Aby The Liberal

Aby July 6th, 2007

The medieval king who persecuted St. Valentine must have had similar ideas when he banned marriages to get more warriors. He was of the view that married men who had more sex would not be able to make good warriors. His idea was not without a base however, as numerous historical trends and facts would show, including the profiles of current militant Islamist youths. Sexual deprivation does have an effect on organised violence as it is often channelled to terrorism as an outlet for the frustration.

Sexual frustration of unmarried young boys in their late teens and twenties did help Mao Zedong organise a ruthless, agressive and brutal thug army during the Cultural Revolution of China. It also helped Mahmoud Ghazni and the Islamic prophet Muhammad gain power; by enticing young, sexually deprived warriors with the promise of ‘booty women’, if lands were conquered or 72 houris (virgin women) in paradise if they perished in the attempt. Sexual frustration was one factor, if not the main driving force behind the nationalist Blackshirts of Imperial Japan, as evident from the trend where Japanese invading soldiers predated on women in the captured countries.

A cartoon by jesusandmo.net, commenting on how sexual deprivation leads Muslims boys to terrorism.

The scientific basis for the connection between sexual deprivation and violent instincts in men can be explained as the effects of the hormone testosterone, which causes both sexual desire and aggression in the human males. A high testosterone level in the body expresses itself in undesirably aggressive ways if sexual or other alternative outlets are not available. The methods of expression depends on the social system and taboos at the place the person lives in; in the post World War 2 world, physically intensive sports and games like cricket, tennis, football, etc. are used to keep high levels of male testosterone in control (as opposed to wars and asceticism in some places). Testosterone explains why wars are almost always initiated and fuelled by men which gives birth to the phrase “testosterone fuelled wars”. In the Islamic world the choices for these outlets are limited and hence the young men resort to religious fanaticism to distract themselves, or to terrorism with the hopes of pleasures in paradise.

Proponents of wars and terrorism in the name of Islam often exploited the frustration of sexually deprived young males and tantalised them with the prospect of captured women as ‘war booty’ if they succeeded. If they died, 72 lovely virgins in paradise as ‘houris’ would be provided to them which makes these boys ready to die for it, as suicide bombers. In this context, the Islamic terrorists differ from the real-politik terrorists like IRA or LTTE as the latter would not kill themselves through suicide bombing; being dead they would hardly achieve any personal gains. They would rather fight and kill while trying to protect their lives if possible, which reduced their driving force and made them less committed to violence than the Islamists.

The sexual frustration of the youths in the Arab world and Islamic societies has economic, legal and social reasons. In the Arab countries education is generally low and jobs are scarce. It results in young men being unable to marry till their late 20s and 30s, as without employment marriage would not be economically viable. Sex without marriage is a taboo and illegal in Islamic countries and is punishable by flogging in first three offences and death in the fourth offence in countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran. As a result there are unmarried men in cities like Jeddah, Sanaa, Damascus, etc. who live with their parents, anxiously frustrated about their sexual future. The access to western television channels with sexually stimulating themes create frustration, envy and hate for the luxuries enjoyed by the west and make their mind fertile ground for militant recruiters, for the fight against ‘the morally corrupt west’. The pattern can be seen in the profiles of militant Muslim youths both in Europe and Arab world, a majority of whom are in their late teens or early twenties - unmarried, virgins and contain a deep hatred for the free world.

This is not to imply that sexual frustration is the only cause for Islamic terrorism as there are other religious and political factors, each of which have their importance to understand the mind of a terrorist suicide attacker. This is also not to say that sexual deprivation leads to violence and terrorism in all cases, if that were so we would have faced destruction everywhere. But it would also be imprudent to throw away a theory with strong evidences and practical cases to back it up. As Ian Buruman of The Guardian says, “It has long been assumed that young men are better fighters when they are deprived of sex, like slavering dogs fighting in a pit.” We should never underestimate for a moment, the blinding passion which drives these young boys to blow themselves up, in the expectations of 72 eternal virgins in paradise.

More Information -

• Sex and Taboos In The Islamic World - Amira El Ahl and Daniel Steinvorth
• How a British Jihadi Saw The Light - Times Online, London

• Sexuality , Ideology , Violence , Humanity
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Aby June 28th, 2007

You might have pondered this question, especially if you live outside of America and are aware of the activities of US around the globe. Or perhaps you are an American and want to know why the world detests America so much. There are several reasons for this, one of them is the US foreign policy which irks most nations - be they democratic, autocratic or communists. After the World War 2, the United States of America has followed a foreign policy which is increasingly aggressive and extremist against countries not complying to American will and its petty interests.

Bodies of Vietnamese children massacred by US forces: Victims of American Foreign Policy

Successive American governments (with a few exceptions like Clinton, Carter, etc.) have shown in the last few decades that they are ready to kill hundreds of thousands of people for the sake of their political or business interests. At times the issue is so trivial that if a local government is not supportive of American companies or US influence, attempts are made by American agencies like CIA to destabilize that government by mass dissent, genocides, military coups or assassinations. United States owes apologies and compensations for the genocides of at least 11 million people around the world. The United States administration is guilty of so many crimes against humanity that they could have given Adolf Hitler a complex for not being able to rival the US in genocides. A few of the serious ones among them are shown below. The links for more details are given and if you find these unbelievable you can consult the relevant reports and historical records to verify these -

• 100000 civilians in Guatemala (1954), mostly the Mayans perished in the US organised coup to overthrow the popular Jacobo Arbenz. Reason was given as Arbenz’s close ties and friendliness with USSR and to improve the living standard of the Guatemalans.

• 600000 people died in bombings by USA on peasants and their fields in Cambodia (1973). Many historians agree that Cambodia is the most bombed country in history and they did not have any credible air of land defence to protect themselves.

• 1000000 Iranians were killed in the Iraq - Iran War from 1980 - 1990 by US backed and financed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. It is ironic the US tried Saddam for the same crimes it was an ally to and more ironic that it financed and backed Saddam to topple the democratically elected Iraqi government.

• During end of Vietnam war (1975), US was defeated and it failed to put its choice of government into power against the people’s choice - Ho Chi Minh. To avenge the defeat and death of its 58022 killed soldiers, it released several million tons of Agent Orange and Napalm bombs which killed at least 2500000 Vietnamese civilians. The sanctions and blockades forced by US killed an additional minimum of 1.5 million people.

• 1200000 children died in Iraq between 1990 - 1997 as a result of US and UK led sanctions against medicine and food supplied to Iraq after the gulf war and also because of bio-chemical weapons used on Iraqis - according to World Food Program and UNICEF reports.

Every act of these mass genocides and massacres was given a catchphrase justification to suit the American tastes, most commonly being, in the ‘interests of America‘, ‘for freedom‘, ‘war or terrorism‘, ‘war against evil of communism‘, etc. but without a credible justification for the massive losses of human lives and property a war would cause. And yes, a lot of things which the US forces and special forces carry on around the world go unnoticed by the media and public alike till it gets leaked or gets declassified decades later - after the issue has ‘decayed’ (can no longer cause outrage as a fresh incident would have caused).

In the long run such activities create a dissent for Americans around the world. It makes them a target of mockery, hate, attacks both in foreign countries and attacks in mainland America itself. While no sane person would justify attacks on innocent civilians, understanding the root causes which cause such attacks is the first step to solving the problem. If critical issues are brushed under the carpet nothing can be achieved except further death and destruction of American people who often have nothing to do with what their governments are up to in rest of the world.

• Crimes , America , Ideology , Violence , Humanity
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