Rape, incest and sexual assault are some of the biggest taboos in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (and the broader Arab/Muslim world for that matter).
Palestinian rape victims who get pregnant are sometimes forced -- by society, social workers and even relatives -- to marry their attackers so as to not sully the family name.
One Gaza-based filmmaker is now trying to bring some rare attention to this issue with a short film on the subject.
The Los Angeles Times blog, Babylon & Beyond has the story of Basma Abualila, the journalist and filmmaker who has produced a 10-minute film, "A Call at Night," that documents the tale of one Gaza woman who says she was drugged and raped by her ex-boyfriend.
Faced with the shame and the possibility of being a social outcast (some Palestinian women have even been killed in so-called "honor killings" in such situations), she begs her rapist to marry her.
Eventually, with the aid of a social worker who threatens to reveal the rape, he agrees.
Now she is waiting for the child to be born.
"I cannot call my life a life," the anonymous woman says in the film.
The challenge of confronting this issue is clear in the only comment right now on the video on the YouTube page:
"this a byproduct of the so called western values that have been imported," writes socalmaverick. "she [the filmmaker] seem to neglect the fact that the so called 'victim' had a boyfriend despite it being morally wrong in that society, yet when she suffers one of the consequences of such relationships such as being raped or getting pregnant and having a kid out of wedlock in a tight net society."
This is an example of the pathetic "Islamic Values" which degrades women and treats them like little more than cattle.
Not surprising, I guess, for a religion that was invented by a misogynistic pedophile.
Islam needs Western ideals to pull it out of the stone age and give women equal treatment. In my opinion, all women who live in Islamic countries are political prisoners.
Posted by: Vanessa | July 03, 2009 at 02:38 PM
In response to Vanessa: Unlike, of course, the pedophile-infested anti-woman Catholic church and other woman-debasing Christian denominations. They all arose our of a religion founded by a guy who hung out with 12 other dudes and a prostitute. What were they all doing at night?
Posted by: Edward | July 03, 2009 at 06:35 PM
It's a waste of time to throw insults at each others' religions.
Each society, no matter the prevalent religion, has these same issues and blaming 'western values' or 'Islam' or 'Christianity' is only a distraction from the issue.
I would like to point out to Vanessa though, that she needs to meet some Muslim women from all walks of life and not analyze what she sees through the prism of her own social parameters.
Women who wear hijab are no more 'political prisoners' than women who feel obliged to wear make-up and look pretty to be socially acceptable in western societies.
Each society has their oppressed and empowered.
Posted by: Edie | July 06, 2009 at 05:02 PM