Fujiyama Mama

The Society of Mothers for Self- and Offspring-Sacrifice (SMSOS) today attacked Suha Arafat, the wife of Yasir Arafat, after Arafat said she would readily sacrifice her son for the Palestinian cause.

The SMSOS group was particularly upset at her statement because Arafat, who lives in Paris, has a daughter, not a son, and did not offer her daughter's life for the cause.

"I am mortified that a woman of international prominence and prestige could dismiss the notion that women are not entitled to blow themselves up for a political cause", said Thana T. Opsis, spokeswoman for SMSOS. "This is an insult to those of us who have worked so hard to obtain equal rights for women".

Opsis pointed out that much progress has been made, and women are now permitted to serve in government in such dangerous places as the US Congress and the President's Cabinet, where their values and reputations are put on the line every day, constantly at the risk of suffering sexual humiliation and violence from cunnilingus and date cigar rape, and - even worse if they weigh over 110 pounds and are over the age of 30 - being totally ignored by powerful Congressional alpha males.

Arafat is still living in the Dark Age of pre-feminism, said SMSOS. "Despite the efforts of female cultural studies professors to inculcate their students with the notion of honor that accompanies suicide for a political cause, Arafat still accords such notions only to sons, not her daughter". She noted approvingly that secular democracies allow all of those who reach the age of majority to choose suicide and that recent suicide bombings by young women in Jerusalem "show promise for a better future for Arab women".

Said a State Department official: "It is long overdue for the Arab world to award women the same status and prestige associated with suicide bombing as they do to their men. Only in this way can we achieve complete women's liberation and a true sense of pride and patriotism".

Source: 1st of the Month, vol.iv, issue l, June 1, 2002