Ramsey’s Real Time: Islamophobes shouldn’t throw stones in a glass house

Last Friday, Bill Maher gave a diagnosis of the apparent misogyny present in Muslim and Arab cultures when discussing the horrific tragedy of Lara Logan, who was assaulted and sexually abused by an Egyptian crowd last week during the celebration of former President Hosni Mubarak’s decision to resign.† Maher said, “It’s fair to say that Muslim men have a bad attitude about women in general.” Then he speculated that the recent pro-democratic revolutions would fail because of this perceived societal problem. The “Real Time” host also stated that those in doubt of his idea should “talk to women who’ve dated an Arab man ó the reviews are not good.”

I was appalled by this segment, in which the audience largely agreed with Maher, and it is not just because I’m an Arab-American (who hopes to have gotten good reviews from women so far).† It’s due to America’s blatant Islamophobia, which has now clouded our own history and shortcomings.

This isn’t to claim that attitudes towards women don’t need to change in the Middle East. Obviously, they do. There is one area in Saudi Arabia where women are not allowed to drive, which is detestable. In some countries, women cannot vote, and marriage laws restrict a woman’s ability to get divorced. All of these actions and rules are horrific. They represent a backwards attitude toward women. I’m hopeful that the revolutions will bring a reformed, equal attitude towards both genders.

However, the presentation of Arab and Muslim men as† sexist, misogynistic Neanderthals is a little skewed.† Maher thinks that these new democracies won’t be real until women get to vote, too.† Should we then be celebrating America’s 91st birthday this July, not even a century after women got the right to vote?† Why are we exemplifying our treatment of women while white women make 77 cents on the man’s dollar, black women earn 61 cents and Latina women scrape by with 52?† How can Americans be this comfortable saying they’re the model when the glass ceiling hasn’t been shattered yet? Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was faced with a torrent of sexist claims when she ran for president in 2008, yet Pakistan, an Islamic country, elected Benazir Bhutto twice, in ’88 and ’93.

By pointing to the rape of Logan, Maher tried to vilify Arabs as a whole.† He continued by anecdotally referencing Arab people raping their women and escaping almost consequence-free. This is nauseating. The Logan incident is a black eye on the face of the Egyptian revolution.† However, we’ve overlooked a gigantic lawsuit that came out recently.† Over a dozen men and women filed a class-action lawsuit against the Department of Defense claiming that “servicemen get away with rape and other sexual abuse and victims are too often ordered to continue to serve alongside those they say attacked them.”† Additionally, in the case there is the story of an Army reservist who was filmed being raped.† After the video was circulated, her case was dismissed by her superior because the woman “did not act like a rape victim,” and “didn’t struggle enough.”

I’m tired of Islamophobes throwing stones in their glass houses. I can only imagine the outcry had someone said these same things about Black, Latino or Jewish men.† Consider this my fatwah,† Maher.† Much to your surprise, I’m not strapping a bomb to my chest or burning the American flag.† However, I’m no longer able to ignore these blatant generalizations attempting to demonize Arabs as woman-hating, terrorism-loving goat herders without at least a modicum of reflection on American sexist philosophies and policies.