It made me so sad to hear that the Iranian women's national soccer team was banned from an Olympic qualifying tournament recently because they were required by their country to wear headscarves.
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"Until 1981, a 'crime of honor'--killing your wife for being unfaithful or your sister for having premarital sex--could be treated as a lesser offense than other murders [in Italy]; as late as 2007, a man in Palermo was sentenced to just two days in jail for murdering his wife after their children testified that she had been disrespectful to him."
*~Ariel Levy, "Letter from Italy: Basta Bunga Bunga" (The New Yorker, Jun 6, 2011)
Pictures from the Botanical Gardens in the Bronx, which I visited this past weekend.
FIFA is the one who sucks here?
ReplyDeleteUm, YES! FIFA is punishing these ladies because of their government. They can't help what their government does. The only people this stupid rule hurts is the women--as if these women don't suffer enough in a regime that forces them to play professional sports in a headscarf. And on a whole other level: What if hypothetically one of these woman were really Islamic and *believed* in wearing a headscarf? At that point, I'd say FIFA would be guilty of religious discrimination.
ReplyDeleteMy perspective is that the outrage should primarily be directed towards the Iranian government which is forcing women into this arcane dress code.
ReplyDeleteI'm saddened that these women can't participate in the sport that they love, but I wonder where the line should be drawn to make accommodations for repressive practices. If these women were free to wear or not wear the head covering, that's one thing... I agree in that situation that any player of a sport should be able to wear whatever he or she wants as long as it doesn't hinder the play of others... but perhaps by not letting them play, FIFA is sending a message to the Iranian government that forcing the players to wear it is unacceptable.
"perhaps by not letting them play, FIFA is sending a message to the Iranian government that forcing the players to wear it is unacceptable."
ReplyDeleteThis is *exactly* my issue: This doesn't "send a message to the Iranian government" at all. All it does is punish women and make them an object and tool of a political debate. Using women as public bulletin boards is disgusting, especially for an otherwise-esteemed international institution like FIFA.