No marathon for Gaza


It’s been called off. Why? Because Hamas says women can’t particpate.

“We regret this decision to cancel the marathon but we don’t want men and women running together,” Abdessalam Siyyam, cabinet secretary of the Hamas government, told AFP news agency.

“We did not tell Unrwa to cancel the marathon and we haven’t prevented it, but we laid down some conditions: We don’t want women and men mixing in the same place,” he added.

Which means, of course, that the women are shut out. It doesn’t mean the men are shut out, or they can run different routes. Of course not. It never means that. It means the women are kicked out (kicked to the curb, as John Loftus would put it), shown the door, told to piss off, told to go home. We don’t want women and men mixing, therefore the women are forbidden to do anything.

 

Comments

  1. Pierce R. Butler says

    A step 26-mile sprint backwards even for Hamas, which supported the two previous annual Gaza marathons.

    Bravo for the United Nations Relief & Works Agency for refusing to collaborate in this repression!

  2. says

    The Unrwa guy who talked about it in the BBC report I heard this morning said, “We’re not angry, we’re disappointed and sad” – or some such – wistful and cast down, mournful and melancholy. But not angry. Oh no, not angry.

    Well fuck that. I’m angry. I get angry when men tell women they can’t do things.

  3. eucliwood says

    What in the hell? Why don’t they want men and women to run together? And then they don’t even state a “reason” as if its obvious as to why. The fuck.

  4. says

    Why don’t they want men and women to run together?

    Well, obviously running alongside women dressed in shorts and vests (*Gasp! Shock! Horror!*) would be much too distracting for the poor menz! And just imagine how outraged teh ebil western feminazis would have been if they had asked the women athletes to cover themselves up in more modest clothing.

  5. And How says

    To eucliwood, post #5.

    I believe Hein has summed up well the reasons Hamas would give.

    That said, mankind has a long history of misguided misogynistic thinking about women and atheticism and I suspect there is more to this thinking that what is apparent on the surface.

    The Ancient Greeks did not even allow women to be spectators at the Olympics. Here in the US, women were banned from running the Boston Marathon until 1972.

    Here is an article on this subject specific to marathons.

    http://www.marathonguide.com/history/olympicmarathons/chapter25.cfm

  6. says

    Aside from all of the sexist rubbish about Hamas not wanting women and men to run together – they are poor mean spirited idiots – it is interesting to relate that the longer the running event, the more likely it is that a female will win. I believe that so-called ultra-marathons are where women shine in terms of overall results.

    Perhaps Hamas is frightened that a mere woman might win their rotten event. Under those circumstances, would God still be great?

    David Amies

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