The Four Color Media Monitor

A reviewer on leftist Comics Beat looked at a graphic novel called "Tales From Behind the Window", about the life of a NYC-based computer games designer's grandmother who was forced into marriage in Turkey, and not only is Islam not mentioned in the matter, the reviewer himself is practically whitewashing almost everything by not acknowledging the Religion of Peace's role in the customs experienced by the lead:

Sureyya was born on the Turkish countryside in the town of Carsamba, a place Sureyya describes as dominated by men. When we first see her, she is roaming free near the sea, a long red scarf flowing wildly behind her, the exact opposite vision of a woman subjugated. But this is just before she finds out she is about to be married off to a man she doesn’t love by direction of her brother, who is the head of the family.

From this on its own, you could just as well assume he's implying that a women wearing a headscarf isn't subjugation. Although, as shown in the panel on the side, she's not wearing the scarf upon her head (but is modestly dressed), she is in the panel above, suggesting she was a devout Islamist, even if she wasn't required to be accompanied by a male escort, as in Saudi Arabia, something they only recently changed, and even then, it's advisable to be wary of the likelihood they're being deceptive. What I want to know is whether the subject of the GN biography was forcibly required to wear a headscarf and whether anyone involved knew this was all Islam-derived customs? That's not clear from CB's article.

The whole description of "opposite vision" honestly annoys me because, at least to me, when viewed in the context of the subject matter, it sounds almost like an exoneration of Islam's use of headscarfs. Given that there's no mention of the Religion of Peace in the article, that's why, again, their take on the GN isn't very helpful.

...Tales From Behind the Window takes darker turns when Sureyya discovers the details behind her marriage arrangement and recounts a story from her childhood about her best friend detailing the systematic sale of children for marriage. [...]

But it's still not clear if they acknowledge Islam's role in sales of children into sex slavery either. How can a problem be solved if the ideologies and beliefs involved aren't brought up?

And then, at the end of the article:

According to the organization Girls Not Brides Turkey still has one of the highest rates of child marriages in the world, with 790,000 girls — 1% of the population — married before the age of 15. Nearly 12 million girls are married before the age of 18. It’s the result of a lingering misogynistic cultural view that discourages education for women. It’s also the result of abuse, as the marriage of young girls is often used as a way to hide violence, and still a way to make money through dowries.

It’s a world-wide problem, though, not just Turkey’s. Kuntman’s admirable work here provides a worthy account of not only how long such injustices can lurk under the international radar, but how they can have a direct effect on the personal stories of people you might even know.

And no mention of Islam's role in Turkey's underaged child bride problem, I see, or how, from a modern perspective, it's Islam's problem in practically any and every place where it dwells, although the site they linked to does mention it. Sure, even India's had a problem with the subject, but it's worth noting that their problem's been decreasing in the past decade, unlike in most Muslim countries/communities where it still exists.

The Women Write About Comics review doesn't mention Islam either, but says at the end:

It’s obvious that Tales from Behind the Window isn’t a happy book, and it doesn’t try to be. So, should you read it? Yes, because this is a glimpse into a kind of life that people have lived and survived. How did they manage to do it? That is what this book is about.

What I want to know is whether the GN actually mentions Islam's role in terrible experiences like these? So far, it's not clear, and if the author doesn't bring it up, what's been solved? If the GN does discuss the issue, then they're getting somewhere. But if it doesn't, they've failed the victims who suffered under the belief system, mainly because these leftist sites don't have the courage to write a meat-and-potatoes view of the issues involved.

Labels: Europe and Asia, indie publishers, islam and jihad, misogyny and racism, msm propaganda, politics, violence