Ms. Soltayeva

From the NYTimes ... “In One Chechen's Humiliation, Questions About Rule of Law”

And questions about freedom of sexuality …

We punks and freaks, those that would dye our hair green and paint a green cross on our foreheads and turn it upside down, shave our eyebrows and sleep around … we should stand in solidarity with Ms. Soltayeva, the woman who was charged with committing adultery with a Russian (Christian) man in Chechnya, and was publicly shamed by the police. To publicly shame her, the police shaved her head, her eyebrows, and painted her head green, along with her eyebrows. They painted a green cross on her forehead. They undressed her, whipped her, and made her to dance in front of members of her community. I came upon the story when I saw her striking picture, one that caught my eye precisely because she looked like me, my friends, the freaks that live in Berlin and will not be held by outdated notions of sexual or gender “law.” We should dress ourselves as they dressed Ms. Soltayeva and shout for the world to hear, We are the infidels … We are a million infidels. We will follow no man’s law except the divine law of loving each other as best we can. I, for one, will be sexually faithful to no one—other than to my own body. I belong to everyone and to no one. I stand by all women who have been victims of violence at the hands of any man or woman who attempts to possess her or her body.

For more information see:

“In One Chechen's Humiliation, Questions About Rule of Law

August 30, 2006, Wednesday

By C. J. CHIVERS (NYT); Foreign Desk

Late Edition - Final, Section A, Page 1, Column 4, 1367 words

Article:

DISPLAYING ABSTRACT - The humiliation of Malika Soltayeva, a pregnant Chechen woman suspected of adultery, was ferocious and swift. Ms. Soltayeva, 23, had been away from home for a month and was reported missing by her family. When she returned, her husband accused her of infidelity and banished her from their apartment.