From NBC: It’s the latest prescription for extreme ultra-Orthodox Jewish men who shun contact with the opposite sex: Glasses that blur their vision, so they don’t have to see women they consider to be immodestly dressed. In an effort to maintain their strictly devout lifestyle, the ultra-Orthodox have separated the sexes on buses, sidewalks and other public spaces in their neighborhoods. Their interpretation of Jewish law forbids contact between men and women who are not married. Walls in their neighborhoods feature signs exhorting women to wear closed-necked, long-sleeved blouses and long skirts. Extremists have accosted women they consider to have flouted the code. Now they’re trying to keep them out of clear sight altogether.
Yes, special glasses to stop ultra-orthodox men seeing immodestly dressed women. I’ve got to say I think this is a big improvement on telling the women they ought to dress differently. This solution recognizes who has the problem.
It’s blogged about here at slendermeans, a microblog (of sorts): feminism, women’s rights, criminology, sociology, politics, psychology, academia.
The NBC story is here.
Feminist Philosophers 
I really am still wondering if this is some sort of joke. It’s just too unbelievable.
It’s been making me smile since I like the ‘who has the problem?’ angle. But yes, does seem a bit far fetched.
There is a great old (16th century, maybe?) Chinese novel called “The Carnal Prayer-Mat” where it’s claimed that the gods made the most lusty people near-sighted so that they were not overwhelmed by their desired. Now that these gods are less active, perhaps this is an attempt to recreate their wisdom.
Judging from the photo, lots of them have vision problems to begin with. They could just take off the glasses they normally wear.
Oh dear, I’ve been very near-sighted most of my life! It all makes sense now.
I wonder how many of them would prefer to look at attractive men.
I deliberately take off my glasses while teaching to prevent small distractions (facial reactions, minor texting) while still seeing gross body reactions (hands for questions) so I can concentrate on what I and students are saying. I do that as something of a utilitarian benefit for us all. But as a strategy to not-see temptation/sinfulness as part of a life-plan? That places all blame outside oneself and is the definition of literally putting blinders on to protect one’s cherished beliefs without dint of criticism. Pathetic.
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