in such fashion?  How can you treat a wife like a slave?

In the name of "Honor".

We keep hearing that so many millions and billions of people are Muslims;  however, we see that many of them are enslaved, especially the women,  It obvious to say that females make up 50% of the population.

Honor Diaries challenges us to stand with these abused women.

This interesting article on BBC about early satiric cartoons in Islam also illustrates what women deal with: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31640643

On Netflix, a recent movie about a girl in Saudi Arabia who would like to ride a bicycle, filmed on location in Saudi Arabia, demonstrates the cruel restrictions placed on women's lives.
It is called "Wadjda".  Wadjda is the name of the 10 year old girl.  She is able to ride a bicycle at the end of the movie, which provides a moment of hope and vision for the future.



I really recommend the movie.  My husband laughed through it, enjoying the girls spirit. I found more to cry about than laugh about.

As a Christian woman, I always feel bewildered by the extremes which abound.  On one hand, we have those who want to radically redefine who and what people are, seemingly hell-bent on abolishing the traditional family, favoring every sexual perversion knowable to man and womankind, and needing to teach every soul about that from Kindergarden on...  On the other hand, we have those who want to repress women sexually, emotionally, vocationally.  They can hardly aspire to anything at all besides bearing male offspring.

There is really only one answer, and it is to promote Christian marriage in the freedom of the Gospel.  We are free to live decently, and honorably, with God's help.   It is for freedom Christ has set us free. Galations 5.







2 comments:

Hildegard said...

Another interesting and thought-provoking post. Thank-you, Brigitte!

Brigitte said...

Thanks Hildegard. It needed work, I noticed and fixed a few things... :)

What goes as "submission" in Islam must really be seen as a prison. May the Lord provide ways out of it. With so much threat of violence and actual violence, in places, you wonder how it can happen. But a film like this can hopefully do good. We should help make sure that it is viewed and discussed.

On the other hand, what Western society, or Hollywood or our Progressives spread is so disdainful to so many people in the world, one can hardly blame them for being incensed. Unfortunately, Christianity gets blamed for this, as if every indecency flows from it. The source of libertinism is, however, really somewhere else.