{"id":86,"date":"2003-12-18T18:47:00","date_gmt":"2003-12-18T18:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=86"},"modified":"2003-12-18T18:47:00","modified_gmt":"2003-12-18T18:47:00","slug":"aphrodite-will-not-be-denied","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=86","title":{"rendered":"Aphrodite Will Not Be Denied"},"content":{"rendered":"

. . . as evidenced by this story<\/a> from an Associated Press contributor in Beirut.<\/p>\n

In an incisive bit of analysis, Lebanese sociologist Dala el-Bizri, a resident of Cairo, says male-dominated societies are to blame for making women cover up. “When the condition of women on the street is unnatural, the demand for vulgarity and nudity increases,” she says.<\/p>\n

“Come to me once more, and abate my torment;
Take the bitter care from my mind, and give me
All I long for; Lady, in all my battles
Fight as my comrade.”<\/p>\n

That’s not one of singer Haifa Wehbe’s<\/a> lyrics (that’s Haifa on the right), but rather the last verse of the ancient Greek poet Sappho’s invocation to the goddess Aphrodite<\/a>, as translated by Elizabeth Vandiver. Is the imagery too warlike? Well, one Muslim critic called such performers “weapons of singing destruction<\/a>.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

. . . as evidenced by this story from an Associated Press contributor in Beirut. In an incisive bit of analysis, Lebanese sociologist Dala el-Bizri, a resident of Cairo, says male-dominated societies are to blame for making women cover up. “When the condition of women on the street is unnatural, the demand for vulgarity and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[27,15],"class_list":["post-86","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-aphrodite","tag-islam"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-1o","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":623,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=623","url_meta":{"origin":86,"position":0},"title":"Aphrodite Will Not Be Denied (2)","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"February 25, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"On the heels of the \"cartoon jihad,\" singer Deeyah's new video may be the next excuse for rioting. Muslim pop singer Deeyah has irked the Muslim world with her provocative new music video that shows her stripping off a burka to reveal her bikini-clad body. In the clash of civilizations,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Aphrodite\"","block_context":{"text":"Aphrodite","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=aphrodite"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1520,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1520","url_meta":{"origin":86,"position":1},"title":"Did the Earth Move for You?","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"April 18, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Ayatollah Kazem Sedighi of Iran explains that women cause Middle Eastern earthquakes. \"Many women who dress inappropriately ... cause youths to go astray, taint their chastity and incite extramarital sex in society, which increases earthquakes,\" Ayatollah Kazem Sedighi told worshippers at overnight prayers in Tehran. It's the way that they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Aphrodite\"","block_context":{"text":"Aphrodite","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=aphrodite"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2521,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=2521","url_meta":{"origin":86,"position":2},"title":"Aphrodite Smiles","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"April 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Back when this blog was young, I wrote a post called \"Aphrodite will not be Denied\"\u00a0 about the botheration caused to some Muslim clerics by the sultry Lebanese singer Haifa Wehbe. If there is anything that drives the mullahs and imams mad, it is female sexuality. The bloom is off\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Aphrodite\"","block_context":{"text":"Aphrodite","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=aphrodite"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/media.hotair.com\/greenroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Veena_Malik_300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8982,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=8982","url_meta":{"origin":86,"position":3},"title":"Aphrodite Will Not Be Denied (3) \u2014\u00a0and also Hestia.","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"January 3, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"In a 2003 post titled \"Aphrodite Will Not Be Denied,\" I linked to Muslim clerics' criticism of Lebanese pop star Haifa Wehbe. Another Muslim singer with more complicated ancestry, Deeyah, \"irked the Muslim world\" with her music videos, and I said, \"As I once wrote, 'Aphrodite will not be denied.'\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Aphrodite\"","block_context":{"text":"Aphrodite","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=aphrodite"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":100,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=100","url_meta":{"origin":86,"position":4},"title":"Haifa Wehbe Watch","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"January 21, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Ever since my original post about Lebanese singer Haifa Wehbe (or Wahbi), this blog has been receiving sporadic hits from the Middle East: Israel, Syria, Egypt, Dubai . . . Apparently she and some of her peers have really undermined traditional Arab ideas of beauty. But I say this to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Aphrodite\"","block_context":{"text":"Aphrodite","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=aphrodite"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1188,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1188","url_meta":{"origin":86,"position":5},"title":"Aphrodite and Revolution","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"August 10, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"You don't think of her as a political deity, but a (London) Times writer suggests that Aphrodite Pandemos contributes to the success or failure of popular revolutions. This theory, which I first heard from a friend in Armenia, holds that popular upheavals only stand a chance of success if a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Aphrodite\"","block_context":{"text":"Aphrodite","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=aphrodite"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=86"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=86"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=86"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=86"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}