The youth arm of Sweden’s largest gay rights group has expressed fury at educational material distributed by two major tampon manufacturers. The two companies, Libresse and OB, are accused by RFSL Ungdom of providing teachers with sex education material that “reinforces offensive norms and opinions”. One of the books indicates that, for young people, the idea of being homosexual “is enough to send a shiver down their spine.” There is also a passage that states: “If you are a Muslim, you may not be allowed to have a girlfriend or boyfriend”. In another section, Muslim girls concerned that they might not bleed on their wedding night are advised to contact a gynecologist who can sew stitches in their vaginal opening. [The Local]
Swedish Tampon Manufacturer’s Racist & Homophobic Sex-Ed Book
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Joe Moag
Who is the manufacturer of these materials? Joseph Goebbels & Sons, Inc.?
seitan-on-a-stick
I thought it was the British edition. The Swedish are lurching to the right these days…
blake
“Muslim girls concerned that they might not bleed on their wedding night are advised to contact a gynecologist who can sew stitches in their vaginal opening.”
Might that have been an attempt at being culturally sensitive? I don’t disagree that a more generic “girls concerned” would have been better because other girls besides Muslims might be concerned about intact hymens. However,there is a well known fact that some Muslims are very concerned about having an intact hymen on their wedding night.
The New York “Times” published an article about the importance of virginity in some Muslim communities in Europe and the growth of surgery to restore hymens.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/11/world/europe/11virgin.html?
So, stepping back, how is providing information to answer questions that a minority group might legitimately have wrong? Wouldn’t ignoring the concerns of women who might face ostracism for enjoying their sexuality or experience a broken hymen because of tampon use be stupid?
It’s also true that some Muslims are not allowed as teenagers to date. Right? Part of this is based in the same fears that force women to have hymen restoration. The sad truth is that some Muslims girls and women in Europe (and around the world) have been the victims of honor killings for perceived sexual indiscretions.
http://www.thelocal.se/12306/
http://tinyurl.com/5uckp3
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2006/01/16/for_muslim_women_a_deadly_defiance/
In Somalia, a 13-year-old girl was recently stoned to death for adultery after coming forward to report being gang raped. Her local government had been taken over by a fundamentalist Islamic faction.
P.S.
As much as we want to kid ourselves, the U.S. still has a great deal of sexism that governs how women are treated based on their sexual expression. Tight or revealing clothing can make a women be called slutty. Straight men are studs for scoring while women (and gay men) are promiscuous sluts for engaging in similar sexual activity. Right? Up until the 1980s, husbands in the U.S. could rape their wives with no concern for criminal charges.
And, again male victims of sexual violence in the U.S. are also treated horribly. Bill O’Reilly also smeared a 15-year-old boy who had been raped, kidnapped, and held for 4 years.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKI5S4wShqo
bill
whats a hymen??? you mean high men? like on tina?
darren
racist? i assume you’re referring to the Muslim women- Islam is a religion not a race. Please correct.