i'm familiar. i was specifically asking about why history would determine the future unless you had a reason outside history/the social to explain their cultural practices.
we've been discussing how absolutely imperative it is that we recognize that, with regard to US feminisms focus on the wretched veil, the discourse is one in which the role of the US in creating the conditions under which afghanistan women live is erased. as spivak argues, focusing on the horrid practices of third worlders is a political football for Western intellectuals/activists.
now, whether or not you've adequately foregrounded your recognition of the US role in this situation doesn't matter to me here. indeed, i know better. even so, that you've redeemed yourself in this regard makes the criticism no less valid. the discourse _uses_ barbarianism of third worlders to score points on your opponent in a debate: a political football.
none of this means that we can't make judgments on regimes as worse or better than another, that we must slip into cultural relatvism.
i suppose it wouldn't irritate so badly if i genuinely felt like men on this list really cared about women's oppression in general, if i such concern for these issues right here in our own backyard. but i truly see very little understanding.
for instance, rape occurs in the US. we have research that shows that an a good percentage of 12-14 year old boys think that if you take a girl to dinner she should put out and if she doesn't you're entitled to get some any way. and, not surprisingly, this list allowed someone to complain, without comment, that he was cranky because he girlfriend was "slow".
excuse me? is there some sort of gauage in which one is "slow" or "fast" or "just right" goldilocks? and, one can legitimate one's crankiness because you're not getting sex. i mean, i heard that one when i was fourteen. we called it blue balls. the message is clear to a young woman: feel sorry for him or be afraid of his wrath or just plain crankiness or put out so one can just avoid the battle, whether or not one actually desired to have sex.
so, when Left men start working on these issues in their back yard, i'll start seeing the discourse deployed about the barbarian, raping Northern Alliance as truly sincere.
kelley