Azar Nafisi Quotes

I cannot belong to a nation which permits such barbarities as stoning to death and amputation - I don't care what religion it is.

Losing their reproductive rights is the first step to how women live in Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan.

In the State of Israel, there are still women who suffer mental and physical violence just because they are women. Many people suffer mental and physical violence, but there is a certain section of the population that harasses women because they are women, and we must fight this vigorously. Anyone who infringes on the rights of women or their freedom, or who works to discriminate against women, works against the principles and ideals of the State of Israel.

And thought the nation ne'er would thrive Till all the whores were burnt alive.

We know that the most dangerous places in the world are more often than not the most dangerous places for women, where women are denied their rights and oppressed. These are the places that are unstable and where extremism often takes hold.

The thing I want to see before I die is women achieving full equality in the world. I'm very passionate about injustice against women and there's too much of it in the world. In so many parts of the world, women are not regarded as worthy or equal to men. In parts of the world, women are bought and sold.

Those religions that are oppressive to women are also against democracy, human rights, and freedom of expression.

Women in Somalia face almost unimaginable oppression.

Because women and girls are not valued equally as human beings, they are treated as less than such. Female genital mutilation is one example of this that has to be stopped.

Women are born, living their lives, and dying without the justice which they have been waiting for since the time of the caveman.

Part of the Koran is a license for oppression.

We call on the governments of the world to reject Sharia law, fatwa courts, clerical rule, and state-sanctioned religion in all their forms; oppose all penalties for blasphemy and apostasy, in accordance with Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human rights; eliminate practices, such as female circumcision, honor killing, forced veiling, and forced marriage, that further the oppression of women; protect sexual and gender minorities from persecution and violence; reform sectarian education that teaches intolerance and bigotry towards non-Muslims; and foster an open public sphere in which all matters may be discussed without coercion or intimidation.

Why extremists always focus on women remains a mystery to me. But they do. It doesn’t matter what country they’re in or what religion they claim. They want to control women.

The idea that cops need to intimidate people of color, to violate our rights in order to protect people of color is like some Islamist societies’ saying the only way to protect women is to keep them under Sharia law.

A number of women have reportedly been victims of what appear to be discriminatory decisions taken by Sharia councils, and that is a significant concern.

I'm no fan of Sarkozy, but I support a ban on face veils because they erase women from society and are promoted by an ultra-conservative ideology that equates piety with the disappearance of women.

One girl subjected to FGM or forces to marry is one girl too many.

A lot of people in Islamic countries are taking it as a personal offense when people are talking about the violence against women in their culture.

The world remains a very hostile place for women in many corners of the globe. As such, we should all strive to battle such injustices wherever these might occur.

If you're a woman lying on the beach in the Maldives, you might want to know that a kilometer away, another woman is being flogged. And you might want to find your own way to protest that.

We need a foreign policy which responds to challenges like forced marriage, and which speaks to the particular needs of women and girls at risk of being sold into slavery.

The treatment of women in Muslim communities throughout the world is unconscionable. All civilized nations must unite in condemnation of a theology that now threatens to destabilize much of the Earth.

Those in the west who dismiss the repressiveness of laws against women in countries like Iran, no matter how benign their intentions, present a condescending view not just of the religion but also of women living in Muslim majority countries, as if the desire for choice and happiness is the monopoly of women in the west.

In some countries, women aren't allowed to wear a swimsuit.

I hate the victimization of women, always.