On Sun, 16 Dec 2001, Doug Henwood wrote:
> >> But the Taliban - many of whom were not Afghans, and of those who
> >> were, were from an ethnic group representing well under half the
> >> population - forced women to wear the damn things. It's not like they
> >> were spontaneous expressions of home-grown patriarchy.
> >
> >Are you sure about that? My impression was that women wore, and still
> >wear, the burkha in rural areas controlled by the Northern Alliance
> >because their husbands demand it.
>
> There's a difference between wearing a burkha because one's husband
> likes it and because the state demands it under pain of severe
> punishment.
I entirely agree. But in the former case it is a case of "home grown patriarchy."
Which doesn't make it good, of course.
Michael
__________________________________________________________________________ Michael Pollak................New York City..............mpollak at panix.com