In One New York Town, Women Aren’t Allowed to Drive

Started by Youssuf Ramadan, January 24, 2015, 06:24:42 AM

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Youssuf Ramadan

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2015/01/23/this-is-not-saudi-arabia-in-one-new-york-town-women-arent-allowed-to-drive/


QuoteThis Is Not Saudi Arabia: In One New York Town, Women Aren’t Allowed to Drive

January 23, 2015 by Terry Firma 120 Comments

Have you heard of Kiryas Joel? The overwhelmingly Haredi town of 22,000 people, located about halfway between New York City and Poughkeepsie,
… has by far the youngest median age population of any municipality in the United States, and the youngest, at 13.2 years old, of any population center of over 5,000 residents in the United States. Residents of Kiryas Joel, like those of other Haredi Jewish communities, typically have large families.
According to 2008 census figures, the village has the highest poverty rate in the nation. More than two-thirds of residents live below the federal poverty line and 40% receive food stamps.
Kiryas Joel
The rapidly-growing municipality has been in the news on and off not just because of that dubious distinction, but also because of the way it set up its school district (violating the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause). In addition, Kiryas Joel has been dogged for 25 years by repeated allegations of vote-rigging and other electoral fraud perpetrated by the Haredi.
It is in this uber-pious, ultra-conservative town that women are excluded from driving cars, writes Frimet Goldberger, who grew up there.
In my hometown, women can’t be jailed for driving like they can in Saudi Arabia. But driving is still forbidden. A woman who drives would risk being shunned, and her children expelled from the private Hasidic school. She could be excommunicated from the community.
Growing up, it never dawned on me that driving was a possibility. No woman in my family or neighborhood ever did. We were taught that our tznius, our modesty, would be at stake.
Modesty, I’m fairly certain, is a sales tactic, a guise, a ruse. These prohibitions are mostly about something else: control. Most likely, that’s also the driving force (ha!) behind Saudi women not being allowed in the driver’s seat.
Goldberger concurs:
For Hasidic women, being banned from the wheel means being tied to your husband and to your community. Driving gives you the keys to freedom and independence.
Like Deborah Feldman, who wrote Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots, Frimet Goldberger had the courage and wherewithal to extricate herself from that miserable, oppressive way of living. In fact, she and her husband both got out.
She now has her driver’s license. May she go far.


Read more: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2015/01/23/this-is-not-saudi-arabia-in-one-new-york-town-women-arent-allowed-to-drive/#ixzz3PjjVgdDQ

To start with, I thought this was a spoof story.  Wow....  :confused2:

Jason78

Winner of WitchSabrinas Best Advice Award 2012


We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real
tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. -Plato

mainethinker

Dandong china has a bridge that i cross day after day

gussy

The best part is that their lifestyle is funded by New York taxpayers.  So much for God providing everything they'll need. 

Desdinova

How can anyone say that religion is not a cult?  It's a fucking cult!
"How long will we be
Waiting, for your modern messiah
To take away all the hatred
That darkens the light in your eye"
  -Disturbed, Liberate

Jason78

All religions fall into the definition of cult don't they?
Winner of WitchSabrinas Best Advice Award 2012


We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real
tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. -Plato

Aletheia

Quote from: Jakenessif you believe in the supernatural, you do not understand modern science. Period.