http://www.newenglishreview.org/custpage.cfm?frm=5495&sec_id=5495Why are Western women sympathetic to Islam? Why are we not repulsed by an ideology that classes us as inferior, that could have married us off at nine, that allows our husbands to beat us and our three co-wives, and would have us stoned to death for “adultery” even when this results from rape? I can understand – barely – the attraction of Islam for Western men, particularly those who are not keen on
uppity women{
}. But for women?
It defies common sense.
Women and girls unfortunate enough to live under Islamic law, or even in nominally secular countries where Islam holds sway, have little choice but to submit to their fate. To speak out against it is to invite at best ostracism and at worst honour killing. However, in the West, in the free world, where the individual is valued and where women are starting to attain something resembling equal rights, we do have a choice, and a duty to exercise our freedom responsibly. For Western women, the only rational response to Islam should be revulsion, with a smattering of contempt and mockery. Fear, lest this ideology come to power, is also rational. But respect, even tolerance, for Islam, is irresponsible and dangerous. Western women who freely embrace Islam, or who speak favourably of it are misguided or wilfully ignorant and occasionally wicked. I call these women dozy bints.
Dozy bints do matter. They make Islam seem like a harmless diversion. Perhaps, for them, it is. Like Marie Antoinette playing shepherdess, they can stop at any time. But for every Western woman who claims that she wears the niqab out of free choice, there are thousands of women in Muslim countries whom this choice insults, and who would throw off their “portable seclusion” in an instant if they could. Islam is not a harmless diversion. It is the most retrograde force on earth and a serious threat to Western civilisation. For women, in particular, opting for Islam is like a turkey voting for Christmas. It is not a game, and in the defence of our civilisation there is no place for the dozy bint.