(pre-script: everyone is cis to religious people)

sketchheart:

PUT SOME CLOTHES ON! Why do many women dress slutty and then wonder why men stare at, cheat, harass, and degrade them? The Bible teaches women to be modest and fear God. That a capable woman is more precious than jewels. Why then do so many girls dumb themselves down and act so helpless and lost like it’s the cool thing to do? I would never settle for anything less than a Proverbs 31 woman. Neither would any man worth having. 

Read More

What a horrible person you are. 

Women can wear as many or as few clothes as they desire, and they will never deserve to be harassed. 

Nice job of exploiting women’s fear of assault to spread your idiotic ideals about dress. And the excusing your own misogyny and evil is pretty sweet too. I’m sure god fuckin’ loves you for that. 

If you ever harass a woman and think in your mind that it’s okay because of the way she’s dressed, I will personally find you and skin you alive. 

Honestly, people think atheists go to hell? Nope. No way. If there’s a hell, Christians will be there. They’re the evil ones.

pagannews:

I thought the first episode of Divine Women - a BBC documentary about goddesses - was very good indeed and worth watching if you are a pagan or interested in history. It was on BBC 2 yesterday at 9pm, but you can still watch it on BBC iPlayer. In the first episode, called Divine Women - When God Was a Girl, historian Bettany Hughes looked at the world’s most ancient civilisations and found that rather than worshipping male gods, most worshipped goddesses or at least revered women. Bettany argued that these fertility goddesses were often supplanted by male gods of battle as society became more warlike. This is quite a controversial subject, but I thought it was handled extremely well in the documentary.

Read more at A Bad Witch’s Blog

Pakistani woman sentenced to death for insulting the Prophet Muhammad.

pagannews:

When I tell people I’m Hindu, one of the first reactions is sympathy. Because I’m not just Hindu, I’m a Hindu woman. It’s assumed that this is a difficult thing to be. Honestly, sometimes it is. Hinduism comes with considerable gender baggage (what doesn’t?). Yes, a lot of Hindu women are discriminated against and oppressed. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that that means we are subservient.

When I sat down to write about Hindu women who inspire me, I first thought of my cultural ancestors: women whose lives shine through the avalanche of male-oriented history, who not only overcame trials in their lifetime, but the challenge of being remembered centuries later. While heritage is important, I also included Hindu women that I encounter through the news, my community and daily life. My contemporaries: women who live and strive in the world in which I live and strive, but do it with assertiveness, verve and grace to which I can only aspire.

Gargi (dates unknown): Philosopher, Public Speaker, Royal Advisor
When we think of sages who wrote the Hindu scriptures, we picture men. While most priest-philosophers of ancient India were men, there were a number of extraordinary women among them. Gargi was one of the composers of the Upanishads. Her philosophy-poetry addresses metaphysical questions about the construction and origin of the universe. She is best known for a public debate in which she silenced (and irritated) a renowned sage by posing an unanswerable question, which can be simplified into: “Where is the realm of the Gods located?” You can read one interpretation of their complicated debate here. Gargi was also said to be an advisor in the Court of King Janaka; today a prestigious Women’s college of University of Delhi is named after her.

Gargi reminds me of the long history of women’s intellectual contributions. She inspires me to think critically and to keep asking questions even when it annoys people.

Read more at the Huffington Post

The Unfriendly Atheist’s 10 tips for single women would be somewhere along the lines of:

1. Tip your server.
2. Don’t eat the yellow snow.
3. Use protection.
4. Watch out for cops on I-10.
5. Don’t buy anything you can torrent.
6. Go to a professional tattoo shop.
7. It’s 2012. Use Gmail, not Yahoo.
8. If it tastes good, eat it.
9. As long as it’s gay, it’s okay. And if it ain’t straight, it’s great.
10. Stock up on booze before you go to a dry county. Actually, just stock up on booze.

This person, however, seems to have a slightly different perspective on life. 

While I am content to view single women as being members of the human population, OP thinks that the qualities of “single” and “woman” automatically disqualify one into such a category. Instead, yall are now “potential incubators” (everyone is cis-straight in religion, don’t forget). 

Here is their top 10 list:

1. Develop an intimate relationship with God. You cannot enter into a successful covenant with a husband if you don’t first have one with God. Seek biblical wisdom, study the word, develop a life of prayer and be dedicated to living for God. This will strengthen the marriage covenant when God allows you to walk into that season. A three-cord strand is not easily broken (Ecclesiastes 4:12)

I’m not sure what three-cord strands the OP has encountered, but I’m sure that a three-cord strand with one being invisible is just as strong as a two-cord strand, probably because it’s the same thin. 

2. Master the art of fidelity and trust. No man wants a woman that cannot be faithful nor one that turns her neck at every fine man that she sees. Learn to 100% committed prior to a serious courtship. Be happy with what God has blessed you with and cultivate your relationship. It is also important to be a woman of your word. If you promise to do something, be sure to do it!

See, I can get fidelity. I may not be able to understand monogamy, but if that’s what makes you happy, go for it. But “no man wants a woman… that turns her neck at every fine man she sees”? What? Are you suddenly not allowed to be heterosexual anymore after marriage? Honestly, I don’t think I’ll ever understand straights, or maybe this is just a religious thing.

3. Develop the ability to take care of a home. Ladies, in order to be a great partner in marriage, we must bring the ability to emotionally and physically take care of the house. Learn to set a atmosphere of peace and love. Avoid quarrels when possible. Practice gentleness with others that cross your path.

Emotionally take care of a house? Is that physically possible? And what does avoiding quarrels have to do with that? And I’m not even touching on how being a domestic slave is a woman’s qualifier for hetero marriage.

4. Learn how to cook! My mother once told me that a woman that cannot cook is not cute! We know that men like to eat. Let’s be serious here. We all need to eat to live. Eating out all of the time can become expensive and who doesn’t love a home-cooked meal from time to time. If you cannot do anything beyond boil water, invest in a cookbook. Try one new meal a week and you will quickly improve your cooking skills.

Oh, my stars. Aren’t religious people something? I love how men will starve if they don’t have a woman to feed them. If they’re so incapacitated, you’d think that they shouldn’t be trusted with any decisions on their own, least of all holding a career or being a dictator of a family.

5. Make smart financial decisions. If you desire to marry a man that provides and makes the best decisions for his family, you need to do the same. Smart men don’t want to marry a woman that spends way more than she saves. Work on your budget and be sure to have an emergency fund that covers 3-6 months on expenses along with retirement savings. Preparing for tomorrow is important. The ability to manage money is important in marriage.

I’d say this makes sense, but I know how religious straight people think, and I know this means “don’t shop a bunch you silly wimmen.”

6. Be complete as one. Be comfortable with not having a man in this season. Learn to be happy on your own. Find joy in those things that make you happy. Love what you have and don’t covet what others have. Spend time in your singleness doing the things that you love to do. Travel, find hobbies and do the things that married women tell you that you won’t have time to do when you get married and then become a mother.

I thought the whole point of this list was how single women are worthless because they’re not under the beck and call of a man?

7. Learn the art of compromise. Marriage will be about give and take. While you are single, learn that you don’t always have to be right and accept that most things will not always happen your way. Be willing to sacrifice what you want for the benefit and happiness of others. Wives have to compromise many things. The earlier we learn to compromise, the better off we will be in marriage.

By “compromise,” OP means “give up all individuality and choice.” Religious people lingo. Gotta be careful with these folks.

8. Be committed to pursuing your dreams and supporting others. It is important to have your own goals and motivations prior to becoming one with your future husbands. The single season is a great opportunity to begin building your career, business or working towards other goals. Learn how to support family and friends in their endeavors as well. When you become a wife, you will have to support your husband’s dreams, possibly at the expense of yours. You must me ok with this level of sacrifice and compromise prior to committing to marriage.

Yikes. “Build up a career so you can give it up for a pointless vocation.” Sounds legit.

9. Know what submission is and be ready to walk in it. Many people shy way from this discussion. Submission is not equivalent to obedience. Submission is yielding in love. Study God’s design for marriage and understand the role of a wife. In your singleness, God is your husband. Submit yourself to Him. Trust His plan and timing for your life. Seek His guidance in all that you do. Practicing submission now will be the driving force to it being second nature to you once you become a wife.

Submission is fine, just have a safe word. 

10. Be holy and feminine in your conduct. Always carry yourself as a classy woman who walks with confidence. Men want a woman they are proud to take home to their families. They want a woman with high self-esteem, one who walks gracefully, respects herself and others around her.

Christ on a cracker, that’s pretty depressing.

With this list, I’m sure that many single women are re-thinking the whole man marriage thing. Straight marriage sounds like it sucks. I don’t get why hetero marriage is so sacred, it looks more like a sham and a fallacy than anything. 

You have got to be pretty damn brainwashed to accept this as something you’d want in your life. I guess that’s what religion is for though.

deannar0se:

- Bro. Bobby Killman

Let me fix that for you:

“When you dress in a manner that I find personally attractive, you deserve to be treated like shit by hypothetical men who have no ability to personally connect with humans. And when they get tired of acting out the misogyny I’m projecting onto them, they start looking elsewhere, which doesn’t really make sense but I’ll say it because it might make women feel guilty, disgusting, and paranoid. Guys that only show you attention because of what they can see don’t truly exist in reality, nor can I explain why you give a shit, but they won’t stay because their eyes wander to other things also getting their attention. In short, you’re a horrible slut and you’ll only attract the scum of humanity because you’re such a gross, disgusting slut. It’s your fault I choose to get sexually aroused, and whatever. Slut.”

- Some creepy Christian straight man who has no business policing women’s appearances

Not really much of a series, so much for that.

One on the atheist man: 35 notes

One on the atheist woman: 4 notes

I’m just sayin’

~Made this rebloggable cuz~

Anonymous asked:

WTF is up with that random “anti-hijab” at the end there?? Oh, yes, ABOUT ME: anti-Christian, anti-Muslim, anti-Judaism, ANTI-HIJAB??? WTF????????????? that insertion seems so ridiculous and random? and might I add, do you hate other Muslim headcoverings? and whY????

I am not referring to the common manifestation of the hijab, but rather the concept of hijab.

See this:

Each one of those head coverings is different. Yet they are all hijab. 

But the hijab doesn’t just cover head coverings.

Acc. to Wikipedia, the goddess of knowledge:

According to Islamic scholarship, hijab is given the wider meaning of modesty, privacy, and morality; the words for a headscarf or veil used in the Qur’an are khimār (خمار) and jilbaab (جلباب), not hijab. Still another definition is metaphysical, where al-hijab refers to “the veil which separates man or the world from God.”

So hijab isn’t just a head covering, but more of a way of life. Specifically, the kind of hijab used depends on what the culture conceives as being the awrah (عورة), or the parts of the body that need to be concealed (esp during prayer).

Since the search function on tumblr is fucked, I can’t give you specific examples, but hijab almost always includes directions as to the rest of their clothing.

Southern Muslimas (it amuses me greatly to think of the confusion of Islamophobes encountering a Muslima with a Southern drawl), at least from what I’ve seen, often Al-Amira with tight pants made of thin fabric or plain ol’ jeans, plus a long-sleeve shirt with something loose and drapey over it.

But is that hijab?

I’ve seen posts on here- so sorry for the lack of examples- that dictate some pretty severe and idiotic rules for hijab. Such things include:

• No makeup
• No bright colors
• No pants
• No sleeves (yeah, that one)
• No jewelry

Now, here are a few technical issues I have with the concept of hijab:

• I am pro-sexuality. Hijab is anti-sexuality.
• I support the natural human body, and I am against body-shaming. Hijab is against the human body in its natural form. 

But, as always, these are the manifest functions of hijab. How about the latent functions?

• Hijab is never applied to men and women equally. This is injustice.
• Hijab is sometimes applied to women to the point that impedes their function. EG: Wearing a full, black-colored outfit in a hot, humid climate; the burqini; wearing a niqab/burqa (face concealment); etc. 
• Hijab is often exploited to give men a great excuse for sexual immorality or even crime. Examples: blaming rape victims for not being hijab enough; threatening a woman with responsibility for male sin for not being hijab enough, etc.

And others that aren’t coming to mind atm. 

But the BIGGEST issue I have is the long-standing cultural change as a result of the enforcement of hijab. 

Some reasonably possible scenarios could include:

• A changing perception of men regarding women who follow hijab. There’s the possibility of them holding the more extreme hijabi up to higher respect and honor than those who hold the less rigorous versions. Slut-shaming.
• Another changing perception of men regarding women who hold less severe versions of the hijab. There’s the probable possibility of slut-shaming- that is, women who wear less severe versions of the hijab will be regarded by men as being less pious, possibly more promiscuous, possibly intentionally trying to force men into sin. 
• This, in turn, leads to victim-blaming: a woman gets sexually harassed/etc, and she was wearing the shayla and not the al-amira? Why was she doing that? Was that intentional seduction? Was she trying to have that happen to her? When a man commits an anti-woman crime, was it really his fault?
• What about perceptions of “Western women”? I know I don’t have to say much on this, as it’s seen quite a bit. Ask for clarification.
• And, of course, the female counterparts! A woman who wears a less rigorous version of the hijab may feel like she does not deserve respect. A woman may feel as if she must be as hijab as possible in order to rightfully deserve respect, and that if she doesn’t, she is dirty, etc. And when something happens to her, will she blame herself for not being hijab enough? Or when something happens to a friend, will she blame her?

Now, those are all speculations on changing cultural effects. If you’d like me to clarify those concepts, just ask, but it’s too tangential for here. 

Finally! Last, but not least. 

Modesty is an illogical and misogynistic concept.

This goes for ALL religions. Catholic mantillas. German baptist head coverings. Nun veils. All of em. But, for the sake of argument, let’s stress modesty as it manifests in Islam.

Let’s do this!

I. Modesty is illogical.

What is modesty? Let’s ask the dictionary, obviously. [This will be entered as soon as my dictionary installs]

Huh. Wow. So let’s go a wee bit further back into religion.

A. Objectivity of truth

One thing an established religion requires is that truth be objective. When it comes to objectivity/subjectivity, you can only have one or the other: Truth is always true (objectivity), or truth is not always true (subjectivity). Truth is true across all time (objectivity), or truth changes according to time (subjectivity). And- here’s the important one- truth is true in all cultures (objectivity) or truth is true according to cultures (subjectivity).

B. Organized religion requires objective truth.

It’s easy to figure this one out! Is Islam always true? Is Allah not still the one true god in the Americas as well as the Eastern hemisphere?  Is Mohammad not Allah’s prophet in 2012, as he was during his lifetime? Is the Qu’ran not still the book of revealed truth from Allah and Mohammad in Gentilly as it is in Mandeville? 

Islam is objective. It has to be.

C. What determines modesty?

Oh shit. Now here’s the meat of the tomato. 

We looked at the definition of modesty- the manifest function, if you will- but let’s look at the latent functions, the way it exists. 

Here I will give you several separate scenarios. Rate them on a scale of 1 - 10, where 5 is neutral, 1 is extremely conservative and 10 is extremely immodest.

The situations:

1. a) You see a woman wearing a bikini top and board shorts at a Mississippi beach in summer. What would your numbers be if:

• You were a nudist and think nudity is neutral?
• You think jeans and a t shirt is neutral?
• You think loose clothing and an Al-Amira is neutral?

1. b) You see a woman wearing a bikini top and board shorts at a lesbian bar. What would your numbers be if:

• You were a nudist and think nudity is neutral?
• You think jeans and a t shirt is neutral?
• You think loose clothing and an Al-Amira is neutral?

1. c) You see a woman wearing a bikini top and board shorts at a place of worship. What would your numbers be if:

• You were a nudist and think nudity is neutral?
• You think jeans and a t shirt is neutral?
• You think loose clothing and an Al-Amira is neutral?

We’re nowhere near finished.

2. a) You see a woman wearing jeans and a low-cut shirt at a Mississippi beach in summer. What would your numbers be if:

• You were a nudist and think nudity is neutral?
• You think jeans and a t shirt is neutral?
• You think loose clothing and an Al-Amira is neutral?

2. b) You see a woman wearing jeans and a low-cut shirt at a lesbian bar. What would your numbers be if:

• You were a nudist and think nudity is neutral?
• You think jeans and a t shirt is neutral?
• You think loose clothing and an Al-Amira is neutral?

2. c) You see a woman wearing jeans and a low-cut shirt at a place of worship. What would your numbers be if:

• You were a nudist and think nudity is neutral?
• You think jeans and a t shirt is neutral?
• You think loose clothing and an Al-Amira is neutral?

3. a) You see a woman wearing loose clothing and an Al-Amira at a Mississippi beach in summer. What would your numbers be if:

• You were a nudist and think nudity is neutral?
• You think jeans and a t shirt is neutral?
• You think loose clothing and an Al-Amira is neutral?

3. b) You see a woman wearing loose clothing and an Al-Amira at a lesbian bar. What would your numbers be if:

• You were a nudist and think nudity is neutral?
• You think jeans and a t shirt is neutral?
• You think loose clothing and an Al-Amira is neutral?

3. c) You see a woman wearing loose clothing and an Al-Amira at a place of worship. What would your numbers be if:

• You were a nudist and think nudity is neutral?
• You think jeans and a t shirt is neutral?
• You think loose clothing and an Al-Amira is neutral?

So what the living hell determines modesty?  If you’re a nudist and you see a woman wearing jeans and a low cut shirt at a beach, you’d think she’s being excessively modest. If you think jeans and a t shirt are neutral, if you see a woman wearing the same at a bar, you’d think she’s being modestly-neutral. If you think an Al-Amira and loose clothing are neutral, if you see a woman wearing the same at a bar, you’d think she’s being immodesty.  Welp welp welp.  In fact, let’s make it super simple. You have a nudist, an average American, and a pro-burqa extremist in a coffee shop. A woman can walk in wearing one outfit, and all three observers will have different opinions on their modesty. So it looks like modesty is not defined by the actions of the person attempting modesty.  That sounds awfully… subjective if modesty depends on another person’s disposition.  So.

If objectivity is required for something to be true, and modesty does not have objectivity, it can’t be true.

Viola. Modesty is illogical.

II. Modesty is misogynistic.

Personally, I define misogyny as giving women unequal treatment from men. You, or anyone, can fight that one out with me later.

In its application:

• For women, modesty is given more importance.
• For women, the requirements for modesty are more restricting.
• The cultural/religious repercussions for women are harsher.

This is misogyny.

Almost the end. 

I oppose misogyny and inequality. I oppose irrationality. 

I oppose the concept of hijab.

The end.

divineirony:

Fucking poison is what it is.

Asked on the “Religion poisons everything” facebook page. 

Some responses attempted to take cultural factors into consideration.

Jo Child women are more susceptible to patriarchy traditionalism?? who knows

Fritz Toch Culture? As members of the english-speaking world, we are still products of an overwhelmingly misogynistic culture, where men are “supposed” to be the leaders, the idea generators. We need to kill off religion, and then we have more work to do…

Duncan Ferguson In some (if not all) religions it may have worse consequences to publicly leave your delusion.

Mona Albano It has been suggested in the past that women are more religious because they depend more on luck for the outcome of their lives, e.g. the real personality of whomever they marry. They are more rewarded for being conventional. 

Josh Robinson Oppression oppresses

Pythia St Anika Women tend to be taught to be pleasing and respectable in this culture which keeps us out of this type of rhetoric. Women also tend to stay in the closet longer than men too

Child Wild Just an observation, in our culture an atheist man can be in a relationship with a woman who follows a religion and it can work. An atheist woman in a relationship with a man who follows a religion will be put under a great deal of pressure to conform. A mother who does not profess a mainstream religion may find herself under negative scrutiny and avoided by other mothers.

Others went the more “women suck” or “delicate flower” route.

Frank Bologna Atheism in this modern culture is generally more rebellious and thus more male.

It is also a more logical position revoid of emotional compromise so would be a more common trait in males.

Atheism It is even lower on our page (24% females) - maybe because we all swear so much…

John Mark Because even an intelligent woman thinks with her heart more than her brain.

Erik Paterson Sausage fest.

That should totally not sound nearly as appealing as it does. Not the euphemism. An actual festival of sausages, it’s the euphemism that makes it sort of awkward.

Anyways, blokes are always right and that makes them argumentative bastards, that’s probably why they congregate on pages like this.

Trevor Sterling women don’t think, they just ruin mens’ lives. I’m actually shocked there are as many women on this page as there is :p 

Some preferred to channel their inner comedic genius. 

Elysa Hargesheimer The women are not on atheism pages due to the constant need for sandwiches to be made?

Merry Prankster Cause bitches love fairytales and are afraid of the dark?

Only one single poster offered a reasonable explanation.

Matthew Beck In my experience, women who post in discussion groups tend to experience more sexual harassment from male members, either on the page or in private messages. I’m guessing that this discourages some women from joining or remaining in the groups.

Atheists, if there aren’t many women in your communities, it’s not because they are fragile souls or because they’re too busy being oppressed by priests to join in. It’s probably… your fault. 

paganismoetattoo:

Femen in Paris

créditos de imagens: Folha

Femen is always pulling some shit. You all gather your own opinions about the religious statements here. 

Nah, I disagree. And no, I have straight guy friends. It’s just that straight guys have a tendency towards violence.

Homophobia is a problem, bigotry is always a problem. But once you throw in the possibility of physical violence, it gets really bad. 

They’re just bad news, really. And not all straight guys are dangerous, but there’s the possibility. If you aren’t straight enough or not white enough or whatever for a woman, you might get into an argument or she might avoid you. But when you cross the line for a straight man, physical violence can result. 

So not really an inevitability, but it’s a probability. 

Like I said, I got straight man friends. And I got straight woman friends. I’ve gotten into fights with both- and I don’t have to worry about the straight women. They generally don’t get violent. But you do have to worry about the straight men. You have to worry about stepping on their toes so to speak. 

They’re just more trouble. And that’s not tumblr morality or me just hating on straight people, that’s just me trying to survive and keep watching out for my best interests. 

By Sarah McKenzie.

The Vatican’s recent revisions that put the ordination of women on par with child sex abuse drew howls of protest from around the world. In some ways, I think people are being a little unfair.

After all, the Catholic Church is just being true to form – it has actively discriminated against women since its inception. Perhaps rather than condemning the Church for this slip-up, we should be thanking it for the reminder that religious values and teachings have been used to incite, aid and justify discrimination against women throughout history.

From the orthodox Jewish prayer in which men thank God for not making them women, to the estimated 5000 Muslim women and girls who are shot, strangled, stoned, burned or otherwise killed by their own families every year in an effort to restore “honour”, you can find countless examples from every one of the major religions to demonstrate their patriarchal basis and the inherent message that women are inferior to men.

But while it is women’s lives that are so often restricted and harmed by religious practices, debates involving religion – both for and against – are still often dominated by men. Female atheists clearly do exist, with 2006 census data showing women compose nearly half of the Australians who label themselves as having no religion. But they always seem so quiet.

Part of the problem, I think, stems from the brand of atheism that is dominant today. Mmany people, especially women, might find it intimidating or unappealing.

While the religious can simply fall back on a position of faith to justify their own beliefs, atheists are not afforded the same kind of shoulder-shrugging, passive argument. Instead, they are expected to have a university-level understanding of every major religion, a thorough grounding in ancient and modern history, and a faultless knowledge of science. Atheists must be prepared to actively defend their non-belief, a process that by definition will offend many believers.

While there is most definitely a place for this so-called “militant” atheism, it is little wonder that some women might find it off-putting. After all, girls are taught to be sensitive and emotional, to not cause trouble or be particularly forthright with their opinions. Women who dare to be aggressive or outspoken are often labelled as hysterical harpies, not worthy of being listened to and impossible to take seriously. We should hardly be surprised that some women might be reluctant to come out as atheists.

All of this is not to say that there are no vocal or intelligent women out there talking about the role of religion, sharing stories about their own loss of faith and generally waving the atheist flag. However, we rarely hear the names of Dutch activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali or author Ophelia Benson mentioned alongside Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens.

How then can we redress the balance and create an environment in which more women are encouraged and inspired to align themselves publicly with science, reason and non-belief? How can we better engage them in discussions about the ways in which religious teachings are used to control female bodies and lives?

Perhaps we need to promote a different side to atheism that is not so much seen as looking back in anger, as it is about looking forward with hope. While it may be akin to sacrilege, maybe there is room for a type of atheism that isn’t so much about being anti-religious, as it is about looking at questions of how to live, how to find meaning and how to end suffering. Maybe we could even celebrate and better use those characteristics traditionally associated with “femaleness”, such as story-telling, empathy and understanding.

Clearly, not all believers are misogynists; equally, many acts of violence against women have been perpetrated by non-believers. However, as Jimmy Carter pointed out last year, religion remains one of the “basic causes of the violation of women’s rights” and this is something that all of us must work together to tackle.

It’s not a question of whether smart, rational women are out there – it’s just a matter of encouraging them to stand up and make their voices heard when it comes to matters of reason and religion.

Ah, no. You’re missing the concept of modesty. 

Modesty is a gendered form of morality. 

You won’t find a single mainstream religious tradition that has a non-gendered system of modesty. 

You can be completely naked or be wheeled around in a wooden box and that doesn’t mean anything one way or the other regarding modesty. 

But the moment that you subscribe to a belief that commands women to cover up more than men do, that’s the moment you buy in to misogyny. 

Honestly, choice isn’t the matter here. Forcing someone to abide by religious moral codes is another issue, a serious issue, but a separate one. 

It’s the ideology that makes it misogynistic. 

Yes, people should dress how they want to. But we don’t live in a cultural vacuum, and there’s not really such a thing as coincidence.

Let’s say you have a religious-heavy area where the religion is very conservative and preaches a certain severe manner of dress for women. When 95% of women abide by it, is that really a choice? Do you really think they’re making their decisions totally away from religious or cultural influence?

Where I’m from, a good portion of the cis-women population thinks that they don’t deserve equal health care, and they even think that equal health care for them is immoral. You think it’s just coincidence that they believe in such nonsense and that the religion that preaches that is very strong in that area?

But yeah. Internalized misogyny. Just because you choose to do something that’s rooted in bigotry doesn’t make it okay. I can choose to go to a gay camp, and that doesn’t make it automatically non-homophobic.

Different methods of the same underlying religious beliefs regarding women