Source: The daily Beast
In 1793, 17-year-old Lanah Sawyer was pushed into a brothel and raped by a seemingly respectable man who had taken her for a walk in the streets of New York. In court, her assailant’s attorney said she had basically consented to sex when she agreed to go walking with him, and warned the jury against placing “the life of a citizen in the hands of a woman.” The man was acquitted.
Both parties in this case were white, and the strangeness of the verdict has something to do with a 1765 index to the laws of Maryland: “RAPE: See Negroes.”
What do these facts have in common? They support the notion that rape historically “reinforced the exclusivity of citizenship,” in the words of Estelle Freedman. A professor at Stanford, she’s the author of a new book, Redefining Rape: Sexual Violence in the Era of Suffrage and Segregation, which examines how a culture that historically distrusted both women and blacks conspired to keep both out of lawmaking—a process that has everything to do with definitions of rape.
Interestingly Christianity is not blames for these abuses in Christian countries but Islam is blamed for any abuse in Muslim countiries. Islam gave women right to vote and own property 1400 years ago!
Categories: Americas, United States, Women, Women Rights, Women's right
The comment “Interestingly Christianity is not blames for these abuses in Christian countries but Islam is blamed for any abuse in Muslim countiries. Islam gave women right to vote and own property 1400 years ago!” completely misses the point of this article. The men described here are Christian, even though the author of the article does not explicitly state this. What is discussed here is not religion, but rather the political connotations of rape. When women in the modern age who live in so-called Muslim countries report their crimes, they are imprisoned for fornication or forced to marry their attackers. It is small consolation that Muslim women were granted their rights 1400 years ago when modern Muslim women are routinely deprived of theirs. Who is there to stand up for their rights today? And what does this unjust treatment of rape victims say about the societies where these injustices occur?
A very good point, Khadija sahiba. Unfortunately, despite the rights given to Muslim women over a millenia ago, those rights are still usurped by the so-called upholders of the law who unfortunately are mostly men!
The women who get stoned, whipped and imprisoned in these so-called Muslim countries by fatwa wielding ‘scholars’ (read mullahs), hardly ever see the men involved in these crimes facing similar punishment live alone facing the law.
The world gets the impression that the poor convicted women are solely responsible for their predicament who ‘led’ the men to rape, commit adultery, etc., with them.
Does anyone know of any of these men facing the law like their female counterparts….?!
Dear Raziya and Khadija:
I agree with you that most of the so called Muslim countries our not practicing what is taught by Islam rather following their own barbarian social customs and distorted political agenda.
My point was very specific about the rights of women granted by Islam that is not highlighted by media. Moreover, regardless of the plight of women in Muslim countries you have shining example of Women heads of state in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_political_leaders_in_Islam_and_in_Muslim-majority_countries).
This happened precisely because voting rights were granted to women in Islam and even the weakest Muslim country was positively influence by Islam.
Compare that with the suffrage movement in USA in the early 1900!
What came to my mind is the struggle of Muslim women are going throug in Western countries to wear Hijab in public places. Most of these government relates Hijab to elimination of women rights while it is meant for completely the opposite. These countries have short term memory about the past and hence I thought the article will be a good reminder.
For women the struggle continues and with the Grace of Allah you will find the Jamaat of Imam Mahdi on your side to re-establish the rights of women granted by Islam.