Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the prominent critic of Islam and women’s rights activist, likened the burqa to a swastika and an Islamic state flag in an interview with Australian television, after she canceled a visit to the country due to security concerns. “The burka that covers the face and that is really very much in your…
Anti-Islam activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali / Getty Images To begin with, let’s clear up a few details of the flap over Brandeis University’s decision to revoke an invitation for Ayaan Hirsi Ali to receive an honorary degree and address the graduating class: Hirsi Ali is emphatically not being “silenced,” as she and her defenders claim….
Brandeis University rescinded the awarding of an honorary degree to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a women’s rights activist and politician who has been publicly critical of Islam. The Boston-area university made the announcement on Tuesday, a week after saying it would honor the Somalia-born Hirsi Ali at its May 18 commencement ceremony. At least 85 of…
It’s interesting to see that my previous post on Ayaan Hirsi Ali and the thorny issue of condemning women’s oppression in cultures other than our own sparked an insightful response from Sisterhood contributor Elana Sztokman. Elana argues persuasively as to what the right choice should be in the feminism vs. cultural relativism quandary that I…
People are always trying to trip up feminists. Like the time I was helping set up a room at a conference, right after I gave a talk about gender in Orthodoxy, and needed help moving a conference table. I asked the nearest person, who happened to be a man who was in my talk. He…
Thinking back what I’ve written recently on my blog condemning the prohibition on women drivers in some parts of the Jewish and Muslim worlds, I realized that ever since, I’ve had a strangely guilty conscience for having voiced my opinions on this issue. There’s a small, persistent voice in me that’s saying: Maybe it’s their…
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