If you do a bit of research, you’ll find that while the official word is that sodomy(two men can do more together then just ape hets, btw)is punishable by death, it usually is not enforced unless the person in question pisses someone in power off.

Apparently, a man finding another man for sex is much easier in most middle eastern countries then in the west. For some reason homosexual behavior is far more prevelant there, despite being punishable… possibly because it doesn’t carry the effeminitizing stigma it does in the west (thanks mostly to feminists and gay activists.)

Further, having lived and traveled in the Middle East I would say that if the men are kissing, fondling, cuddling and holding hands in public, they are most likely doing even more in private.

Here’s an article on Afghanistan:

http://www.sodomylaws.org/world/afghanistan/afnews007.htm

NOPE. Just the reverse, in fact. I took a hit Sunday night. ESPN still has me in the top 10%, though…

And typhonblue responded:
> Or rather, it’s people with social power who get *others* to use physical force to their ends.

hmmm… In *some* instances, perhaps. But in many situations throughout the US and throughout the world, those with social power also have physical power. In most societies, men traditionally hold both the social and the physical power. Traditionally, women’s power is typically more unconscious and passive-aggressive: “You’re not doing what I need you to do, so I’ll accidentally scorch that wonderful dinner I’m making,” “You’re not giving me the affection I need, so I’ll not keep the house/your laundry/etc the way you want it.”

It’s quite common in any culture about which I’ve studied. Those with no power find ways to vent their anger and frustration on those who wield all the power.

> As for the Taliban, you’re right men in Afghanistan have all the power. Including
> sexual power. In that society women are sexually invisible, literally and
> figuratively. They aren’t even considered particularly sexually desirable.

It is the epitomy of what Dr. Robbins discusses some *women* doing in his article. Perhaps a balance would be achieved if he also addressed the tendency some men have to abuse their power.

> That role is reserved for male youths.

???? Not sure where you got this. Sodimy is a death penalty offense in most Muslim countries. I’ve not heard of any where it isn’t.

I followed the link from the Stand Your Ground forum. I’ll agree wholeheartedly that making fun of a funny picture from a playground was pretty low.

At the same time, so is an assumption like this one. Back in the 70’s I was a small child. The only divorce I’ve been through was my parents. At the time it wasn’t considered a bad divorce as my mother did all the screaming, yelling, and throwing of things. I spent the 70’s and 80’s learning from my feminist mother. I, like a lot of the MRA folks, think of women as my mother taught me to think of them. Equal, capable, responsible people.

Yes, I paraded around my college campus in a Take Back the Night Rally. Only once though, as they really don’t like straight men in those things. They didn’t like it when I asked if I could be a masculinist and for equal rights if they were feminists for equal rights either. They didn’t much like it when I suggested a new slogan for the date rape awareness campaign of : ‘No means no, maybe means no, yes means no. Yes, yes, yes, oh God Yes! Means yes.’

I have to admit at 35 I’ve not been through any divorces of my own. I started reading and participating in MRA discussions online as experience with my parents divorce scares me. My parents are not bad people, but the family court system is biased, and gave my mother an arsenal of legal means to take advantage of my father. He, being a traditional, non-feminist guy, took it all in silence, refusing to say anything bad about the mother of his children, and hiding all of what he was going through from us.

Now that I’m married and looking forward to children of my own, my precarious legal positon as a father scares me. I’m well aware that I’ll be a parent only at my wife’s whim. Yes, part of that is biology, but a lot of that is the law. That’s not right, and that’s why I’m over there, and not over here.

Or rather, it’s people with social power who get *others* to use physical force to their ends.

As for the Taliban, you’re right men in Afghanistan have all the power. Including sexual power. In that society women are sexually invisible, literally and figuratively. They aren’t even considered particularly sexually desirable. That role is reserved for male youths.

I think it trivializes religious faith to compare spiritual conversion to a change — no matter how marked — in one’s political and social outlook.