Sorting through the swamp of sexual obsession, pre-modern superstition, nationalist rage and outright nastiness that makes up so much of fundamentalist Islam is a mucky business, but here’s brave Amir Taheri in the New York Post with fresh examples:

“According to officials in Athens, the number of Muslim women participating in this year’s game is the lowest since 1960. Several Muslim countries have sent no women athletes at all; others, such as Iran, are taking part with only one, in full hijab. And state-owned TV networks in many Muslim countries, including Iran and Egypt, have received instructions to limit coverage of events featuring women athletes at Athens to a minimum.”

It’s difficult to know what to pick out of this grim little piece, but perhaps this is a start:

“Hijab theoreticians agree on one claim: a woman’s hair emanates dangerous rays that could drive men wild with sexual lust and thus undermine social peace.”

We should, I suppose, be grateful that the hijab is not made out of tin-foil.

And then there’s this:

“In 2000, for example, the Khomeinist authorities in Tehran announced a ban on women riding bicycles or motorcycles. The rationale? Riding bicycles or motorcycles would activate a woman’s thighs and legs, thus arousing “uncontrollable lustful drives” in her. And men watching women on their bikes in the streets could be “led towards dangerous urges.”

Or this:

“Last year, the Tehran Municipality presented a plan to provide sports facilities for women. It proposed amendments to 37 laws and ordinances that discriminate against women. It also unveiled a plan to develop women-only sports grounds. A model stadium was set up with 12-foot-high walls to make sure that no one could see the women from the outside. The stadium was to operate with an all-female staff, including coaches and administrators. The plan was scrapped last February, when critics claimed that the proposed stadium was located close enough to an airport that women in the stadium might be seen by men flying above them in jetliners and helicopters.”

Fools.