Afghanistan. Handmaid’s tale. Our days.

“Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.” ― Margaret Atwood

On August 15, 2021, the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, and as a result, about 20 million women lost their basic human rights overnight. You can read about the horror and agony of this situation in a letter from an Afghan woman to The Guardian. Yet, there is nothing new or surprising in this event. We have already seen a similar case. Back in 1979, in Iran women had to go through the same experience, and they still have not managed to regain their pre-revolutionary rights and freedom.

Why is that a tragedy? Let’s figure it out!

To begin with, I recommend watching the French animated feature film “Persepolis”, which is based on the autobiographical graphic novel by the Iranian-born French author Marjane Satrapi. It describes the events of the Islamic revolution through the eyes of a girl who was forced to leave her motherland to preserve her dignity.

“Your scarf, slut!” — such a phrase that little girl heard from a passerby (a man) because she had forgotten to cover her hair on the way to school!

“I screw women like you and dump them in the trash.“ — That kind of description was given to the mother of that girl by another man because she had decided to go to the supermarket without her husband!

“ — The lady with the shoulder bag, stop running. The lady with the bag, stop running! Hey, you, don’t run! Why are you running?

• I’m late for my class!
• Maybe, but you mustn’t run. When you run, your behind moves in an obscene way.
• So don’t look at my ass!”

This dialogue took place when a teenager, dressed in long baggy pants and a long scarf that was covering her head and arms was in a hurry to get to school.

Sounds atrocious? As if from the Middle Ages? Just imagine and try to feel it: women in Afghanistan are now undergoing much greater humiliation and limitations than those shown in that animated film.

Why today, in the 21st century, when we have artificial intelligence and space tourism, society, or rather men, still keep on objectifying women and accusing them of their own lack of self-control?!

Three months ago I was walking down the street in Yerevan wearing a summer dress, and a man accused me of provoking his erection. He told me that it was my responsibility to do something about it (his penis, not my dress). How do you like that??

If you give it a thought, you can come to a logical conclusion that men, as it turns out, due to their inability to control the reaction of their bodies to an external stimulus (a woman) should not be considered Homo Sapiens. They are more like animals. Unluckily, animal rights in our society are not as broad as human rights. Women, on the other hand, have no problems with self-control when looking at men. Reasonably, this confirms the fact that they are more evolved and intelligent creatures compared to males. Therefore, they do deserve to have more extensive rights as a more developed species. Women also have way more developed survival skills. You can see this if you check the statistics regarding life expectancy. You can also notice it taking into account the fact that married men (those looked after by women) live longer than single ones. So why does society give more advantages to less advanced beings? It is obvious that for the survival of the species, decision-making privileges must be given to more fit individuals!

Perhaps, it would be better if we forced men to hide their bodies in the burqa, as shown in the movie “Jacky in the Kingdom of Women”? From an aesthetical point of view, beautiful things (women) should be available for public admiration, whereas ugly things (men) should be removed from the shop window. How do you like this idea?

Do you want to hear another interesting fact? I think it is not a secret for anyone that overpopulation is one of the biggest global problems of our time. So, if you ask Google about how to solve this problem, the first line will contain the next answer “empower women”.

Have you read it thoroughly? — Empower, not enslave!

Going back to “Persepolis”, I must say that it was very easy to persuade men to go to war, simply by promising to give them women. Deciding to become military is an absolutely unnatural decision for a mentally healthy person in the first place if you ask me. However, those men voluntarily agreed to kill other people, and I see absolutely no difference here between the serial killers, whom we catch and put in prisons, and the military.

“ — They gave my son this at school. They said that if he fights and dies…this key will get him into heaven. This plastic key! They said heaven is full of food…women, gold houses, and diamonds!

• Women?
• Well, he’s 14. Women interest him. ” — a dialogue from the movie.

Now let’s get back to Islam and the description of paradise in it. There are 72 virgins waiting for each man there. And what awaits women? 72 Magic Mikes? — Not really. Consequently, the followers of this religion, particularly men, oppress the rights of women not only during life but also after death.

To be objective, I must mention that in fact, there is no distinction between women and men in the holy book, since the word “they” is used. So it looks like the religion itself differs from its interpretation. Why so? Well, unlike Christianity, Islam had only male prophets. Let me remind you who prophets are — people regarded as inspired teachers or proclaimers of the will of God. That makes me wonder, did they proclaim the will of God (if you believe in his/her existence) or their own? How can we trust interpretations made by the hostile force exclusively? It is like in the quote I used for my previous article, where two wolves and a lamb were voting on the lunch menu.

By the way, another interesting fact: not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims. You might become indignant here and say something like: “People of different religions commit terroristic acts”. — You are totally right here. However, those people do that to get more power or resources, so no religion is involved. Yet, only terrorists who we officially call such are screaming “Allah Akbar” before exploding themselves taking tens or even hundreds of innocent lives. Is this a coincidence? I don’t think so. Why would they hold on to a life in which it is very difficult to get sex, the main driving force that makes men get out of bed in the morning, when after death if you remember well, there are 72 virgins waiting for each of them? Of course, with such promises, how can they not put on a suicide belt and set off as soon as possible on a fascinating journey to the afterlife?

Please note that terrorism, or so-called by terrorists “protest against the system”, which implies mass murder, is widespread mostly among Muslims. At the same time, among Buddhists, for example, a form of protest against an unjust political system is self-immolation, which does no harm to anyone other than the protester. It’s worth considering, isn’t it?

I deliberately make a distinction between Islam and Buddhism as concepts and the followers of these trends. Since religions themselves might carry one meaning but are interpreted by people, the overwhelming majority of whom are men, from the standpoint of their own convenience and benefits, but not the concept described in the holy books.

Now, let’s recap:

1. Any religion is just a belief, which is not scientifically confirmed in any way, and therefore, it cannot be used as a basis for creating laws or a state system.
2. Not only can women not be limited in their universal human rights, but also they must be given additional power for the common good.
3. Religion as such and followers of that religion are completely different things.