Feminists: Freest Nation on Earth on Par With Boko Haram
Why is the U.S. ranked so poorly when it comes to safe places for women?
This past weekend, the women of Saudi Arabia — a nation known for its extreme application of Sharia law — were freed from a driving embargo. Yes, driving. And that’s pretty mundane compared to other rules that, if broken, allow for severe punishment. According to the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s 2018 edition of “the world’s most dangerous countries for women” — which it calls an “experts’ survey” — Saudi Arabia ranks fifth, surpassed in oppressing women only by India (1), Afghanistan (2), Syria (3) and Somalia (4). All of these nations treat women as scourges, slaves and sex objects, and they should be near or atop the list.
So what’s the U.S. doing sitting at number 10 — just five positions below a nation like Saudi Arabia? That’s not a joke. After Pakistan (6), the Democratic Republic of Congo (7), Yemen (8) and Nigeria (9), these “experts” declare the U.S. the 10th most dangerous country in the world. As The Daily Signal’s Kelsey Harkness writes, “Issues such as female genital mutilation, arranged marriage, rape as a weapon of war, honor killings, and maternal mortality haven’t stopped. Rather, leading ‘experts’ in their fields appear to have lost any perspective, categorizing the U.S. as almost as dangerous as Nigeria, where Boko Haram militants kidnap, rape, and sexually exploit women and girls.”
She also observes that areas like South Sudan, Central African Republic, Mauritania, North Korea, Iran, China and Myanmar are “notably missing from the Reuters list.” Says Harkness: “If living in the United States is more dangerous for women than living in a country where boy’s and men’s bodies are used to create bonfires while women are raped and baby girls are grabbed by the leg and thrown into the fire to burn, then forgive me — I must be missing something. As far as I was aware, women in the U.S. face injustices, but we still have equality before the law. The same can’t be said for these nine other countries, or the dozens of others that didn’t make the list of most dangerous countries for women.”
According to Reuters, “The survey was taken after the #MeToo campaign against sexual harassment went viral in October last year as Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexual misconduct by more than 70 women, some dating back decades. Hundreds of women have since publicly accused powerful men in business, government and entertainment of sexual misconduct and thousands have joined the #MeToo social media movement to share stories of sexual harassment or abuse.” Is the Weinstein situation egregious? Absolutely. But as Harkness appropriately responds: “Harvey Weinstein, after all, does not equate with Boko Haram.” Sadly, most Western feminists have absolutely no idea what systemic oppression actually looks like.
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