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<H1 property="dc.title">Women, religion and fishnets</H1>
<H3 property="dc.creator"><SPAN class="timestamp updated processed"
epochtime="1313784851000" datetitle="published" pagetype="leaf"
contenttype="article">Published: August 19</SPAN> </H3>
<P>I do not agree with Alexandra Petri [“<A
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/post/submissive-bachmann-versus-the-sluts/2011/08/12/gIQAqLcVBJ_blog.html">Submitting
to stupid questions</A>,” op-ed, Aug. 13] that the question Byron York asked
Michele Bachmann in the GOP debate last week was stupid. Ms. Bachmann was asked
whether, as president, she would be submissive to her husband. The question was
fair not because Ms. Bachmann is a woman but because she acknowledges being a
member of, and taking seriously, a religion that requires her to submit to her
husband.</P>
<P>I would never want a president who professed an obligation to submit to any
other person for whom nobody had voted. I imagine plenty of other voters share
that concern, regardless of the reason for submission; the fact that, in Ms.
Bachmann’s case, it stems from her religion does not immunize it against
scrutiny.</P>
<P>If there were such a thing as a religion that required its male adherents to
be submissive to their wives, I would hope the same entirely appropriate
question would be asked of any male member of that religion who ran for
president. But I have never heard of such a religion. Why not? That is the
question that Ms. Petri, and feminists generally, ought to be asking.</P>
<P><STRONG><B xmlns:lxslt="http://xml.apache.org/xslt">Paul Mondor,</B>
Washington </STRONG></P></DIV></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2
face=Verdana>______________________________________________________</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana>Wayne A. Fox<BR><A
title="mailto:wayne.a.fox@gmail.com CTRL + Click to follow link"
href="mailto:wayne.a.fox@gmail.com">wayne.a.fox@gmail.com</A><BR></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>