Christians and Womens' Rights

Honestly, I'm tired of Christian ladies being *overly* concerned about modesty. I'll give this disclaimer, though: Modesty is important. We don't need to shake it if we've got it or incite men to lust on purpose. Twelve inches of cleavage should NOT be flopping out of your shirt, and I reeeeeallly don't want to see your butt cheeks hangin' out of your shorts. If I'm not meaning to look and my eyeballs go, "YIKES!," just imagine what the poor, shall we say, "lonely," fellow going about his daily business is going to think. And think. And think.

But really. When I hear talk about how all women should not have shirt sleeves any shorter than midway up the arm, or they ought all wear skirts that go below the knee, I wonder if anyone really stops to think what legalism, in its purest form, will do to their fellow human beings:

http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/271197.aspx

Go ahead and read this story about a Saudi Arabian rape victim. If this case defends the modesty of a woman, then I am the most firebrand feminist you will *ever* meet. The very idea that a woman is some sort of property that needs punishment when outside societal norms is horrid. I don't wonder if the Saudi people have made it clear in their own minds what exactly a woman IS. If she is responsible for her own decisions and can MAKE decisions in her own right, she ought to logically have more rights. If not, it should be HER MALE RELATIVES who get the beatings and whippings for allowing her to wander about alone. I know if I allowed my 11-month old to wander out unattended that I would be the one facing legal consequences, not the child I was supposed to protect. I guess what I'm trying to get at is that inconsistent people and societies make me barf.

Watch as America does nothing. Watch as we could care less. But, you know, Saddam Hussein was a horrible dictator and he needed to be removed at the expense of several thousand American lives. I'm sure the US will never so much as impose economic sanctions against Saudi Arabia, ever, no matter what they do to their people or ours for that matter. They just have too much oil and that means they can do whatever they bloody well want.

Another thing: Have you noticed that *most* of the people you hear about speaking against female genital mutilation or the state of women in Muslim countries are liberal? Where are the Christians speaking out against the atrocities? Are we so concerned about whether our daughter wears pants or skirts, or whether nail polish is allowed in our home, that we lose sight of what's important in terms of basic human rights?

Don't get me wrong. It's important to have standards in our homes. It's important to pursue godliness and purity. Christians probably should look and act differently than those around them. I'm saying a major way we can do that is by our prayers and speech for the defenseless. Am I looking in the wrong places? Why aren't I seeing more of that?