Woman Sentenced to Jail, Beating for.....Being Raped?!?

Does anyone ever watch Saturday Night Live Weekend Update? If you do, you know how Seth Myers and Amy Poehler sometimes have that segment called, "Really?!?", where they end every sentence with an incredulous, "Really?!?" That is what I feel like doing after reading this article.

I just want to say, "Really?!? A woman is GANG-RAPED by multiple men, and you want to punish her because she was in the car of men not related to her? Really?!?"

So many people act like you can never criticize another country's religions or laws under the guise of "religious freedom." Well, I'm sorry, but I'm not going to hold hands, sing kumbayah and pretend that it's ok that a rape victim is savagely beaten (as part of her punishment!!!) and then jailed, just because Saudi Arabian Islamic law forbids unrelated men and women associating together. That is ridiculous!!

Fine, she "broke" the law about associating with unrelated men (which I don't even buy, since I highly doubt she CHOSE to associate with her rapists. But whatever). But this is the punishment she gets? How incredibly insulting! Is she no more than chattel; a virgin vessel that must be rigidly guarded so as to not lose its purity and bring the family dishonor? And once she does, she needs to be punished more severely than her tormentors, so that she'll "learn" to not do it again? Puh-lease.

It is so appropriate that I came across this story as Thanksgiving nears, because I am so grateful that I live in a country where, although the laws concerning rapists/victims may not be perfect, an injustice such as this would never occur. In America, a rape victim may not be believed (which is terrible, don't get me wrong), but that is usually the extent of her worries. Never, will any woman in our country, be subject to a jail sentence and a brutal beating (which very well could kill her) for the "crime" of being raped. What is wrong with people in these countries, that they seem to tolerate such treatment of women? And, more importantly, what can we do to stop this?