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Sheikh Hilali had a point!

By Dave Smith - posted Tuesday, 14 November 2006


I remember seeing a Leunig cartoon some years ago, depicting a table-top dancer entertaining a client. She struts her stuff and waves her bits in his face. Eventually the man jumps up and drops his pants. She screams and yells, “Pervert”, and the security guards come and drag the poor bastard away.

That’s how it works in Australian community. It’s all available. It’s all on display. It appears to be all there for the taking, but God forbid that you should make any sort of tangible response!

I remember a while ago we had a court case where some guy was convicted for taking a picture of a girl who was walking around topless in public. The girl made some statement that was recorded at the time, along the lines of, “I’ve got a right to walk around topless if I like and nobody has the right to perv on me”.

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Now I’m paraphrasing, but I think I’ve captured the logic. The assumption is that how I dress (or undress) is my business and nobody else’s: but this is just plain garbage.

If you’re a fan of the Simpsons, you’ll remember Bart saying to his sister, “I’m going to start swinging my fists around, and if someone happens to get in the way of them, that’s not my fault”. He then starts windmilling his arms and moving in Lisa’s direction, while trying to give the impression that he’s not noticing her presence.

It’s the same logic. If you walk around swinging your arms, you have to take responsibility if you hit someone. If you wander around in public, loudly shouting and swearing, you’re going to have to expect that people will get annoyed with you. And if you are a girl who is determined to walk around topless, you’ve got to expect men to get excited. It’s natural. It’s genetic. It’s the way we’re built.

I’m not saying that this gives male voyeurs an excuse to assault anybody, but girls need to understand that when they do this, they are playing with fire.

I think a large part of the problem stems from the fact that most women in this community have no real awareness of the rapacious ferocity of the male sex drive, especially in testosterone-filled teenagers. Perhaps Islamic communities are just more realistic at this level. I don’t know, and I’m not pretending for a minute that I’d rather live in Tehran than in Sydney. But I suspect that the statistics on sexual assault and marital breakdown are much healthier over there than they are here.

OK. Now I’m not suggesting that the Islamic dress code for all Australian women is the solution, and I’m not even saying that women shouldn’t be allowed to walk around topless. All I am saying is that it’s time we got real about the situation.

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Responsibility is a two-way street. As I’ve often said to my teenage daughter, “If you walk around a room holding a plate of hors deurves, you’ve got to expect that sooner or latter someone is going to try and grab one and have a nibble”.

Does that absolve a teenage boy from responsibility when he assaults some poor young girl, simply because she was dressed provocatively? Of course not. But maybe it’s time we all took responsibility for the problem, instead of just leaving it to the lads to work it out for themselves, because they won’t.

Maybe that’s what the Sheikh was trying to say? I don’t know, though I do suspect that the media beat-up over his comments has more to do with an anti-Muslim political agenda than it does with anything he was actually responsible for. Either way, maybe it’s what he should have said.

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First published on Father Dave's website.



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About the Author

Father Dave Smith is Parish Priest, professional boxer, human-rights activist and father of four. He was part of the Mussalaha (reconciliation) delegation to Syria in May 2013. Join Dave's mailing list via his main website - www.fatherdave.org - and read his updates on Syria on www.prayersforsyria.com.

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