Woman Between Islam and Western Society
4. The Problems Facing Modern Civilization
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forced into sex during their college years or before,
and most of these incidents were date rapes. The
number of forcible rapes reported each year —
87,340 in 1985 — is believed to be about half the
total actually committed. Says Koss: “You’re a lot
more likely to be raped by a date than by a stranger
jumping out of the bushes.” Some feminists argue
that the U.S. has a “rape culture” in which males are
encouraged to treat women aggressively and
women are trained to submit.
19
Mr. Sri Prakash, former governor of Maharashtra,
and India’s first High Commissioner in Pakistan,
mentions in his memoirs that in 1947 he once asked
an Englishman why his countrymen had such a low
opinion of Indians. One of the things which the
Englishman cited was the number of restrictions
there were regarding marriage, which was totally
alien to the European concept of the boy and girl
choosing one another and then getting married. He
obviously despised the “social shackles” which
prevented this happening in India.
When women’s liberation was launched, the
demolishing of such “social shackles” seemed a
