Two Documentaries on Afghanistan

I watched two documentaries about Afghanistan on YouTube last night. I've always been interested in the exotic. Afghanistan appears to be the ultimate in that regard. I love to travel. There are few places I don't want to see and experience. I'll skip Afghanistan. It is a theocratic Muslim state and a shame and honor based society. Love Crimes of Kabul depicts a society that is almost beyond the comprehension of a Westerner.

Women (and men) jailed for having an affair! Forced arranged marriages complete with extravagant dowries! Honor killings of women who bring shame upon the family! The whole scene seems preposterous. Throughout the movie, I was thinking... "My God, there are still people who live like that!"

The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan is even more mind boggling. Young impoverished boys are sold by their families into sexual slavery. The buyers are married middle aged men who use the boys as entertainment and as whores. How this extravagant homosexuality fits into a pious Muslim society is difficult to understand.

So, if I am to believe these documentaries, Afghani women are forced to cover themselves with the hijab in public and to live mostly hidden in their families' homes. Arranged and shotgun marriages are common. The men are amusing themselves with gay sex with young boys. You just cannot get any more exotic than that.

Whether these documentaries present an accurate overall picture of Afghani society is another question. Disaffected people usually produce such documentaries and their focus is naturally directed to the most dramatic instances of injustice in any society. These documentaries are fascinating and entertaining. And, they convinced me that I won't be traveling to Afghanistan soon, if ever.

Comments

[Tank]

I read this a awhile back:

The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk / Palace of Desire / Sugar Street (The Cairo Trilogy #1-3)

by Naguib Mahfouz

and it's very much a women at home covered up, men out partying scenario, but no young boys. Very interesting, if long, read.

No, I'm not going to Afghanistan. Bad news for a Jewish boy like myself.

[Howlin' Steve]

Scuze the delay in responding.

Thanks for the ref. For some reason, I have Afghanistan on the brain.