Stipulating that men can expect to have sex with his wife at least "once every four nights"

The laws coming out of Karzai's Afghanistan seem bizarre even by Taliban standards. Here are some new rules to abide by... No, this is not an April Fool's joke.

• Women can only seek work, education or doctor's appointments with their husband's permission.
• Article 132 requires women to obey their husband's sexual demands and stipulates that a man can expect to have sex with his wife at least "once every four nights" when traveling, unless they are ill. This in effect is said to legalize rape within a marriage negating any need for sexual consent between married couples.
• Only fathers and grandfathers are granted custody of children.

One has got to love the logic behind some of this warped thinking...

"Men and women have equal rights under Islam but there are differences in the way men and women are created. Men are stronger and women are a little bit weaker; even in the west you do not see women working as firefighters."

- Ustad Mohammad Akbari, an MP and the leader of a Hazara political party. The Hazara party is being courted by Mr. Karzai in a bid to win the upcoming elections. From here.

A digital appropriation of Piet van den Boog's oil paintings at Mike Weiss

Comment on Obama considering Summers for Treasury

The Times is agog with the news that Mr. Lawrence Summers is in the short list to be the next Treasury Secretary. It is commendable that President elect Obama is looking to allay jittery markets and appoint someone as quickly as possible at the Treasury who can project an image of stability, values and infuse continuity at the Treasury.

The only problem is that Mr. Lawrence Summers is not that man.

From his speech to the National Bureau of Economic Research:

Women often don’t want to work the hours needed to get to the top and that girls are socialized toward nursing while boys are socialized toward building bridges. In the special case of science and engineering, there are issues of intrinsic aptitude, and particularly of the variability of aptitude, and that those considerations are reinforced by what are, in fact, lesser factors involving socialization and continuing iscrimination.

In other words, this man was telling us that women were intrinsically inferior to men when it came to math and sciences.

That he was the President of Harvard University when he made that comment was another thing... Now he is being considered by President elect Obama to be the Treasury Secretary. No way. Now how. Not ever.

Obama can do better than that. Geithner is the right individual for this job.

Culture watch

This month’s Harpers carried instructions issued by a Muslim cleric on methods men may use to to discipline their wives. The instructions were aired on a television program last year in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Full text here.

A husband should not beat his wife like he would a child, slapping it right and left. Unfortunately, many husbands beat their wives only when they get angry, and when they start the beating, they use both hands and sometimes their feet, as if they are punching a wall. Remember, brother, this is forbidden; your wife is a human being.

Today

Today, March 8th, is International Women's Day.

Guess the commemoration is still relevant - see here...

Excerpt: An Amnesty International report describing a relatively short civil war in Côte d'Ivoire documents case after case of girls and women, aged "under 12" to 63, assaulted by armed men. The more recent and thoroughgoing report by Human Rights Watch records the rape of children as young as three years-old. During the civil war, women and girls were seized in their village homes or at military roadblocks, or were discovered hiding in the bush. Some were raped in public. Some were raped in front of their husbands and children. Some were forced to witness the murder of husbands or parents. Then they were taken away to soldiers' camps to be held along with many other women. They were forced to cook for the soldiers during the day and every night they were gang-raped, in some cases by 30 to 40 men. They were also beaten and tortured. They saw women who resisted being beaten or killed by a simple slicing of the throat.

Many women were raped so incessantly and so brutally -- with sticks, knives, gun barrels, burning coals -- that they died. Many others were left with injuries and pain that still linger long after the war. Many who had been scarred as girls by "excision" or FMG (female genital mutilation) were literally ripped apart.

The Amnesty report coolly says: "The brutality of rape frequently causes serious physical injuries that require long-term and complex treatment including uterine prolapses (the descent of the uterus into the vagina or beyond)" -- one has to wonder what lies "beyond" the vagina -- "vesico-vaginal or recto-vaginal fistulas and other injuries to the reproductive system or rectum, often accompanied by internal and external bleeding or discharge." It notes that such women usually can't "access the medical care they need." Some still find it hard to sit down, or stand up, or walk. Some still spit up blood. Some have lost their eyesight or their memories. Some miscarried. Many contracted sexually transmitted diseases and HIV. No one knows how many of them died, or are dying, as a result.

A wrong rite

According to a foundation that performs over 200 female circumcision's (I would rather call it mutilation) each weekend in Bandung Indonesia, there are three “benefits” to circumcising girls.

- “One, it will stabilize her libido,”
- “Two, it will make a woman look more beautiful in the eyes of her husband.
- Three, it will balance her psychology.”

A report of this deplorable practice in Indonesia and a slideshow here.

It is now reported that this horrifying procedure is slowly gaining a quiet following among newly arrived immigrants in the US and England.

Picture courtesy: The New York Times.

Gallery visit: Jonathan LeVine Gallery

Jonathan LeVine Gallery in Chelsea is known for representing artists who are not really mainstream but getting there. I personally like this gallery for the interesting, out-of-the-ordinary exhibits that have become their trademark. Most of the shows involve large scale paintings featuring fantastical environments straddling equal parts reality, absurdity, graffiti and comic. Their current three artist show is worth a visit.

The main room features Jonathan Viner. His paintings focus on themes of survival where individuals use aspects of their personality or environment to survive (I know this is a oft beaten artistic track, but his technique trumps stereotypes). The characters (mostly painted from live models) employ a variety of devices to survive : they run away from trouble, take stock of the world from afar, fight or strip naked. The paintings were a mixture of Weimar’s Otto Dix, Old Master imagery and psychoanalysis.

The project room featured two artists. Xiaoqing Ding from China and Esao Andrews from Arizona. I can’t seem to decide whose works I like better. Is it the Chinese lady’s works with its sexual innuendoes referencing mythology and fairytales done in a ‘cheap Chinese calendar’ style or was it the undertones of despair and brooding perpetuated by Esao’s paintings? - I am not sure, but, both the painters seem to have a lot of talent and imagination.

Xiaoqing Ding obtained her MFA from the Hoffberger School of Painting, Maryland and Esao Andrews has a BFA in illustration from SVA. Jonathan Viner has a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and is based out of New York.

Jonathan Viner, The Ladies' Demands, Oil on Panel, 48" x 36"

Jonathan Viner, The Courier's Kevlar, Oil on Panel, 36" x 24"

Jonathan Viner, Look Away III, Oil on Panel, 36" x 24"

Jonathan Viner, Look Away II, Oil on Panel, 36" x 24"

Jonathan Viner, Rinse, Repeat, Oil on Panel, 20" x 16"

Jonathan Viner, Madamoiselles de Hoboken, Graphite on Paper, 11” x 14”

Esao Andrews, Separate Lives, Oil on Wood, 32” x 24”

Esao Andrews, The Scourge, Oil on Wood, 24” x 16”

Esao Andrews, Thought, Oil on Wood, 32” x 19”

Xiaoqing Ding, Little Drop of Poison, Egg tempera, Silverpoint and Pastel on Paper, 40” x 32”

Xiaoqing Ding, Once Upon a Time, Egg tempera, Silverpoint and Pastel on Paper, 40” x 32”

Kara Walker at Whitney

Kara Walker, an artist who I admire a lot for her honest thoughts on the human condition as it pertains to black people in America has a retrospective opening tomorrow at the Whitney Museum of American Art, 945 Madison Ave.

Employing iconic black-paper silhouettes, Kara Walker — who was named one of Time's "100 Most Influential People" earlier this year — sparks a tense dialogue between artist and viewer with her installations and animated films. Her scathing retelling of American history through images of sexual violence, racial stereotypes, and antebellum mores finally receives the retrospective treatment.

In her installations she uses highly crafted Victorian paper cutout silhouettes to create a dense narrative. But these seemingly bucolic landscape scenes are repeatedly disrupted by images of dismemberment and perverse, abusive and humorous sexual liaisons. In one example, in "Look Away!...," an old man with his pants down is on his hands and knees. He is tempting a child while a dog licks his ass and a woman, with her back turned to them, smokes a pipe and grooms her dog.

A review of her art in NY times from last year. If you can get your hands on the October 8th, '07 issue of the New Yorker, you do not need any other review to understand her brand of art. Unfortunately, I could not locate an online version for linkage here. An interesting bit from the article refers to a talk Kara gave at the Des Moines Art Center where at the end of her talk a white male approached her and asked how long she intended to make the type of work she did. "Oh, probably as long as I'm black and a woman" was the quick answer from Ms. Walker.

Link to images of her art on the New Yorker site.