I think that Western men have improved since women’s liberation. Perhaps men fear ’emasculation’ by a woman whom they perceive as weak more than by a woman whom they perceive as strong. Perhaps they behave more respectfully to someone who respects herself.

That’s good ole Shariah law and Wahibbism for you!

I think that the good news, aside from the good news for her personally, is that international pressure had an impact.

I also think that if it were not for the international outcry, Gillian Gibbons might have received the stiffest sentence allowed.

The difficulty for Muslim women is much the same as the problem for victims of childhood abuse in the West — the oppressive, critical-of-self messages create an almost permanent damage to self-esteem that traps these women in an I-deserve-the-abuse mentality. Westerners seem not to understand this when they open the metaphoric cage door and Muslim women, unlike Ayaan Hirsi Ali, do not rush out to enjoy their freedom. It’s tragic that half the world’s women need therapy that they will never receive.