The awful logic of "she was asking for it"

You are sitting in a car with your exboyfriend. You want some pictures back. You are planning to marry someone else. Suddenly your car is attacked, you and your ex are both kidnapped, and both raped.

When your case goes before a judge you are punished, along with your attackers. You are sentenced to 90 lashes for being out alone with a man who is not a member of your family. Your attackers are sentenced to prison terms ranging from 10 months to 5 years and to 800 to 1,000 lashes.

You appeal.

On appeal their sentences are increased but so is yours. Now you are sentenced to 200 lashes and 6 months in jail.

Now, it seems, you are being punished for appealing in addition to being punished for talking to your exboyfriend.

This is the case of a woman in Saudi Arabia, one of our "allies" and the only good thing to report is that it has, according to the New York Times, "provoked a rare public debate about the treatment of women" in that country.

Even lawyers have spoken out, some on television, objecting to the sentence and pointing to other cases where women were not treated so harshly.

A disturbing observation from the very end of the Times article: "The victim is now married, and her husband told local reporters that he planned to appeal the verdict." I'm glad he's supportive of his wife, of course. But why is he the one appealing?

Read the story here.

...because public space really matters!

Elizabeth