A female university student from Manama wrote to me a few days ago saying: “Though I am not a frustrated lover or an ill-treated wife, I am compelled to express my views on women’s suffering which you so often deal with.
“First I want you to understand that most of the tears and misery that women write to you about are either self-inflicted or fantasy. Most women, though not all, like to wallow in self-pity and thus attract sympathy. They love to play the masochistic role of a victim or of someone persecuted.
“I don’t deny the fact that our society is male-dominated and women are denied both social and political parity. It is also true that most men in Arab society do not realize how they suppress women. Nor do I think Western society is any better. I will never agree to be a passive victim and to weep over my fate. Any oppression can be overcome with determination and confidence. Primarily I am a human being, like any other man or woman, and hence am entitled to all the basic human rights.
“Women find it comparatively easier to play the role of the persecuted as it amounts to shutting oneself in a protective shell which defends them from greater hardships, challenges and confrontations. Unfortunately, the confrontations they want to avoid are decisive in their successful resistance against the chauvinistic males surrounding her.
“I don’t need to play the role of a persecuted woman as the strategy for defending my legitimate rights. I don’t need to seek refuge in fantasies as a way out of my problems. With a little amount of determination, I am confident that I can stand up against any challenge. I can defend myself with my pen and my intelligence. I don’t want to appear weak and unable to defend myself. When I defend myself I am in fact defending hundreds of less fortunate women. I don’t surrender to my problems, calling them my destiny. I am ready to face any challenge.”
Bravo Nadiah. You have found the solution to women’s problems in an intelligent manner. I hope that women will now be inspired to tackle their problems.
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NOBODY can reverse the pace of modern technological progress and bring back the past. Those who mourn for bygone days and the past are wasting their time and efforts. Everything in the past was not good. Nor is everything better in the present. Like everything else, progress has its good and bad sides.
In picking a rose, you may prick your finger on a thorn. A bee-keeper may suffer stings in order to collect honey. The Internet is one of the greatest achievements of modern civilization. Those countries which have reaped its advantages have also experienced its negative aspects.
In Japan, where telecommunications are arguably the world’s most advanced, the people are appalled by the negative impact of both the Internet and mobile phones. Easy accessibility has eroded the moral values of a society which used to hold tenaciously to its traditions. The Internet has been found to be a major factor in the unprecedented increase in crimes in the country, particularly in sex-related crimes. It is equally shocking to learn that children are the greatest victims of these crimes.
Arab countries are a long way from Japan where one-third of the population make use of the Internet. Internet users nonetheless face problems.