Amy Levin: Rick Perry says it’s America’s war on religion, but a subset of the ultra-orthodox in Israel might beg to differ. Perry’s concerns have more to do with school prayer and re-sanctifying Christmas, but many of Israel’s ultra-orthodox are concerned with feminism, or what most feminists would simply call gender equality. Clashes between so-called religious and secular Israelis are nothing new, but a recent spur of incidents has caused a stir in the past few months.  For instance in December an 8-year old Israeli modern orthodox girl, Naama Margolese, was spit on and called a prostitute on her way to school by ultra-orthodox men –apparently her fully covered arms and legs were still considered immodest.

Amy Levin: What would Muslim drag look like? Something like this? Yesterday, the AHA Foundation shared a link on their twitter account to an article titled “Egyptian Women’s Group Calls on Men to Try the Veil.” Aliaa El Mahdy, an Egyptian university student, created a facebook page called “Resounding Cries,” which asks Egyptian men to post photos of themselves donning the hijab (Muslim veil). Since the launch of the page on November 1^st, dozens of Egyptian men have heeded the call. Mahdy feels that it is unjust that only women are required to wear the hijab, which reflects the unequal status of women in Islam.

Kathryn Montalbano: NiqaBitch, a YouTube video released shortly after France’s September 2010 April 2011 official ban of face-covering head apparel, provides interesting if not deceptively complex social commentary expressed via the most fundamental medium for communication possible: the body itself.  Although the video is set to what commenters call “vulgar” rap music (in English) and is plastered with French subtitles detailing the sometimes humorous dialogue (see below the photograph), undoubtedly observers—both within and of the video—are drawn to the remarkably stark, eye-catching juxtaposition of bare, toned female legs with shrouds that are, in Western minds, meant to hide sexuality.

Kathryn Montalbano: What is meant by “feminist”–the inherently problematic, unfixed term that often causes pangs of discomfort when mustered as a fighting word–varies not merely across historical and contemporary time and space but also within individual countries and regions.  In the 1970s, for instance, the feminist movement in America was starkly divided in the public eye between the likes of sexy Helen Gurley Brown, author of Sex and the Single Girl and editor of Cosmopolitan magazine, and powerhouse Betty Friedan, author of The Feminine Mystique who is credited with launching “second-wave” feminism.

Hate the sin, love the sinner says a coalition of Christian groups, including the Vatican, who’ve compiled a new rule book for treating non-Christians with tolerance while still trying to convert them.

A San Francisco woman charges that Abercrombie & Fitch, purveyor to the young and bare-skinned, fired her for wearing a head scarf.  Apparently allowing her to work in the stock room in a scarf wasn’t “reasonable religious accommodation.”  So who was she offending?  The brand’s “natural, classic American style.”

States of Devotion, a publication of NYU’s Hemispheric Institute edited by Ann Pellegrini, has a new “dossier” of articles that address same-sex marriage in the U.S. Pellegrini’s introduction reads:

That same Christian Century article contrasts the rising support for gay marriage, especially among younger Americans, with public attitudes towards legalized abortion. The survey found that support for abortion held steady over the past five years, but so did opposition to it. More significantly, there was no demonstrable generation gap, as there is on the same-sex marriage issue. That is, both support for and opposition to legalized abortion held steady across age groups.

“The Mubarak regime is more dangerous to women than the Muslim Brotherhood.” Listen to renown feminist Dr. Nawal El Saadawi and NYU graduate student Yasmin Moll on the Brian Lehrer show on NPR.

You can read today’s exclusive article by El Saadawi at Women’s Media Center here.

Andy Kopsa writes about the awkward title of a fantastic and haunting article by Sarah Blustain at Mother Jones.  Blustain chronicles the work and activism of “pro-life” lawyer Harold Cassidy.  The article was first posted with the title A Pro-Choice Feminist’s Worst Nightmare which has since been changed to The Man Who Loved Women Too Much.

Pro-Life: adj. opposing abortion and euthanasia

Feminism: n. the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes

Absurd: adj. unsound, ridiculous, incongruous

Manipulate: v. control or influence someone in a clever or underhanded way

Pro-Life Feminism: The word you’ve entered isn’t in the dictionary.

Don’t miss Susan Henking’s article today at Religion Dispatches on second wave feminism, theology, and gender equality in the church.

Rhonda Roumani at The Scoop asks why controversial atheist and denouncer of Islam, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, is allowed by the American media to speak for all Muslim women. She writes, “She has slowly become the public face of ‘Muslim women,’ often to the exclusion of others who have compelling narratives of their own and who offer a more nuanced understanding of the debates taking place both within the Muslim community and outside it. In short, the real problem is that journalists often fail to place Ali (and a few others like her) in context for a general audience that has a limited understanding of Islam and Muslim communities.” Roumani recommends that news outlets and journalists include other Muslim women’s voices for richer, more representative reporting and she offers some suggestions. But if Roumani won’t say it, allow us: