Recent reports of Islamic State's sexual enslavement of Yazidi women and girls, as well as women from other minority sects, have provoked international outrage. Many Muslims have been incredulous that a movement calling itself Islamic could cite scriptural sanction for such horrendous practices.
Experts in early Islam have analyzed the origins of such policies in 7th century Arabia and historical interpretations in Islam. But ancient Islamic traditions do not fully explain these atrocious policies.
They should instead be viewed as a response to modernity itself: a riposte to modern Western ideas about women's emancipation and male and female sexuality.