A View of Depravity

Barbarity in the treatment of women
and girls, their sexualized objectification
the violence meted out to them as helpless
pawns in a male-dominated universe where
they are viewed as objects of desire while
valued for their fertility, jealously kept as
possessions to be guarded, shielded from
public view, threatened and violated within a
signal tribal, clan custom of ancient heritage.
But it is also codified and regulated in the
sacred texts of Islam where slavery and
sexual possession are assured gifts of
conquest, and where the faithful in jihad
can envision being spirited to Paradise as
heroic figures upon whom wait the passions
of nubile virgins for their sole delectation.
Mutilation, rape, humiliation, drudgery
marks the lifespan of women who accede
while stoning and honour killings reward
those who defy the authority of men who
cite the Koran and the Hadiths. Girls are
groomed for a lifetime of childbearing as
dutiful faithful in Islam although boys too
are not exempt from the pain and misery
of slavery to slake men's carnal appetites.
This, the bleak existence of those born to
their fate held in the steel grip of custom
and entitlement within the religion of peace.