May 3, 2004

Feeling like a woman.

The AP has an interesting interview with an Iraqi, Dhia al-Shweiri, who suffered extreme physical torture under Saddam Hussein---"he was electrocuted, beaten and hung from the ceiling with his hands tied behind his back." (Link via Drudge.) Al-Shweiri now expresses a preference for that torture over the humiliation the Americans now stand accused of. I am angry with the American soldiers who used these practices (assuming they did), but I am also angry at this statement by al-Shweiri:
"They were trying to humiliate us, break our pride. We are men. It's OK if they beat me. Beatings don't hurt us, it's just a blow. But no one would want their manhood to be shattered. They wanted us to feel as though we were women, the way women feel and this is the worst insult, to feel like a woman."

Hey, I feel like a woman. Would I be better off electrocuted and hung from the ceiling? I think men should know how women feel. If you look out on your own society and conclude it's a terrible thing to feel like a woman, you ought to do something to improve the lot of women.