Clothing and culture

Via Andrew, we learn of the ridiculous situation at Harvard in which penis persons are routinely kicked out of athletic facilities , at the request of a university Islamic group, so pious Muslim women can work out without being in their polluting male presence.

Six times a week, Harvard kicks all the guys out of the Quadrangle Recreational Athletic Center at the request of the Harvard Islamic Society. This is to accommodate those female Muslim students whose faith won’t let them work out in front of men.

In the old days, Harvard would have laughed if some Catholic or evangelical mother urged “girls-only” campus workouts in the name of modesty. Today, Harvard happily implements Sharia swim times in the name of Mohammed.

At Harvard, that’s called progress.

As Andrew says:

They would never do that kind of thing for any other religion. If a religion refuses to allow men and women to work out together in public, then its adherents need to work out at home.

In related news from the world of liberal progress, down the coast in Maryland, frock-wearing penis persons are invading women's toilets -- and the law is on their side:

Montgomery County, adjacent to Washington, D.C., passed the law last November to accommodate “transgendered people”—that is, men who perceive themselves to be women, and women who perceive themselves to be men. The law adds gender identity to the list of protected classes to the Montgomery County Code banning discrimination.

In effect, it means men will have full access to a woman’s restroom and locker room. A woman taking a shower after her aerobics class might look up to find a man turning on the shower next to hers. A little girl using a movie theater restroom will now have to worry that a strange man might walk in.

Michelle Turner, who leads a citizens group opposing the law, says, “Any biological male who is willing to wear a dress and who is feeling transgendered at that particular moment can enter the ladies room or locker room.”

And what is to stop non-transgendered men from entering the ladies’ room? Nothing. A child molester or rapist could put on a dress and go right in. So could pornographists. It is an appalling, shocking law. And get this: There is no exemption for religious schools, book stores, churches, and daycares. As Turner notes, “The act will use the force of law to make these organizations accept transgenders, transvestites, and cross-dressers as employees.”

It's so hard to be progressive, and to keep the correct position straight in one's mind. Men can't be around women, except when they pretend that they're women and need to go potty? Vinnie Barbarino-like, I'm so confused. Seems to me that the best thing to do is to ask Is this going to piss off Southern Baptists? If the answer is yes, you can rest easy that the policy, however bizarre or retrograde, is progressive. And if not, not.