A hardline Islamic group in Somalia is whipping women for wearing bras and making them shake their breasts in public as punishment.

The moral cleansing is shocking moderate Muslims.

The terrorist group Al Shabaab* is taking it upon themselves to impose strict Sharia’a law in southern Somalia. Bras are considered haram for being designed to sexually excite men.

Residents said gunmen had been rounding up any woman seen with a firm bust and then had them publicly whipped by masked men. The women were then told to remove their bras and shake their breasts.

“Al Shabaab forced us to wear their type of veil and now they order us to shake our breasts,” a resident told Reuters, adding that her daughters had been whipped.

“They first banned the former veil and introduced a hard fabric which stands stiffly on women’s chests. They are now saying that breasts should be firm naturally, or just flat.”

This sounds a lot like medieval witch trials where young women had to strip and be physically examined by a panel of men in the community. The misogyny is focused on women’s bodies: Shame on her for having breasts! How dare she have parts that arouse me!

As Tracy Clark-Flory said over at Broadsheet, “Forcing a woman to put on such a show in public is humiliating and reputation damaging. These are just the things al Shabaab would like to associate with women’s sexuality.”

Bras can be sexy but, as any big busted woman knows, they are essential to keep the girls under wraps during any kind of physical activity. They allow women to run and jump just like men. Historically speaking brassieres are probably new to Somalia, but as modern advances go they beat the hell out of sliced bread.

Perhaps the problem here isn’t the introduction of overt sexuality into the community (although I would argue getting women to shake their breasts in public does just that), but the introduction of physical equality.

Afraid of being beaten by a girl?

*public whipping and forced nudity is terrorizing in my book, politics aside