Tribal Enslavement of Women: Women’s Bodies as a Battleground

Abstract

The terrorist battle is not about territory; it is about culture and who controls culture. The threat felt by al-Qaeda, ISIL, the Taliban, and even Saudi Arabia from the West and Western influence is centrally about protecting the superior status of men and their control of women. Humans’ strongest behavioral genetic build is to protect the family as it is structured in that society. Family is more fundamental than territory, and for men their ability to “protect” their women and children, and their “way of life” is intimately linked and even hard-wired to honor. Just as White men have reacted in the West to their sense of threat of their loss of status and power, tenfold has been the reaction of men in the Middle East, parts of Africa and Asia to the threat of what they see as a complete reversal of what they perceive as right, holy, and their duty to protect and preserve, and in fact control. Terrorism is a global battle for “way of life.”

This chapter is about this battleground over women’s rights and bodies. Our primitive tribal genetics presses behaviors and thinking associated with survival, honor, territory, and the control of women. We see this clearly as wherever tribalism and our primitive tribal genetics are pronounced, there is a war being fought against the advancement of equal gender rights whose expression is embodied in the subjugation of women.

“It is permissible to have sexual intercourse with the female captive. Allah the almighty said: ‘[Successful are the believers] who guard their chastity, except from their wives or (the captives and slaves) that their right hands possess, for then they are free from blame [Koran 23:5–6]’…” “If she is a virgin, he [her master] can have intercourse with her immediately after taking possession of her. However, if she isn’t, her uterus must be purified [first]…” “It is permissible to buy, sell, or give as a gift female captives and slaves, for they are merely property, which can be disposed of [as long as that doesn’t cause [the Muslim ummah] any harm or damage.” “It is permissible to have intercourse with the female slave who hasn’t reached puberty if she is fit for intercourse; however if she is not fit for intercourse, then it is enough to enjoy her without intercourse” [1].

I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah. There is a market for selling humans. Allah says I should sell. He commands me to sell. I will sell women. I sell women [2].