LSE’s Islamic society segregated men and women at a dinner. So what?

Over the past week major news outlets published articles criticising London School of Economics Islamic Society for organising a segregated gala dinner. They claim that the university and Muslim students are not “open-minded”, because they chose to hold and attend an event that segregated men and women.

Now what do I as a young Muslim, born in a European country, have to say about this. Well in a few simple words: “Stop picking on us, you Islamophic bigots.”

Why is it that everything that Muslims do, gets extremely scrutinised? Why is an overreacted comment necessary? The media comments on Trump’s verbal vomit, guess what, you are just as bad. At this point I would like to make it clear I am not a member of the Islamic Society, in fact I am not even a student in London, but I am a Muslim.

The point is, why are they being scrutinised for practising religious and cultural customs. Nobody was forced to pay and attend this “segregated event”, and surprisingly newspapers forgot to mention that there were numerous areas around the venue were everyone was allowed to mix freely and how there was not mandatory seating arrangements.

Attendees stated that it was a great event, and people were free to talk to their “brothers” and “sisters” unrestrictedly. This statement was echoed by the Head of the LSE’s Student Union, who said that is was a very relaxed and tension-free evening.

Personally I find it quite funny how Feminist societies up and down the country organise events which are completely segregated, with no male presence at all, are somehow more acceptable then when Muslims want to have dinner, in a way which they have for many centuries.

Soft segregation is a very normal and common factor at not just Muslim, but Asian, events, weddings and other functions. So what next? Do we send protesters and the media to Asian weddings, where during parts of the ceremony males and females are segregated, because upholding traditions is somehow close-minded?

It seems like there is one rule for one and one for others. All of this because a 7ft screen between the two groups.

Religions have different rules and customs. In the 21st century we should be respecting those who wish to follow them. Yes, maybe LSE’s Muslim society should have sold tickets for all rather than dividing them into brothers and sisters but the actual segregation is not a problem. They chose to do this, and the only people with a problem are those who aren’t even affected by it.