however, many westerners may not be convinced that hijab and islamic costume can protect woman from harassers and attackers. instead, they think that the best protection emanates from educational level, civilized behavior and self-control against temptations. although these are important and beneficial principles, they are not enough. otherwise, what is the reason for the high rates of rape and sexual harassment in the west? women's lobby organization that deals with women's issues in europe indicates that 40-50% of european women are harassed at workplace. ⁽¹¹⁾ in america, 31% of working women report the same problem. ⁽¹²⁾ a 2002-year study on the students from the eighth class to the eleventh class in america reported that 83% of female students had been victims of sexual harassments. ⁽¹³⁾

this means that sexual harassment is widespread in the west; it even develops into rape in many cases. high educational level and civilized behavior do not prevent such thing. a un report gathered from various governmental sources in more than 65 countries revealed that more than 250.000 rape cases, whether committed or not, were reported to police annually. ⁽¹⁴⁾ moreover, according to rape, abuse & incest national network (rainn), the largest national organization in america against sexual assaults and one of the worth-rated organizations among the best 100 charities in america: ⁽¹⁵⁾

·      in america, a person is sexually assaulted every two minutes and half.

·      one of every six american women has been a victim of a sexual attack.

·      in 2004-2005, the annual average of rapes, rape attempts or sexual assaults were 200.780 cases.

rape is a frightening phenomenon in america. various feminist and governmental organizations try to calculate the number of rapes and provide psychological and medical consultancies for the raped women. the following are some statistics provided by women's rape crisis center, a specialized entity in this regard: ⁽¹⁶⁾

·      1.3 adult women are raped every minute, that is, 78 every hour and 1.871 every day. (national center of victims and national center of research and treating crime victims 1992)

·      in usa, one rape is reported every five minutes. (fbi: common crime report, 2000)

·      sexual assault is still the most increasing and violent crime in usa. (american medical society, 2000)

·      the usa has the highest rate in sexual assault among industrial countries. (judicial committee of the senate, 1990)

·      there were about 51.000 rapes and sexual assaults that took place at workplaces every year from 1992 until 1996. (us department of justice, office of judicial statistics, a survey on violence victims at workplaces)

these frightening figures surely assert that the woman is always a victim of assault and harassment in western societies where both sexes mingle together. intellectual and well-qualified women are always the victims in such industrial first-world developed nations. therefore, we can assume that neither the educational level nor so-called civilized life can prevent woman from being harassed or raped in such overtly mixed societies. we cannot even depend on self-restraint to combat temptations and put an end to the phenomenon of sexual harassment in these mixed societies. if woman herself does not hide her charms in order to raise male instincts, nothing shall be accomplished in this regard. the only way to do this is through wearing hijab and the costumes that cover these charms. otherwise, she will remain a vulnerable victim subject to destructive results. such destructive results are mentioned by the u.s. centers for disease control and prevention (cdc) as follows: ⁽¹⁷⁾ 

"sexual violence can have destructive permanent effects on victims, families and communities such as the following:

physically:

·        woman who are victims of sexual and bodily exploitation are more vulnerable for sexually-transmitted diseases (wingood eight l. 2000)

·        there is more than 32.000 pregnancies annually because of rape (holmes eight l. 1996)

·        there are long-term results such as chronic pelvic pain, pre-menses syndrome, intestinal disorders, recurrent migraine, backache, face ache, and inability to work. (jeokis, sheen, garci moreno 2002)

psychologically:

victims of sexual violence face immediate and long-term psychological effects (ackard eight l. 2004; feleiti eight l. 1998; craco eight l. 2002; yestigaard eight l. 2004)

1-   immediate psychological effects include "shock, denial, fear, disruption, anxiety, withdrawal, guilt, nervousness, doubt, and symptoms of post-trauma disturbances such as emotional disruption, sleeping disorders, accident flashbacks, and mental repetition of assault."

2-   chronic mental-psychological effects include "depression, suicide attempt/ committing suicide, isolation, post-trauma disturbances and unhealthy nutritional behaviors such as fasting, vomiting, misuses of diet bills, and voracity."

socially:

·          disturbed familial relations between the victim and her family, friends and intimate partners.

·          less emotional support from friends and family members.

·          less communication with friends and relatives.

·          lower desire in marriage (clementis eight l. 2004; gholding, wilsnak, and copier 2002)

healthy behaviors:

some researchers consider the following healthy behaviors as being effects of sexual violence and factors that may increase the probability of another trauma in the future (breiner eight l 1999; lang eight l. 2003):

·          involvement in a highly risky sexual behavior such as "unprotected sex, premature sex, choice of unhealthy sexual partners, having sex with many persons, bartering sex for food, money and other things".

·          use or misuse of harmful substances such as "smoking, drinking, drunk driving, drug addiction" (champion eight l. 2004; jeokis, sheen, garci moreno 2002; raj, silverman, and amaro 2000)

such destructive could have been avoided just by a piece of cloth put on the head and modest costumes that do not reveal woman's charms. islam does protect women by ordering them to do so. islam orders men to be modest and chaste and orders women not to be a source of temptation. it is ridiculous and illogical to think that women can protect themselves by wearing tight clothe and cut her hair in attractive ways that make them look more beautiful and attractive. the bible and talmud consider uncovered hair a source of temptation. in her study of the history of hijab in jewish societies, professor bruner indicates that

"the bible depicts hair as an ornament that makes woman more beautiful. it expresses the attractiveness of woman's hair in a poetic manner in the song of songs: turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me: thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from gilead. (6:5) talmud considers woman's hair not only beautiful but also sexy and therefore it should be covered." ⁽¹⁷⁾

such sexiness and attraction can be at times reasons for destructive effects when they attract the attention of attackers and give them the hope to get what they do not have right to. for all these reasons, islam requests women to wear hijab and modest clothes to cover her charms in order to protect her. this has never been to subjugate or oppress her as in the christian perspective.

________________________________________

[11] taken from womenlobby organization's web site at www.womenlobby.org

[12] taken from sexualharrassementsupport's website , a non profit private venture founded in 2005 by sexual harassment victims for sexual harassment victims. www.sexualharrassementsupport.org

[13] the american association of university women (aauw) www.aauw.org, "hostile hallways: bullying, teasing, and sexual harassment in school (2001)"

[14] the eighth unied nations survey on crime trends and the operations of criminal justice systems (2001-2002) table 02.08 total recorded rapes.

[15] taken from www.rainn.org

[16] taken from women's rape crisis center web site at : www.stoprapevermont.org/stats/adult.html

[17] from cdc's website at www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/svfacts.htm

[18] dr. leila leah bronner, "from veil to wig: jewish women's hair covering", from: judaism: a quarterly journal of jewish life and thought. 9/22/1993.