Intolerance shared by all
Op-ed: Time to fight both leftist and rightist chauvinism, obsession with female modesty
Roughly a month ago I wrote about the modesty required of leftist female activists participating in Sheikh Jarrah protests. I focused on the hypocrisy of activists who seemingly put their lives on the line for the sake of humanistic values on the one hand, and at the same time demand that women adhere to a dress code commensurate with a chauvinistic society.
I continued to follow radical leftist forums and witnessed the conflict my words stirred up. A day after my article was published, protest organizers issued an announcement to the activists that clearly showed their embarrassment and attempt to walk on thin ice.
“Compromise and consideration are needs as result of differences in perception and lifestyle,” the announcement read. “As this cooperation is critical in our view and as the presence of Palestinian female activists in the protests is something we are unwilling to give up, we decided to attempt to create a dress code that on the one hand respects their feelings, while at the same time fits our lifestyle.”
Dr. Naama Carmi summed up this issue nicely under the headline “useful idiots” when she wrote that “to our great regret, history is replete with examples where good people from the Left supported oppressive, murderous regimes only because these publicly endorsed the ‘right’ values.” Such leftists accepted racism when it came from the oppressed side and served as apologists for terror, she wrote.
The radical Left’s “naiveté” as a collaborator with dangerous ideologies is an appropriate issue for discussion, yet I do not wish to address it here. I am more interested in the unsurprising similarities between religious and leftist apologetics in respect to justifying chauvinism.
The rightist version
We can sum up the arguments of leftist modesty fans as follows: First, there’s a need to consider the feelings of the faithful. Moreover, the Palestinians will simply not attend protests should immodest dress prevail. This also “corrupts the children” – sounds familiar? In addition, the demand for modesty happens to come from Palestinian women themselves, thereby “dismissing” suspicions of chauvinism. On a final note, how can we forget to mention that an immodestly dressed woman turns on the men, which may fail to control themselves?Curiously enough, these are the very same excuses used by the fanatical Jewish camp. For similar reasons, we recently saw a rabbi ruling that a woman is forbidden from being appointed as a community secretariat member. In the name of these excuses, we see males and females segregated even in buses, women required to cover up every inch of hair and skin, girl singers forbidden from performing before their fathers, and so on and so forth.
Yet to the credit of our leftist sisters who wear shorts and undershirts, I must note that not all of them toe the line, unlike the dismissive, compliant religious girls, while airing out their dirty laundry. And so, an activist called Jasmine wrote in the Communist youth alliance website: “At first they suggested that someone bring a keffiyah so that I would use it to cover up my impure body, and I said no. Then they said that I’m not showing any consideration to the people there, and I told them to go screw themselves.”
To sum up, female modesty is one of the frontal defense lines in safeguarding a free society, irrespective of feminism. Reality around us proves the validity of the dictum that “the more covered up the woman, the more backward the society.” Hence, I would be happy to hear about a joint leftist-rightist campaign against the excessive modesty spreading through our society. In the event such protest is held, I would be happy to attend, even if female participants choose to wear undershirts.
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