Rarely, in my experience, does this gender apartheid seem to do what it’s designed to: turn one’s thoughts away from the opposite sex during lectures. As my mother once reported, on returning from an orthodox Jewish wedding, where women and men sat on separate sides, barriers actually seemed to heighten one’s awareness of the opposite sex, rather than tamp it down. I remember hearing a story about a Pakistani scholar who was asked why Islamic cultures were so intent on keeping men and women separate. “Why?” he asked. “Why, to boost the birthrate, of course!”
😭😭
