The militiaman was speaking anonymously to an Israeli newspaper, so you might contest the authenticity of the interview, were it not that the use of rape as a weapon of repression is hardly a secret. Refugees who fled Iran as the ayatollahs installed their theocracy, have described the "weddings" in painful detail. When a physician examined the body of Zahra Kazemi, the Canadian photojournalist the mullahs arrested and murdered, he found unmistakable evidence that they had not stopped at torturing her. Not a true secret, then, rather a secret in plain view, which observers look through rather than see. 

Instead, they prefer to concentrate on the works of Karen Armstrong, a former nun, who has been beatified by the intelligentsia rather than the Vatican. Nothing infuriates Benson and Stangroom's critics so much as their demolition of Armstrong's startling claim that the "emancipation of women was a project dear to the Prophet's heart" by showing that the surviving accounts of his life tell of Muhammad consummating a marriage to a nine-year-old girl, and taking a slave girl as a concubine. (The arguments about Armstrong's evasions would be of historical interest only if in both Yemen and Iran, Islamists had not been inspired by his example and reduced the age of consent for girls to nine on taking power.) The response of the Sunday Times to Does God Hate Women? was truly sinister. "An academic book about religious attitudes to women is to be published this week," the paper reported, "despite concerns it could cause a backlash among Muslims because it criticises the prophet Muhammad for taking a nine-year-old girl as his third wife. Such assertions could invoke the ire of some Muslims."

No irate Muslim had contacted the reporter to warn of a "backlash". She had not seen threats against Benson and Stangroom in online chatrooms. The Sunday Times invented a scandal where none existed and was unconcerned that it might provoke attacks on the authors. In a dismal sign of our nervous times, their panicked publisher responded by calling in an "ecumenical adviser", to assess whether the book's launch should go ahead.

There is a danger of generalising from the particular fury the media have directed at Benson and Stangroom. So I should say that I do not need to be told that religion comes in many forms, not all of them onerous. I accept unreservedly that religion can be, as Marx said, "the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions". Clearly, many liberal-minded people would not have joined the critics in shouting down Benson and Stangroom; they would have whole-heartedly agreed that the repression of women must be opposed in all circumstances. Excellent journalists at the BBC, Independent, Guardian, Observer and Sunday Times produce powerful reports about female genital mutilation and "honour killings" based on the work of NGOs such as Human Rights Watch or the Centre for Social Cohesion. Police officers and social workers work hard to combat abuse, while development agencies insist that the surest way to reduce poverty is to educate women.

But look on the bright side for too long, and you will be blinded by the sun. For all the qualifications, the stubborn fact remains that mainstream opinion does not consider the oppression of women a pressing concern when it is done in the name of culture or religion, particularly in the name of once-subordinate cultures and religions. The misogyny they generate does not move hearts or stir passions. Governments that stifle half their populations do not face boycotts or demonstrations outside their embassies, motions of condemnation at international conferences or opprobrium in everyday political discourse.