ISIL and women

A chilling article from the Washington Post:

“[My wife] is just a woman, like every other woman,” he says coldly. “Women exist to be married and have children. In jihad, feelings do not matter. Women survive; they do not live.”

The sad reality for women in ISIL controlled territory.

Through my interviews, it became clear to me that the Islamic State has perfected a process of dehumanisation that allows its members to indulge their misogyny, aggressive sexual tendencies, and need for power – all in the name of Islam. …

Following the militant group’s assault on the Sinjar district of Iraqi Kurdistan in August 2014, thousands of Yazidi women were sold into temporary “marriages” with multiple men.

While Sunni women in Islamic State territory are forced into marriages as well, the Islamic State considers Yazidis to be little more than animals, fit only for bondage and exploitation.

Though Islamic State clerics bless short-term “marriages” with Yazidi women, these one-sided arrangements are nothing more than a pretense to justify rape and sexual slavery.

Some Yazidi women say they were bought for as little as US$10 (NZ$14) or a carton of cigarettes

The difference between ISIL and the Nazis is one of degree only.

“What if that were your mother?” I ask him, trying to keep my voice even. “How would you feel about your mother being sold as a slave and raped, or even if she was Sunni, being married off to several of your friends?”

That gets a response. When he looks me in the face, the overwhelming hatred in his expression is utterly chilling.

“Even if it were my mother, that is Islamic sharia law and I would not mind because it would be for the jihad,” he says finally.

“We treat women the way we are required to by Islamic law, not human law. This is how they are supposed to live. They are second-class humans.”

This is what happens when you apply seventh century writings to the 21st century in a literal sense.