Broken Records

Guess who's getting her bangs trimmed soon?! (I love her hair).

Today was boring, and so left with very few options with which to entertain myself, I decided to watch some TV. I settled on MBC1, my go-to channel (but only because I couldn't find the remote control), and settled down to watch a popular talk show called Kalaam Nawa3im. The title of the program roughly translates to "Speech of The Soft", and it's more or less the Middle Eastern version of The View. I'll give you a moment to take this in. 

Done? Good. 

Where were we? Ah, yes... Something about women.

Jokes aside, I want to shift gears and go for a more somber tone. Today's episode was about domestic abuse, namely between married couples. The guests were a married couple, a man and woman of Egyptian nationality with two (it might have been three) children. The man openly admitted to physically beating his wife and children, and went on to express his reasons for such behavior. His main argument was that he had been raised in a 'military-like environment, devoid of democracy (in the domestic sense)", and so superior/inferior roles exist within a marriage and within a family. Of all the filth he spewed, the most horrific thing he said was, (I'm paraphrasing AND translating here so don't quote me):

If my daughter commits a fault, I will hit her. If she commits a fault as an adult, I expect her husband to hit her. 

I honestly cannot describe how much these words break my heart. I get a lot of shit from people about being a feminist, and sometimes I do get tired of the stigma and ridicule. However, it only takes one second of hearing things like the above quote, and I snap out of it. Since this is the 'Month Of Love', I'll save a better written and researched post about domestic violence in the Middle East for later. However, I do want to emphasize one thing:

It's 2011... If he (or she) hits you, then it's not love. It's not healthy. You owe it to yourself (and to your children of you have any) to leave or demand a change for the better. Ask your partner to seek help, be it from a professional or the local Imam, do whatever you have to. Just don't leave a bad situation as is, hoping it'll mend itself.

Remember that no matter who you are, no matter what you've done in your life, no one should have the right to lay their hand on you. You deserve more, you deserved to be loved, and you deserve to be respected. Never forget that.
 

Spinning an old tune,

S.