In most Muslim countries, the morning after pill is a stone, actually a lot of stones. Premarital sex is all but nonexistent. Not surprisingly, men long to marry. Cultural rules require that a groom meet a large financial threshold. Most men cannot marry until their 30s, if at all.
In America we use sex to market everything from beer to cars. We should not be surprised that ISIS uses sex to sell Jihad. An ISIS fighter is guaranteed one or more wives. While Sunni women are covered in burkas, all other women may be bought and sold.
Sex may not be the only motivator, but we are in the wrong lane if we ignore the sex drive. Eliminating the "bride price," is not a short term option. But for far less than the cost of mercenaries or deployment, America could fund the marriage threshold in return for military service fighting ISIS in the armies or militias of our allies. Public policy wonks may fashion even better solutions.
Republicans harp on the proper name for radical extremists. Sticks and stones are breaking bones, but names will never harm ISIS. We are failing not for want of a thesaurus, but for lack of cultural awareness.
No comments:
Post a Comment