The Minuteman: The Official Newspaper of Newark Academy since 1940

The Minuteman

The Official Newark Academy Newspaper

Zainab Salbi: A Real Feminist

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by

jfurst16
in

By Elias Neibart ’16, Staff Writer

https://flyhummingbird.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/saudiwomen-we-can-do-it1.jpg

I think we all were touched by Zainab Salbi’s presentation to the school. Not only did she share her own personal story of redemption, but Ms. Salbi also spoke about her organization, Women For Women, that helps disenfranchised women who are affected by the calamities of war. People often ask me if I’m a feminist and I say no. These people are quick to tell me that being a feminist simply means agreeing that both genders should be considered equal in society; thus, they believe that I do not feel women should have the same “rights and privileges” that men enjoy. I realized after Ms. Salbi’s provoking talk that I think I may be a feminist, if being a feminist means following in the righteous footsteps of Ms. Salbi.

What many of the self-proclaimed feminists at our school misunderstand is that most men, at least the ones in an establishment like Newark Academy, want women to be treated as equals. However, feminists at Newark Academy have taken a just cause and diluted and misconstrued its message. Feminism is not the derision of American corporations and businesses for paying women 77 cents to a man’s dollar (a statistic that has been debunked). Feminism is not the smearing and attacking of conservative politicians and citizens for opposing abortion. Feminism is not the castigating of the traditional “stay-at-home” lifestyle that many mothers still follow. Modern American feminism paints Republicans as waging a war against women, while in fact, and Zainab Salbi would probably attest to this, the real war on women is happening halfway across the world, in countries like Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Egypt. In these hotbeds for Sharia Law, women are told to cover their bodies, be ashamed of their sexuality, forget about aspirations of any career, and submit to servitude under the command and control of their closest male relative. To make a horrible situation worse, these areas are also subjected to acts of jihadist terrorism and, sometimes, full scale war. Ms. Salbi realizes the atrocities done to women in the Middle East; she identified oppression and sought out a way to help truly subjugated women.

In my opinion of the word, Ms. Salbi is a real feminist.

So, what I wish to leave you with, my faithful readers, is that we must strive for more than just the modern, politicized manifestation of feminism in America and force ourselves to seek out and help the thousands of women in the world who so desperately need our attention and aid. May God Bless Zainab Salbi and her work, and may we all pray that the innocent and just people under the tyranny and cruelty of Islamic-Fascism find peace, liberty and happiness.

Comments

2 responses to “Zainab Salbi: A Real Feminist”

  1. rbitler Avatar
    rbitler

    I read this article with great interest. Having lived in different places in the world, I would say women have far greater opporutnity, far greater freedom, far greater support, far greater respect, here in America – than in most areas of the world I’ve seen. And in many areas of the world, as Eil points out, women are actively repressed and persecuted and abused (often horribly). I would think modern day feminists would want to focus most on those places – where women are being horribly abused. I consider myself not a feminist- because of all the things such has come to mean – but rather a supporter of human beings.. I want women (and men!) to reach their full potential in life and to accomplish great things. (I certainly want that for our daughter and our granddaughter! – And I’m already working hard to help make that happen.) – – – My wife was a Senior Vice President of a major Manhattan company (revenues around $120 million) – then later scaled back significantly to help raise our children (as we both wanted, and were fortunate enough to make happen). I scaled back later myself to spend more time with our brood (hence, working at NA). My daughter-in-law is a nuclear engineer, who has just resigned to stay at home and raise our grandchildren. I’ve had many current feminist types literally attack our family’s decision (often with great vehemence), and our son’s family’s decision as being anti-woman. Why? I have no doubt but that is what my wife wanted, and that what she chose to do was a wonderful boon for our children. What saddens me greatly about the current state of affairs in society is that antagonism that so many women seem to have for men. (“A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle…”) The relationship between the sexes is far worse, IMHO, than when I grew up. – – – Men and women are designed to complement and support each other, in deep and wonderful ways, and to be able to together create new human life. And when they do, and raise that new human life – those children will fare far, far better on average when Mom & Dad are committed to each other through life and to jointly raising their offspring. Good and honorable men (of whom there are a great many) make huge contributions to society, and to families, and to building things for the future. The combining of a male and a female into marriage, say, is a beautiful and magnificent thing – with huge benefits to each other and to the children brought into life. When I grew up, men and women appreciated each other, and the strengths and abilities each bring to bear in life (which are often different – because men and women are different), and who when joined together, bear much fruit in this world. And that was (and still is!) a wonderful beautiful thing. What’s happened?

  2. afox16 Avatar
    afox16

    “Fallacy of relative privation:
    The fallacy of relative privation, or appeal to bigger problems, is an informal fallacy in which an opponent’s arguments about issues are minimized, deemed unimportant, or dismissed on the grounds that more important topics and issues exist, regardless of whether these problems are relevant to the question at hand or not. [1][2][3][4]
    A well-known example of this fallacy is the response “but there are children starving in Africa”, with the implication that any issue less serious is not worthy of discussion.”
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacy_of_relative_privation
    http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Not_as_bad_as

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