National Geographic Places Women's Suffering Above Men's

mens_issues writes "The newly arrived January 2005 issue of the National Geographic has the following text on page 89 "The women of Anefgou mourn the death of one of their own, from old age. Tied to the countryside by tradition and lack of education, women "do the heavy lifting," says GEOGRAPHIC researcher Marisa Larson, who served this region as a Peace Corps volunteer. Women plow the fields and raise the children while their men increasingly toil in the cities."

Ed. note: On-line excerpt from article is found here.

Click "Read more..." for more.

So, it seems that the Moroccan Patriarchy is oppressing the Berber women in the Atlas Mountains, while their men have the privilege of living in shantytowns on the outskirts of Casablanca and Rabat where they work long hours for a pittance to send home.

Granted, it sounds like a tough life for BOTH genders, but is it necessary to denigrate the Berber men like this? The National Geographic is a fine magazine otherwise, but it has this annoying tendency to insert "academic" feminism into many of its articles.

Ironically, on page 85 the following text may be found "Bold strokes of saffron mark a woman in Zaouia Ahansal as the mother of a boy being circumsised and also as a Berber, or Amazigh (Free Person)." Also, page 91 has "Following Muslim custom, villagers circumcise a two-year-old [boy] in a Taarart courtyard."

Where is the outcry against male genital mutilation by the National Geographic?

Contact the National Geographic via this page, or send a letter to the editor at:
ngsforum@nationalgeographic.com.

Steve"

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