Flutterby™! : He Named Me Malala

Last night we watched He Named Me Malala. It's the tale of Malala Yousafzai, a young Afghan woman who was shot by the Taliban for speaking up for educating women. There were various portions which showed shots of Afghanistan and Taliban action with subtitled dubs of various speeches by Taliban clerics.

One that struck me particularly hard was visuals of a big bonfire of DVDs subtitled with:

We are not against advancement, we are against shamelessness and vulgarity.

which was a huge reminder that morality, community standards, the suppression of sexuality and sexual expression, are all essentially motivated by the desire to repress, to control, and especially to control women.

The whole documentary raised a bunch of questions that are pulling me to dig a little deeper (I found it interesting that the UAE paid for Malala's medical care following the shooting), but there were some strong reminders of what the culture wars are about in there.