As a Washington Post report of her trip to Saudi Arabia from last Thursday noted, there is a dire need in the kingdom to raise public awareness of breast cancer and its treatments. Due to social taboos, some 70 percent of breast cancer cases in Saudi Arabia are not reported until the late stages of the disease. It is possible that the local media attention that Mrs. Bush's visit aroused may work to save the lives of women whose husbands will now permit them to be screened for the disease and receive proper medical treatment for it in its early stages.
And this is where the disturbing aspect of Mrs. Bush's visit enters the picture. During her public appearances, the First Lady limited her remarks to the issue of breast cancer awareness. Yet in the Persian Gulf, it is impossible to separate the issue of breast cancer or for that matter the very fact of the First Lady's visit from the issue of the systematic mistreatment and oppression of women in the Saudi Arabia
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Caroline Glick does a bang up job on Laura Bush's disastrous "breast cancer awareness" misadventure in the Middle East. RTWT.
But not only is Laura off track politically and culturally in defending the abaya -- she's wrong medically.
You see, if Laura really wants Muslim women to lower their breast cancer rates, she'd be yanking off their abayas with a fervor.
Why?
Because the
latest medical research now shows that Vitamin D is a key to fighting breast cancer. And can you guess what one of the most effective delivery regimens for Vitamin D is?
That's right:
sunlight.
And how helpful is an abaya in helping women get that?
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