Crown Stays On: Rima Fakih to Tour Country as Miss USA

[WIP]

ABC News reports that new Miss USA Rima Fakih will keep the Miss USA crown and go on tour in spite of the revelation of these so called scandalous pictures taken at a Detroit radio show's exotic dance contest three years ago, which the Toronto Sun has graciously provided for journalistic purposes. Now, if you've noticed the two pics of her doing a pole dance in the slideshow, she's wearing shorts and a t-shirt...so where's the scandal?

Yesterday the usual conservative wags who are never happy, were comparing this to Carrie Prejean and her sex tapes! Their reaction to this story, especially anti-Muslim writers and bloggers is surprising. Wouldn't you think that the people who are always bitching about burqas and what they're doing to their women, would be happy and see this as a positive development? Well, certainly not Daniel Pipes, Debbie Schlussel, Greta van Sustern, and a whole host of others are claiming that they asked Miss Oklahoma an unfairly difficult question - the new law in Arizona. Okay maybe that's a hard one, but from my angle, looking over some of the bikini pics, I'd rather see something different than the constant parade of blonde barbi's with fake tits! And in the interests of journalistic integrity, I found a blogger with no popups that has four comparison picsof Miss Michigan and Miss Oklahoma side by side...you be the judge.

Back to Pipes, he has a new cause: Why are so many Muslim women winning beauty contests? Are they never happy?

Edited May 18, 2010 by WIP

[kimmy]

Well, good for her.

Conservative Muslims will no doubt be torn between their desire to celebrate this Muslim victory over the infidels, and their duty to stone this harlot to death. For the rest of us, however, it's a stereotype-breaking event that will no doubt capture the imagination of beauty-pageant around the world. Yippee!

-k

[WIP]

Well, good for her.

Conservative Muslims will no doubt be torn between their desire to celebrate this Muslim victory over the infidels, and their duty to stone this harlot to death. For the rest of us, however, it's a stereotype-breaking event that will no doubt capture the imagination of beauty-pageant around the world. Yippee!

-k

That's the story I was waiting for. What I didn't expect is the reaction of conservatives and fundamentalist Christians who are always proclaiming their concern for the lives of women in Muslim societies. I would have expected the right wing media to be celebrating this development.....but, I was wrong.

[GostHacked]

There have been other incidents where the winner was stripped of her crown because of some racy pics.

[Edward]

You guys see the pictures? They really aren't racy at all. If she'd lost the crown, it would have been ridiculous.

[WIP]

You guys see the pictures? They really aren't racy at all. If she'd lost the crown, it would have been ridiculous.

Exactly! She was wearing shorts and a t-shirt at that exotic dance contest. The Miss California - Carrie Prejean (who's 15 minutes appear to have expired) had topless photos, a bootleg sex video, plus she was skipping pageant-organized events to speak at Christian Right events where she became the celebrity of the hour for condemning homosexuals. Not much of a comparison.

[Sir Bandelot]

I was very pleased to see her win despite being a muslim, which some might factor against her. The backlash coming from american bigots is not at all surprising.

As to the burka, if these chicks all look like that underneath I could almost understand why they'd want to cover that stuff up!

[DogOnPorch]

I was very pleased to see her win despite being a muslim, which some might factor against her. The backlash coming from american bigots is not at all surprising.

As to the burka, if these chicks all look like that underneath I could almost understand why they'd want to cover that stuff up!

Yeah...goodness knows men can't control themselves.

[Sir Bandelot]

Yeah...goodness knows men can't control themselves.

http://www.thecomedynetwork.ca/Displayblog.aspx?bpid=a765e910-d2a7-4869-aa36-05cf4f60d62d

Try to cut down on the self-malleting.

[Guest American Woman]

Yeah...goodness knows men can't control themselves.

Evidently they can't -- which is why it would be understandable that all women who look good would want to cover themselves up from head to toe.

a thousand times over.

[kimmy]

Evidently they can't -- which is why it would be understandable that all women who look good would want to cover themselves up from head to toe.

a thousand times over.

...and yet, an attitude found in cultures the world over, including ours until recently. We all remember the Australian imam comparing immodestly-dressed women to pieces of meat (you can't blame a cat for taking meat that's been left out!) but we tend to forget defense lawyers here who insist on showing the jury what the rape victim was wearing.

-k

[Guest American Woman]

....... we tend to forget defense lawyers here who insist on showing the jury what the rape victim was wearing.

That's just a defense lawyer doing his job; I doubt if even he/she feels that way in reality. It's why lawyers sometimes have a bad reputation. Everyone deserves a trial, even the guilty, so of course that means some lawyers are trying to get guilty people off; and they will do whatever they can to try to win their case. Fortunately most people don't have the 'she asked for it' mentality any more, so women, regardless of how good they look, don't want to cover themselves up from head to toe.

[WIP]

That's just a defense lawyer doing his job; I doubt if even he/she feels that way in reality. It's why lawyers sometimes have a bad reputation. Everyone deserves a trial, even the guilty, so of course that means some lawyers are trying to get guilty people off; and they will do whatever they can to try to win their case. Fortunately most people don't have the 'she asked for it' mentality any more, so women, regardless of how good they look, don't want to cover themselves up from head to toe.

No, the judicial system also has a responsibility to restrict efforts of an accused rapist's lawyer to put the victim on trial. Historically, this was a well-worn technique by defense lawyers, and a big part of the reason why fewer rape cases went to trial years ago. There was no such thing as a "date rape" trial, since the victim was familiar with the accused, and that fact would be used to impugn the girl's reputation.

It's a big mistake to assume that culture progresses in a linear direction. Part of the anti-feminist backlash has been a pushback in many regions against rules created to protect the victim from being put on trial by the defense attorney. Reactionary forces want to turn the clock back to some mythical 1950's, so don't assume that we can't go back to the time when good girls didn't allow themselves to get into situations where they might be raped, and take the risk of going to trial and having their reputations ruined.

[kimmy]

That's just a defense lawyer doing his job; I doubt if even he/she feels that way in reality. It's why lawyers sometimes have a bad reputation. Everyone deserves a trial, even the guilty, so of course that means some lawyers are trying to get guilty people off; and they will do whatever they can to try to win their case.

I realize the defense lawyer is just trying to do his job and get his client acquitted. But surely this tactic wouldn't be employed if they didn't think it would work with the jury. Why would the lawyer take this tactic unless he thought there would be at least one person on the jury inclined to think "well if she went out wearing THAT..."

I don't know if this still happens at trials. But I am old enough to remember it being done at a trial that was in the news, and I'm not that old.

-k