As a fairly conservative Christian, I understand arguments about headcovering and modesty. (I believe my long hair is my covering - so long as my hair is a little longer than my husband's :-D ) What appalls me about Fundamentalist Muslims is their lack of regard for the health of their women. Here is an article from Foreign Policy worth reading:
Are Muslim dress codes bad for women's health?Conservative Muslim dress codes may be causing vitamin D deficiency in women by limiting their exposure to sunlight, humans' main source for the vitamin, according to new research.
Scientists had previously found high rates of vitamin D deficiency in Arab and East Indian women living in the United Arab Emirates. A follow-up study investigated the effect of vitamin D supplements on 178 UAE women, many of whom covered themselves entirely, faces and hands included, when outside their homes. Only two of the women did not have vitamin D deficiency prior to receiving supplements. The results were published by a team of scientists in the June issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
One of the researchers concludes, "When sunlight exposure … is limited, much higher dietary intake of vitamin D is needed than currently recommended," particularly for those who breast-feed.
At least one commentator, though, is saying it's not higher doses of vitamin D that are needed, but rather, lower doses of fundamentalism.
3 comments:
songbird....
Have not been able to cease thinking about our little exchange on Fallback LGF.....have been watching for you, to tell you a small story that I was reminded of.....I hope so much you do not mind me coming over here to tell you....
Have you ever heard of Bill Gothard? He does seminars, upon which I was saved many years ago.....one of his stories pierced my heart, and has helped shape my life, since then:
His father was a businessman, up near the top of the company.
One day, and it was during the depression, the great one, and he had six small children at home with his wife....that day, the president of the company called him in and offered him a great increase in pay and prestige, if he would but participate in a shady deal.
The alternative was to be passed over forever, for promotion, which promotion he had been striving for and was more than worthy of having earned.
He turned it down, thereby shaping his son's life with a powerful example --and thereby shaping my own life....and my children's lives.... :)
You and your husband are doing well. :)
How about Christian conservatives in the U.S. limiting condom distribution and sex education? There's a health crisis in this country, from STDs to pregnancy, and teenagers are being instructed to simply not have sex. Nevermind the fact that anal and oral sex have become alternatives in order to "preserve" virginity and avoid pregnancy.
Frankly, I'm more worried about our own fundamentalists, because they hit close to home.
Dear Anonymous,
Too bad you don't have the courage to provide at least minimal contact information so I can adress you privately instead of in this public forum.
I don't believe you can compare what people agree to be "natural functions", ie sex and childbirth, with a debilitating health problem. The self inflicted vitamin D deficiency leads to rickets and bone damage which can cause serious crippling as the woman gets older.
If Muslim men care at all about their wives, they need to provide ways for them to sun themselves in private. It is a crying shame that, in the part of the world that gets 364 1/2 days of sunshine a year, women have a disease from lack of exposure to sunshine caused by their extreme fundamentalism.
Please stay on topic and understand that the nature of the article was concern for these women, and not religion in general.
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