Modesty Doctrine and Men

I've linked Sierra before and she's another one that I should just have in my blog roll. Or perhaps I should get busy with that link page I've mumbled about before.

Any way, before I get to the link, reading her post reminded me of another conversation I had with my son.

We were at the orientation for his college and some young Muslim girl made some sort of sign toward him that seemed positive and could have been a flirt. Neither of us were sure.

At least we think she was Muslim since she was dark complected and had her head covered with a scarf. On our way home from the orientation we were talking about it and it came up, why do (some) Muslim women cover their heads.

While I knew that I didn't have all the answers nor was I trying to say that this particular girl covered her head for this reason, the conversation did go in the direction of the modesty thing. So I mentioned where, in some places women are covered from head to toe, including face, because they are more or less held responsible for the sexual sins in men.

My son didn't like this. So I mentioned that in some countries women are even held responsible and punished for their own rapes.

The flash of fury in my son's eyes was one of the most rewarding things I saw that day. He could see the injustice of such things and was, in fact, incredulous that such attitudes towards women existed anywhere. It's in moments like these that I know that, as a parent, I'm not a total failure.

Anyway, enough about me and my son. Here's the link to Sierra's blog post:

http://nonprophetmessage.wordpress.com/2012/02/11/how-the-modesty-doctrine-hurts-men-too/#more-689
(It appears this link is broken. Sorry. It was pretty good.)