There is something very wrong with a world in which intelligent and educated women believe that they must be subservient and tolerant of blatant disrespect in order to keep their husbands happy and their marriages stable. Tonight’s dinner table conversation was initiated by a question posed to me by one of two flatmates taking a marriage course (neither of whom are married or have ever been married and for one this is like the 8th course undertaken on this topic – and no it is not about "the fiqh of"). It was a question of whether a husband telling his wife “Don’t interrupt me!” (with attitude) because he was “busy” with “something” and “not interested in her at that moment” would be considered rude.

Well, in a word, yes. The husband needs to have some sense knocked into him. Its not rude – its just downright disrespectful. But this is apparently OK. However, apparently it is NOT ok for the wife to say the same thing to her husband, but it IS a perfectly acceptable way to speak to a child: her words not mine. Sickening. I wonder if a few words of disrespect, a couple of smack downs later and some black eyes and or lost teeth would change these women’s perspective on disrespect – somehow I doubt it. How could you venture into bed with such a pig?

I don’t really care all to much if women hold the view themselves (as long as they don’t want to access state services when it all goes pear-shaped), but to promote it to impressionable and vulnerable individuals is not on. I am living in a very sick community. Actually I don’t think you can call it a community. It is a bubble. A bubble in which a select few people’s words are worth more than a milligram of common sense and where “outsiders” are being “ridden by shaytan”. Yet we are all brethren in Islam. Subhan’allah.

I’m not in the best of moods tonight – the self-righteous and condescending arguments coupled with complete inanity and stupidity with a touch of judgementalism thrown in for good measure have me wanting to kick something (productive I know). Sometimes I think that my sisters in Islam have nothing more interesting to speak about than marriage and to be honest it bores the shit out of me. If there is a gathering of more than two sisters inevitably it comes up, needs to be discussed, hashed and rehashed – you’d think world peace had been declared years ago and that it was the most pressing issue of our time. AAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!

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Anyway. There’s a film festival starting tomorrow so insha’allah I hope to attend some of it – at least interact with some people that are not bubble-bound if nothing else. Why does thins place bring out the worst in me? Why do I feel so gross about me living here? Why can’t I just get the hell out - oh wait I know the answer to that one – the dollar has tanked and I can’t afford it lol!

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Ya Allah protect me from myself.