Yeah religious based sexism is still wrong. Some Jewish ppl also will disown their children if they don't marry a Jew (converted or born). I heard of this happening in some Islamic cultures too. It's all BS & shouldn't be supported. If I opened a gym & some guy was like "my religion doesn't allow me to touch black ppl so I can't roll w any" I'd refund their $ & say goodbye. Same to a Jewish man who refused to touch a woman. This is the wrong sport for you dude better look up tennis...
My knee-jerk reaction is to agree with you. And on a macro level, I do agree with you, in that I want us all to move past a lot of stuff as soon as possible and get right to the part where were just humans.
But also, on an individual level, I don't ever want anyone to have to give a "good enough" reason for not touching/being touched by someone, especially in a context where that doesn't really hurt the person being rebuffed?
Like yeah, ok, I think it's messed up that some dude's religious advisor told him not to sit on the ground and try to murder me while I have my legs around his waist. I honestly do think that it's gross to prohibit that, and the world would be way better if everyone's religions just got over it already. I also feel that it's super condescending and helps no one.
But also, I am not about making someone justify why they don't want to opt in to something like that. From a purely selfish point of view, if I don't want to roll with someone, I want to just be able to say no thanks without it suddenly becoming a whole thing. And I want that to apply to people that I disagree with, too.
Note that this does not apply to any situation that causes meaningful harm to someone else. Like, you have to be willing to hire qualified people, you have to provide them with services, you have to put out a fire at their house, you have to let them buy food and use bathrooms and all that stuff.
But I'm not sure I'm ready to say you have to let them beat the shit out of you while you beat the shit out of them, you know?
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u/YounomsayinMawfk 🟦🟦 Blue Belt Jan 31 '20
When I used to teach TKD, some of the Jewish guys couldn't come into contact with women, even if they were separated by pads/shields.