September 7, 2010 - Islam Unveiled
Rampant pedophilia in Afghanistan is the subject of report entitled, “Pashtun Sexuality,” by AnnaMarie Cardinelli – a social scientist contracted by the Defense Department to study this subject in response to concerns expressed by personnel in the field.
The report reveals Afghan men have, for centuries, taken 9 to 15 year old boys as lovers. Some estimates suggest half the Pashtun tribal members in Kandahar and other southern towns are bacha baz – the term for an older man with a boy lover. Dance parties are quite popular. Boys dress up as girls, wear makeup, and bells on their feet. They dance for leering men who throw money at them and take them home. A State Department report called “dancing boys” a “widespread, culturally sanctioned form of male rape.”
How has this happened and why is it tolerated?
Joel Brinkley, professor of journalism at Stanford University and former Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent for the New York Times answered this question in a recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle. Mr. Brinkley concluded, “Sociologists and anthropologists say the problem results from perverse interpretation of Islamic law. Women are simply unapproachable. Afghan men cannot talk to an unrelated woman until after proposing marriage.” Further, “even after marriage, many men keep their boys, suggesting a loveless life at home. A favored Afghan expression goes: ‘Women are for children, boys are for pleasure.’ Brinkley also adds, “Women are ‘unclean’ and therefore distasteful.” For this reason, “women are hidden away – and stoned to death if they are perceived to have misbehaved.”
You might wonder if Islamic law forbids homosexuality. It does. But, according to the report, pedophiles explain that claiming it’s not homosexuality because they are not in love with the boys.
This is despicable behavior which should be condemned by every sane person – no matter their religious persuasion. Pedophilia, by any name and for any purpose, is reprehensible. Since it is a centuries old practice rooted in religious belief, it is not like to end soon. Let me make three observations about this situation.
First, the way women are treated in many Moslem countries should anger every feminist. They should be most “hawkish” about military efforts to re-order governments in those countries. If they really want to liberate women, focusing on the places in the world women are most abused should be their priority.
Second, expect a continuing stream of angry young men to fuel Islamic terrorist networks. When a boy is sexually assaulted, the emotional and psychological trauma is profound. When those boys become men, their anger will provoke violent actions – not always directed at the true source of the problem.
Third, people with a positive view of Islam as just another peaceful religion should check the facts. So-called “radical Islam” isn’t an aberration – it’s the real thing. Be careful what you embrace in the name of tolerance and religious freedom.
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