March 20, 2013
Imam Shahid Mehdi
“¢ UK researchers conducted a bizarre study involving “white British men looking at 3D computer models” as subjects which determined a link between being attracted to voluptuous, large-breasted women and having “misogynistic and objectifying” attitudes toward women generally. The pair of typically slaphappy academics behind the study, Viren Swami and Martin Tovée, revealed their results this month in a journal titled Archives of Sexual Behavior. They speak of their research being “in relation to feminist theories, which postulate that beauty ideals and practices in contemporary societies serve to maintain the domination of one sex over the other.” On the other hand, even supporters of the rather pointless study counter that “evolutionary, inborn preferences for reproductively viable mates makes [sic] the drawing of conclusions fraught,” which I believe is dreary academic-speak for “girls with big knockers have always been popular, so what’s your point?”
“¢ Ruminating on the proposed EU ban, Guardian columnist Tanya Gold writes that she “longs to call for the abolition of paid-for pornography, or to at least ban anything not approved by a committee of authentic feminist pornographers.” (Do they get issued authenticity cards?) She goes on to say that she sides with Saudi Arabia on the matter of censorship, and it’s refreshing to see a feminist openly admit to feeling a kinship with religious fundamentalists.
The common undercurrent to all of these handwringing, furrowed-brow examples of progressive puritanism seems to be the belief that there is a connection between observing cheesecake erotica and literal acts of sexual violence. The evidence on hand doesn”t look too good for the proponents of censorship, and one is tempted to ask Tanya Gold if she is familiar with the statistics on rates of sexual assault in conservative societies such as Saudi Arabia or India”where there are most certainly no Page 3 gals or smutty magazines to compel male beastliness”and comparative rates in freer societies such as the UK. The facts don”t much pan out in her favor, but like most busybodies and others who suffer from the totalitarian impulse, I suspect facts are not her primary concern.
This all brings me back to the strange saga of Imam Mehdi, the Islamic blowhard with a Koran in one hand and his shvantz in the other. Since the irrepressible Imam needed no more encouragement than a bare cheek or uncovered hair to set off his raging Islamic id”and since, by his own admission, such mild provocations are all his belief system requires to justify an act of sexual assault”where does that leave the handwringers who would have us believe that bare breasts on Page 3 lead to an increase in rape? If there are a lot of men out there with the same self-control issues as Imam Mehdi, then the Page 3 girl could just as well wear a parka, mittens, and a ski mask”the results might conceivably be the same for any hapless damsel attempting to walk her dog in a Malmö park without being accosted by a maniac.
I think the neo-puritans should, as the expression goes, be careful what they wish for. If the projections of the more pessimistic naysayers are correct and the UK is heading toward complete capitulation to Islam, soon you won”t be able to find any naked female faces to “objectify” on Page 3, never mind breasts.
