The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam

Additional The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam Information

Born in Somalia and raised Muslim, but outraged by her religion's hostility toward women, Hirsi Ali escaped an arranged marriage to a distant relative and fled to the Netherlands. There, she learned Dutch, worked as an interpreter in abortion clinics and shelters for battered women, earned a college degree, and started a career in politics as a Dutch parliamentarian. In November 2004, the violent murder on an Amsterdam street of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, with whom Hirsi Ali had written a film about women and Islam called Submission, changed her life. Threatened by the same group that slew van Gogh, Hirsi Ali now has round-the-clock protection, but has not allowed these circumstances to compromise her fierce criticism of the treatment of Muslim women, of Islamic governments' attempts to silence any questioning of their traditions, and of Western governments' blind tolerance of practices such as genital mutilation and forced marriages of female minors occurring in their countries.

Hirsi Ali relates her experiences as a Muslim woman so that oppressed Muslim women can take heart and seek their own liberation. Drawing on her love of reason and the Enlightenment philosophers on whose principles democracy was founded, she presents her firsthand knowledge of the Islamic worldview and advises Westerners how best to address the great divide that currently exists between the West and Islamic nations and between Muslim immigrants and their adopted countries.

An international bestseller -- with updated information for American readers and two new essays added for this edition -- The Caged Virgin is a compelling, courageous, eye-opening work.

What Customers Say About The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam:

How lucky we American women are.I never realized the difficulties of being born a woman in an Islam society.The author introduces the reader to the plight of innocent females of all ages.What a tragedy that such horrible and unimaginable crimes are inflicted on females by family members and others.All women in this world should be outraged and aware of these abominable injustices.

Miss Ali presents issues of woman's global human rights in an interesting and topical discussion especially concerning the world of Islam.

please do ur own research and read from reliable people who have proof to what they are saying. any one can claim anything they want and can write anything they want. for instance she says that fgm is in the quran, she should have said in which chapter and what verse (its NOT there).im not saying that her story is not true.i know that in a lot of countries (muslim and non-muslim) there are horror stories about the treatment of women, but least try to separate culture from religion, the things that happened to her are cultural NOT religious.

In the 21st century, you can not believe anything you read without evidence. These lady is not Arabic and not Muslim. This book is non sense. Generally, I think nobody from any where in the world will be proud and we be bragging with his friends if his daughter lost her virginity. So, do not let her mislead you. We, Americans, are used to learn from specialists and read only peer reviewed articles by professionals. We do not need a book for that. If she is proud of her lost virginity, this is her own problem.

Having read Ali's first book, I wasn't really impressed with "The Caged Virgin." I was expecting it to be a well researched documentary about women in Islam, but it turned out to be a compilation of interviews, speeches and commentary by Ali. There were many interesting points, but I found it to be choppy and difficult to keep my attention focused on the book. If you're interested in a more in-depth look at women in Islam with a first-person account, I suggest reading "Infidel" (also by Ayaan Hirsi Ali) instead.