Howard burns his bra

In the August issue of The Monthly, Robert Manne ponders the mutual distrust between the Islamic world and the West, and the Muslim immigrants to the West caught between the two. He remarks:

"It is not uncommon for conservatives such as Jon Howard or Peter Coleman, not conspicuous in other contexts as defenders of feminism or women's rights, to express outrage at the supposedly patriarchal nature of traditional Islam."

Manne isn't alone in noticing this paradoxical behaviour. My mum's just pointed out a press release over at the UTS Web site, quoting a lecture by academic Dr Christina Ho:

"Conservative politicians and commentators are suddenly defending women's rights because this has become a way of articulating an anti-Muslim nationalism. According to this logic, Islam is a misogynistic religion that oppresses women. Muslim women are oppressed by being 'forced' to wear the hijab and supposedly confined to the home, while non-Muslim women are oppressed by Muslim men who rape and harass them."

I think Howard's recent rumblings about Muslim misogyny are a coded reference to the high-profile Sydney pack rape trials of 2001, which involved a gang of Lebanese-Australian youths. Racists in the media seized on the crimes as proof that young Muslim men were programmed by their culture to rape White women. This idea falls down in the face of the facts as reported by the NSW Rape Crisis Centre at the time: Women are being led to believe that if they stay clear of Middle Eastern men, they will be safe. But the harsh reality is, young men are congregating after the footy, after the cricket, after a surf, at weekend parties. The Centre explained that Lebanese pack rapists were also targetting Lebanese women, but that "Anglo-Saxon" pack rapists were the most common in Sydney, "simply because there are more of them". (Notoriously, one of the Muslim-bashing journalists was caught lying.)

There's enough conflict between Muslim and Western societies without leaders on both sides trying to convince us that we're natural enemies. There are real conflicts that have got to be worked through - we don't need any more crap piled on.

Glossary of mad terms

Does anyone else make up words to describe aspects of their mental illness? (I'll add more as I remember them.)

feeding the beast - indulging a hypomanic obsession. (wondermaze, hem hem.)

Foot, the - overwhelming drowsiness. An antidepressant side effect. [From the giant foot that ends the Monty Python opening credits.]

sparklies - the dizzying feeling of a mild electrical discharge inside the skull. Associated with fatigue? Another side effect.

sunset crash - teary, irritable mood around dinnertime. Possibly related to blood glucose.

Bric a Brac

Links that have patiently waited ages for me to post them.

A really lovely review of YOIT.

One of my favourite sets of icons, ever: _sciocco's Christmas Invasion icons. Eughjahvr nsiej!

drhoz's Role-Playing motivational posters. And something else you should see.

Proof there is a bunny in the video for Nick 'n' Kylie's Where The Wild Roses Grow.

Hilarious Star Trek icons by Echo.

That rarest and most precious of rare and precious things: a good fanvid. Short, pacy, witty, cut to the beat.