The truth behind the equality of the sexes

Today is International Women's Day, a day when we support women around the world and their quest for rights and freedom. But just how different is, for example, the Islamic Middle East from the West? Well, let us compare.

In the traditional, Islamic Middle East, women have to cover up, wear traditional dress and be escorted in public. Arguably, this is in a man's best interests, allowing him to focus on his business in public, eliminating distraction and the sort of temptation that could get him in trouble for adultery in the long-term. Furthermore, under the conditions, a married man has less reason to worry that someone will take interest in his wife, or his wife will stray; one can argue that a woman who is escorted or in concealing garments will receive less attention from the outside world than if she were alone or in, say, a mini skirt or bikini. On top of all this, when the only part of a married woman's that is visible in public is her eyes, the rest is reserved for her husband. The private sphere thus becomes a place of private sensuality and sensory indulgence for the man.

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Now let's look at the West, where sex-commercialism is everywhere, toying with the man's senses and diverting his attention to women. In this environment, women wear as little as they want to get as much attention as they want and, with many taboos about marriage or fidelity gone, have as many options as they want. As a male, you will not get attention unless you display the "correct" amount of disinterest and interest, and invest the right amount of emotion and emotionlessness in each moment. Also, you should have six-pack abs, witty humour and tattoos. You should also be at least a head's length taller than the woman you are pursuing. Do not think for a minute that this height "requirement" has an evolutionary benefit, or is serving future generations in any way; it's just that women like to be on their toes to kiss you, and their preferences trump any other societal priority.

If you are a man in a relationship, good luck; all day long, your woman (dare you even call her your woman these days?) has had so much attention from random males that she will walk in the door with an enormous head and ego. In truth, the only thing that will keep her head on her frame are the impressions she has about you, which will trigger the compassionate or submissive female nature that cloaks the worst. For example, if she believes that you are an elusive guy that she has to chase after, she will be afraid to act in a way that she thinks could jeopardize her ability to keep you around. And, if she has suspicion that you might be able to find something better than her, she will conceive that she needs to compensate by demonstrating some reason why she is better than the competition. In a less-serious relationship, you will also have the upper hand if you appear to be her favorite option at the moment. But all of these conclusions of her are most thoroughly established through a series of games, and the games will never end. She will constantly test how worthy you are of her if her views of you begin to change, even on a whim; if you fail, her view will change, regardless of the reality of the situation, and she will become argumentative and drawn towards the attention she is getting from the outside world. Deep down, you know everyone is just waiting for that - and, in particular, for the moment your woman gets slightly bored or annoyed with you, which can lead her to stray. This coincides with the fact that, in the West, a woman can demand you accept these people in orbit as "friends", which means that at the slightest moment of her discontent she has plenty of options. The whole scenario is how society's encouragement for women to "never be with somebody who is less than what you deserve" plays out. Under these circumstances, men can never get too comfortable - or lazy - in a relationship or marriage.

By contrast, men are rarely granted the privilege of having female friends in queue and held up to the highest level of suspicion if they do. This is unfortunate for two reasons. First, the impression that any woman could instantly come along and sweep you up will do wonders to keep your woman in the frame of mind that makes her submissive and potentially complimentary to you. Second, the absence of female friends in queue is really what makes the tests your woman may put you through difficult; through it all, you have to carry the mindset that you have other options although, in many cases, you do not because you have been pulled away from them. At times, you have to feed yourself an illusion that you could walk out the door and never be lonely just to maintain the right frame. How anyone is actually benefiting from these games, when it clearly empowers men who are delusional, cheating or just do not care, is a mystery. But it is what women want, so it comes standard.

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And what about politics? In the Islamic Middle East, a woman's political opinions will likely be influenced by the Koran and a society that evaluates women based on the Koran. Accordingly, women will be afraid to do bad things and consider themselves bad people if they do not fulfill the role that the Koran indicates they should fulfill. In the West, a woman is in tune to whatever viewpoint plays into her emotions or social programming. And you better share the woman's political views - or at least be able to stomach them or ignore them - because if she is liberal, and she most likely is, she will talk about her political views a lot.

In the traditional, Islamic Middle East, if a woman cheats, she is filthy and might be stoned to death; she is not allowed to have sex outside of a lawful marriage. Marriage is a big deal in the Islamic Middle East. And, because men can have multiple wives, the women compete against one another for the man's attention and can never get too comfortable and lazy in a relationship. Men have the option of finding each of the things they want in different women and bringing them all under his domain. Taking cues from the culture and religion they are a part of, women are under pressure to not be bad wives or misbehave. If the are bad wives or misbehave, the man can divorce them - it is entirely his decision - and divorce comes with a high degree of social stigma. This counteracts the fact that, in the Islamic Middle East, just like in the West, women can be materially enriched through divorce, through a dowry.

In the West, I can count the men I know who cheated on my hand. To count the women who have cheated, I'd need at least a full sheet of paper. Female infidelity is now a fact of life, like bathing. This is all part of the "woman's choice" - and, with it, she gets to choose whether she wants to ruin your life, too. For example, she may change her mind after you've hooked up, especially if alcohol is involved and she feels unhappy after the deed, and allege that your consensual experience was not consensual at all. I know a friend whose college football career ended this way. Evidence could not be admitted that she had just accused another man of sexual assault a year ago. The law is known for being biased in this way. Simply put: the law is against men. Nowhere is this clearer than in the area of divorce law. Women are completely in charge, which is why 99% of all settlements are initiated by women. A woman can choose a divorce and get a restraining order so the man never sees his kids. Do we really think women want divorces because they have been abused and treated unfairly, given what women are used to getting and used to getting away with in society? Marriage requires of them something they have been above and excused from their entire lives.

In the traditional, Islamic Middle East, women do not drink. In the West, women drink recklessly and smoke despite even the impact it may have on a child. It's "their choice" we are told.

The suicide rate in the Muslim world is the one of the lowest, particularly in Saudi Arabia. Women are slightly more likely to commit suicide than men. Western men are three to four times more likely to commit suicide than women.

In the traditional, Islamic Middle East, places of learning and business are generally considered a man's sphere. There is no encouragement for women to speak their minds. Sex stereotypes are rampant and single women are looked down upon.

In the West, we are constantly fed the idea that women should be in the top ranks of power - even if a woman may get pregnant, require leave and become less productive because her hands are completely full. Single women are heralded by the culture, and told to say whatever they want. There are words men cannot say because they are "sexist." Sexism is taboo unless it is about "unloyal male pigs", "short man syndrome" or "tiny penis Asians". Women scoff at the idea of doing anything for their man - and it carries negative associations to ask a woman to "make a sandwich." In the West, everything is seen as an opportunity for a woman to claw for and exert power and fight on behalf of her gender.

And so, as we can see, whereas the Middle East makes women into something that suits men, the West makes men into something that suits women. One coin, two sides to it. And in the West, this is the side we get:

Hostile press: CNN ignored the other reasons for the terminated study
so as to suggest male privilege. Everything in the West is
made to look like women are victims.