Do Muslim men consider a handshake a sexual act or even a prelude to sex? Because I’d like to inform them, it’s not. In the west it is customary to shake hands when you are first introduced to someone, particularly in the work force. Be they male or female. It’s considered proper etiquette, the polite thing to do, and if you are on a job interview people will expect a firm handshake upon introduction. Yes, between men and women, and if you aren’t going to play by the rules, then don’t expect to get hired. And that’s what happened to a Bosnian Muslim living in Sweden who was not hired for an internship because he refused to shake hands with a woman. Because of this aversion to women, he was forced out of a job training program with Sweden’s unemployment agency. He in turn sued the agency for religious discrimination, and won.
A Stockholm court Monday ordered the Public Employment Service to pay 50,000 kronor ($6,700) in damages to an immigrant from Bosnia who lost his jobless benefits when he was kicked out of the program.
The court ruled that the man was discriminated against because of his religion. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the ruling would be appealed.
Now, kicking someone out for one’s religion would be wrong, but the fact that it would be challenging to find gainful employment for a man who’s afraid to touch or deal with women gave the agency every right to curtail their efforts to help him. It’s ridiculous that a man would refuse to shake the hand of a woman, in Sweden no less, but even more ludicrous that he won his lawsuit. If I was a female in the position of hiring a man that refused to shake my hand, I would take that refusal as a signal of major problems down the line, and I would never hire him. Perhaps he should consider moving back to Bosnia.
But I’d like to make this perfectly clear, Hasidic Jewish males also refuse to shake the hands of women, and I find that equally offensive. I refuse to believe that Muslim and Hasidic Jewish men are so weak, that a mere handshake would send them into paroxysms of lust. If it does, then I pity them, because they are no better than animals.
