u/Ok-Thanks-3724

What do you guys think about a rise in sex negativity? I have seen so many people online and in person expressing their hatred for sex and people who engage in sex. There's also way too many people with the view that sex is sacred and should be between a husband and wife. Aside from the heteronormative amatonormative implications of that idea, it also has no scientific or logical basis.

What do you guys think about all this?

I recently made a post on another sub about the situation of women in afghanistan and how i feel like its not talked about enough in leftist spaces. The response i got was VERY interesting.

For context, i myself am a brown bisexual woman, a marxist and a feminist. When i made that post i was hoping to bring light to the plight of afghan women and have productive discussions regarding what steps we can take right now to help them no matter how small it may be. I am staunchly against western imperialism and colonialism. I obviously dont believe in racism or bigotry against innocent people for their religious beliefs. I guess those things werent clear because the people in that sub got very very pressed about my post.

For some reason their immediate assumption was that i was calling for war on afghanistan and advocating for western military intervention. They started criticizing me for claims i didnt make and said that we should stay out of this issue and let the people of afghanistan solve it. As an anti imperialist, its insane to me how a lot of other anti imperialists think the solution to one extreme is the other extreme. You dont have to support eastern facist dictatorship to oppose western imperialism. And you dont have to support western imperialism to oppose eastern facist disctatorship. I used to think that was just common sense but apparently not. I also believe true systemic change cant be achieved unless we all work collectively and globally to overthrow all oppressive systems and governments. So the idea that because an issue is happening in another country, its none of your business is pretty stupid. None of us are free until all of us are free.

The other thing that they kept bringing up was that theres nothing we can do about the situation. I find this pessimism really sad specially in leftist spaces. To me leftist ideologies are built on a hope for a better future and a belief that it is infact achievable. Its so confusing to me then, how a leftist could be so pessimistic. Theres always something that can be done. No matter how small and insignificant our contribution may seem, it all matters. We cant just throw up our hands and say oh well nothing can be done. Thats exactly how we've come so far in history. By making changes no matter how small or useless they seemed.

I find it so frustrating that most feminist discussions online either glorify western imperialism or have this pessimistic dismissivness in regards to woc. And on both ends of the spectrum, innocent women of colour continue to lose their lives and their rights.

Is it just me or are there not enough leftists talking about afghanistan and advocating for the afghan women?

edit: im so surprised to be reading some of the comments. i didnt expect such regressive takes from people on this sub. there are actually people asking why we should care, people saying we need to mind our business, people being pessimistic and saying nothing can be done. im assuming the people on this sub are feminists, so then as feminists how can you not care about women's oppression in a different country?

I was raised by a very verbally, mentally and physically abusive father. He would beat me and my sisters up everyday. He would beat us up for any and every reason. For example when i was 7 he beat me violently and called me a wh*re for playing with my sister in a store we were shopping. He would get randomly angry every day and we never knew what would tick him off and he would start hitting and shouting. He also beat up my mother very violently a few time. One of these times was because they had had a fight and she didnt come to bed with him so dragged her by her hair and said that thats what she would get for denying him sex. He also beat me almost to death for not wearing the niqab, even though i was a hijabi since i was 9 and always dressed EXTREMELY modestly but just for not covering my face he almost killed me.

There is so much more ofcourse. But the worst part of all of our suffering is the justifications he gives and the justifications people around us give. My father is a very conservative muslim and he justifies everything he has done and continues to do by saying its Allah's rules. He would sit us down every day and read the quran and hadith with translations and point to them and say look its says right here you are inferior, stupid, evil and i have an obligation to beat you into submitting Allah. But much worse than this is the people around us support him and admonish us for even thinking that any of this is wrong. Pretty much all the people in our family excuse his behaviour by saying atleast he is providing for you, others have it worse, its his right in islam. The major population of my country hold these views and its very hard to find any support. Its incredibly isolating and painful to go through this. My father also cheated on my mother and married other women and then threw us out into another country. Again all of this is justified using islam.

I have been doing my research into all this for many years and an overwhelming majority of scholars agree with the opinion that the men of the houshold are supposed to discipline their women by beating them. It also doesnt help that there is a very clear verse in the quran commanding hisbands to beat their wives.

Recently my depression became specially bad and i started spiralling while thinking about all this.

I would really appreciate if you guys could educate me on this topic from a progressive perspective. What is your research on this topic?

can you guys recommend me any breadtube commentary youtube channels or videos that touch on scientific topics like vaccines, space, and other related topics?

There is a phrase that is so often used in discussions regarding certain issues: imitating Allah. Ive been thinking a lot about this phrase and how its used.

Usually its used in the context of art and fictional stories and why they are haram. Its said that painting, sculpting or drawing animate objects is haram because you are imitating Allah. The same is said for writing fictional stories and making up characters and worlds. To me this argument is so absurd and far fetched. Aside from how stupid this reasoning is, its also frustrating because it prohibits creativity and expression. Very facist but thats not surprising.

What to do you guys think about this topic? I would love to hear your perspectives and if you've done any research regarding this issue.

Do any of you guys have any good research papers or article recommendations on the effects of music on the human brain? Im really interested on the topic and would love to read about it.

I'm fairly new to this sub. Ive been questioning islam for a very long time and have a very painful complicated history with the religion. Finding this sub was a great help. Ive discovered many new ways of thinking regarding islam and it has been very comforting seeing other people who share my beliefs and values. However i still have a lot of doubts and questions.

It really bothers me that islam seems to be a religion that allows cruelty and oppression. Yes its claimed left and right that islam is a religion of peace and justice, however, when i learn islam it seems like the complete opposite. Specially from the hadith perspective. Islam seems like a religion of justice when we are talking about non muslims oppressing muslims. But when muslims are in power they are commanded to be oppressive and authoritarian in order to maintain islam. Yes you can argue that that is the view of salafis and extremists. But as someone who has grown up in 2 muslim countries, unfortunately ive seen throughout my life that this is the view shared by most muslims. Its not just social media or a small extremist group. Other injustices include homophobia, misogyny, gender essentialism, domestic violence. The list goes on and on.

Another thing that hurts my heart is how anti art and anti fun islam is. Everything that makes life fun and beautiful is haram apparently. I love music, movies, art, dancing, travelling, joking, playing, overall enjoying life and appreciating the beauty of the world. But every single muslim around me and also pretty much every single scholar preaches that these are all haram. Im not even going to get started on the logic (or lack of) used to justify banning these things. Apparently being muslim means being miserable.

I would really appreciate if these things could be refuted from a hadith perspective. I really like the quranist perspective. But when arguing with other muslims, the quranist perspective makes them immediately dismiss everything you are saying. So i would like some evidences from the hadith that islam is infact a just and kind religion and that it encourages art and fun.