Got breasts? Get to the back of the bus!

[squidfetish]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/sex-segregation-on-the-buses-divides-israelis-6279844.html?origin=internalSearch

Sex segregation on the buses divides Israelis

Ultra-Orthodox Jews plan private fleet after woman refuses to sit at the back

A group of ultra-Orthodox Jewish millionaires is considering funding a private bus line in Israel that would enforce strict segregation between male and female passengers, an Israeli newspaper has reported.
The initiative follows public outrage at an incident where a secular Israeli woman refused to take a seat at the back of a public bus travelling to an ultra-Orthodox neighbourhood in Jerusalem at the request of a religious male passenger.
The backers of the proposed project are looking at providing bus transportation in Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) neighbourhoods in Jerusalem, Ashdod and Beit Shemesh as an alternative to Israel's Egged bus service, which insists that any gender segregation on its buses must be voluntary, Israel's daily Yediot Aharonot reported yesterday.

"The Haredi public doesn't own the entire state," Israel's Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger was quoted as saying. "I support segregation, but only when it is done willingly. On private lines in which all the passengers are eager for separation, and the dignity of women is maintained, then that is a welcome initiative."

Israel's Transport Ministry has yet to respond to the request, and it remains unclear if the initiative will be approved, as Israel's laws against discrimination demand that any provider of a public service must treat everybody equally, irrespective of gender, religion or ethnicity.
Tanya Rosenblit, a Jewish woman, was furious when she boarded a bus in Ashdod last week only to be told by a black-clad Haredi male passenger to sit at the back of the vehicle.
The man refused to allow the driver to close the doors while Ms Rosenblit stood her ground and the police were called. A policeman asked her to acquiesce with the man's request, but she refused and the man got off the bus.
Writing on the Israeli news site Ynet, she said: "Until yesterday, I was sure that I lived in a free country. I was certain that a person's dignity and freedom are supreme values in our diverse society. It's still hard for me to believe that in 2011, there are men who believe they must not sit behind a woman."
Israeli newspaper editors quickly drew comparisons with Rosa Parks, the black American woman who refused to sit at the back of a bus in Alabama in 1955, an act of defiance that was a defining moment in the civil rights movement.

Many Israelis have lashed out in recent weeks at what they view as efforts by particularly pious Haredim to impose a more modest and religiously observant lifestyle on the rest of the population and in its own communities.
During a recent festival, Haredi residents erected a screen in a Jerusalem neighbourhood forcing women and men to walk on opposite sides of the street. And last week, ultra-Orthodox men tried to prevent women from voting in a local election by screaming abuse at them.

Good grief. What century is this again?  Good to see that some of the moderates have spoken out against this stupidity though.

It's always interesting to note that Jewish nutters are 'ultra-orthodox' while Muslim ones are 'fundamentalists' or 'extremists'. Gotta love the media.   "Radiation will now be known as magic moonbeams so we don't have to worry about it any more."   

[xSilverPhinx]

Wow 

[Ecurb Noselrub]

That's the thing about fundamentalism - it just keeps getting more and more extreme as a result of its own internal logic. It has to demand that everyone adhere to it's tenets.

[The Magic Pudding]

If these beardy guys got themselves a cart with a donkey, would they object to sitting behind the donkey?
Would it have to be a male donkey?
If it was a female donkey would it have to push the cart?

[Ali]

The initiative follows public outrage at an incident where a secular Israeli woman refused to take a seat at the back of a public bus travelling to an ultra-Orthodox neighbourhood in Jerusalem at the request of a religious male passenger.

Can I just say that if you are that concerned about where a woman sits in relation to you, then it should be incumbent upon YOU to deal with your feelings or stop taking the bus, rather than trying to make it *her* concern.

Yeesh.

Having said that, I kind of believe that private institutions should be able to do what they want as long as they aren't breaking the law.  Like, if a church wants to enforce a rule that women can't be pastors or leaders in the church, I really don't care, as long membership in the church is voluntary, and the state doesn't fund the church.  I kind of feel the same way about religious types forming their own private bus lines where women have to sit in the back.  As long as women have access to sit on public buses and where they don't have to move to the back, if they *choose* to ride the Discrimination Bus, I also kind of don't care.  I just wish that there was a way to stop people from exposing their children to this kind of crap.  Like, you can only choose to ride the Discrimination Bus once you are an adult.  I bet without indoctrination, the Discrimination Bus would die out within a generation.

[Too Few Lions]

I saw an interesting programme on the Haredi a year or so ago, and how many Israeli Jews view them as a burden on society. They generally have large families and often refuse to work, devoting their time to studying the Tanakh, and expecting everyone else to support them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10369998

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-work_attitudes_in_Haredi_Judaism

[Guardian85]

Religious kooks who need to get the stick removed...I guess you all know where from.

[Asmodean]

I think they should load the buses in a mathematical way, in order to gain the best weight distribution possible. A regular bus is somewhat ass-heavy, yes? So all the heavy asses in front, all the skinny vegan types in the back. And kids, although those can be stashed away in the baggage room.

And there must be an equal number of boobs on each side. Which means, if there is half a cubic meter of tit on the right side, there has to be the same on the left. Yes, methink The Asmo would do well as a ticket agent for a bus company 

[Traveler]

I wonder where I'd sit? I'm a woman, but I had a bilateral mastectomy for breast cancer.  Maybe they'd put me in the middle, between the "regular gals" and the men?

[Asmodean]

I wonder where I'd sit? I'm a woman, but I had a bilateral mastectomy for breast cancer.  Maybe they'd put me in the middle, between the "regular gals" and the men?

In The Asmo's utopia, you be the bus driver 

[Ali]

Who gets to measure the boobage to make sure it is evenly distributed? 

[Asmodean]

Who gets to measure the boobage to make sure it is evenly distributed? 

Ah..!

...

Eh... Yes.  ???

oO(Needs work and serious planning.)

[Traveler]

I wonder where I'd sit? I'm a woman, but I had a bilateral mastectomy for breast cancer.  Maybe they'd put me in the middle, between the "regular gals" and the men?

In The Asmo's utopia, you be the bus driver 

Cool! I love to drive!!!

[Tank]

Who gets to measure the boobage to make sure it is evenly distributed? 

Me ,me, me, me, me, me! 

[Tank]

I wonder where I'd sit? I'm a woman, but I had a bilateral mastectomy for breast cancer.  Maybe they'd put me in the middle, between the "regular gals" and the men?

In The Asmo's utopia, you be the bus driver 

Probably the best post I've seen in a long time!