I don't know, Islamic sects are not my area of expertise. I know at least one Muslim couple around here (Berkeley) who seem to treat each other as equals. According to Karen Armstrong, many of the misogynist practices we identify as Islamic were imported from other societies, including medieval Christian societies. The positions of women in early Britain, classical Athens, and medieval Germany, for three random examples, indicate to me that while women have certainly been oppressed for millenia, it hasn't been just Muslims doing the oppressing. In modern times, comparing gender status across societies is a tricky thing -- compare the status of women in Afghanistan, Indonesia, Japan, and Mexico and tell me what you come up with.
Similarly, the Crusaders' siege and capture of Jerusalem in 1099 can hold its own among history's acts of barbarity. And let's not forget the ideologies not usually counted as religions, e.g. imperialism, communism, nazism, and capitalism, which have turned billions of people into either converts or corpses. California Indians got hit with both kinds, one after the other: first the Franciscan missionaries, then the gold miners and the government they set up.
It seems to me that when it comes to identifying those who oppress women and kill those who disagree with their point of view, anything beyond "male humans" is needlessly problematic and subject to endless qualification.
no subject
Similarly, the Crusaders' siege and capture of Jerusalem in 1099 can hold its own among history's acts of barbarity. And let's not forget the ideologies not usually counted as religions, e.g. imperialism, communism, nazism, and capitalism, which have turned billions of people into either converts or corpses. California Indians got hit with both kinds, one after the other: first the Franciscan missionaries, then the gold miners and the government they set up.
It seems to me that when it comes to identifying those who oppress women and kill those who disagree with their point of view, anything beyond "male humans" is needlessly problematic and subject to endless qualification.