Bangladesh's flourishing but unregulated garment industry raises an ethical issue: how does our buy-and-throw-away consumer culture contribute to inhumanly low wages, death-risking working conditions and destructive environmental practices?

In an era that honors fair trade for coffee, how about a concept of ethical fashion?

Ever since the collapse of...

There is a new but largely unrecognized phenomenon in Europe and North America, a nascent but steadily growing movement of Muslim feminists and progressives. Some are independent, solitary individuals. Others are organized. One of the leading organizations is headquartered in Los Angeles: Muslims for Progressive Values. Across the...

Danes are supposed to be the happiest people in the world but to this rather ostentatious claim, most of them are likely to say "phooey!" We're not necessarily happier than others, they'd say, merely sensible with realistic expectations. Now their famous welfare state -- existing comfortably in parallel...

A recent gift of 86 episodes of an old American television series (1999-2007) has reminded me that we sometimes find important lessons in strange places. I concede that in this case the source is entirely improbable, yet nevertheless it offers counter intuitive wisdom that is surprisingly useful in discussions with...

"There is absolutely nothing in the Qur'an that supports or justifies forced marriage," says Tehmina Kazi, who has a law degree from the London School of Economics and is director of British Muslims for Secular Democracy. This was news to many Danes who are currently focused on enforcing...

Female sexuality has always been a problem for men. First, there is the issue of paternity. After that, lust.

Since new life emerges from women's bodies, men can never be absolutely certain about the identity of the infant's biological father. Consequently, men are universally worried about paternity, a controversial explanation...

More young middle class women are working today in jobs and careers than ever before. Sadly, this is only half the picture. The other half is bad news. Women have, yes, been liberated to a certain extent, but American mothers are still trapped in an idealized servitude within a culture...

Ever since a Canadian court convicted three " target="_hplink">Afghani immigrants on Jan. 29 of first degree murder -- labeling the crime an honor killing -- the internet has been predictably buzzing with Islamophobic comments. Islam bashing is popular and the result of ignorance, bigotry or a little of both....

Out of a total Muslim population between four and six million, the French government estimates no more than 2,000 women wear a burqa/niqab. Nevertheless, full face veiling in public has been illegal in France since April and those who violate the law risk a €150 fine. Those who...

Rape is one of life's most uncivilized behaviors. When systematically perpetrated as a weapon of war, it's more about administering dishonor and humiliation then it is an expression of sexual urgency. On a more prosaic level, forced sexual relations can, of course, be the result of an uncontrollable impulse for...

American lives were not exceptional when it came to bin Laden's terror. Far more Muslims were murdered than Americans, Europeans and other westerners. And there is a good reason why some of us ignore this.

Anyone who grew up in America during the 50s will remember the catechism...

published by Chatto and Windus, 2011

Miranda France is well known for two non fiction books, one about Argentina, Bad Times in Buenos Aires (1999) and Don Quixote's Delusions (2002). Now she offers us her first attempt at fiction.

Hill Farm is about English country life in modern Britain. Parts...

The Amsterdam trial has resumed for Dutch politician Geert Wilders on charges of inciting hatred against Muslims. He rejects violence and denies that his behavior provokes it. "I just want a debate," Wilders says. It is true that his acts are nonviolent, but his speech is hateful and fodder for...

Lene Espersen is the first woman foreign minister in Danish history. This comes ninety-five years after Danish women's suffrage and eighteen years earlier for 46-year-old Espersen than for Hillary Clinton who holds the same office. If the Social Democrats win the next election, Helle Thorning-Schmidt will be Denmark's first woman...

Islamists are not ordinary Muslims. Yet ordinary Muslims have had to endure decades of injustice because of them. Islamists are the reason the West has accepted and supported the worst dictatorships in the Arab world. Islamists are one reason America gives Egypt millions of dollars a day in foreign aid.

Upon leaving a cinema after experiencing an enjoyable film, it's rather disconcerting to hear a tiny nagging voice in your head insisting that your feel-good attitude needs adjustment. This happened to some of us after seeing The Kids Are All Right. Superficially speaking, it is a good film, deserving of...

It's easy to argue that veiled women are not free, but just how free are women chained to hyper consumerism and a cultural imperative to be "hot"? This is the take-home message of Sex and the City 2, universally trashed by reviewers because they're looking at it through the wrong...