Does God Hate Women?

Ophelia Benson and Jeremy Stangrom. Does God Hate Women? London and New York: Continuum, 2009.

This book utilises articles, reports of human rights activists, and various web sites to compile a dossier of harrowing tales involving the abuse of women. It documents a wideranging catalogue of incidents, from the women murdered by tznus, to the ultra orthodox modesty police that patrol the streets of Jerusalem. The authors demonstrate by their choice of stories that misogyny is a worldwide phenomenon; men dominate women sexually, socially, intellectually and psychologically. Indeed the stories are disturbing and one becomes mindful of a world that appears to condone the worst cruelties humans can inflict upon one another.

However, there is more to criticise in this work. The most obvious blunder can be found in the authors' use of facts and sources. They pay tribute to Safia Amajan, a female poet living under the Taliban regime, where women are prevented from attending school or pursuing any intellectual endeavour; and if they do, they face death by hanging. According to the...