This month Asia Media is happy to spotlight for serious praise FOREIGN POLICY magazine. Its May-June issue takes on the extraordinarily relevant but ever-tricky question of the status of women in the Middle East. Not fearing a head-first plunge into the deepest of waters, the editors plaster their magazine cover with an iconic picture of a black-garbed Muslim woman (or moonlighting Foreign Policy staffer?) and banner the cover with the full-out line: “WHY DO THEY HATE US? The War on Women in the Middle East.”
The main article, full of rage as well as insight, is the commendable work of Monica Eltahway, famous for, among other things, having been considerably roughed up by wilding Egyptian police during an Arab Spring demonstration. The cover package includes other excellent articles on the status of women, including Christina Larson’s “Leftover Ladies” in China to Karim Sadjadpour’s hilarious-if-it-weren’t-so-true exposition of the pathetic sexual obsessions of Iran’s ayatollahs.
Pushing cheek perhaps a joke-notch too far, the whole section is labeled as “The Sex Issue.” Oh, well – no one is perfect. But this issue almost is. Terrific journalism that we highly recommend. See: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/issues/current