穆斯林改革派、自由派、进步人士中，反对性别隔离的人往往态度十分激烈，而这种激烈程度与他们对性别应当分开这一主张所感到的愤慨相称。但这为何会成为问题呢？即便是最世俗的社会，在某种程度上也施行性别隔离。厕所有男女之分，更衣室有男女之分，体育运动总体上也按性别划分。世俗社会承认男性与女性的区别，并以无数种方式将这些性别差异付诸实践。

Muslim reformists, liberals, progressives who oppose gender separation are often very aggressive, and their aggressiveness matches the indignation they feel at the notion that genders should be separated. But why is this such a problem? Even the most secular societies impose gender separation to some extent. Bathrooms are gendered. Locker rooms are gendered. Sports are gendered in general. Secular societies recognize male and female and operationalize those gender distinctions in countless ways.

穆斯林只是以略有不同的方式来落实性别的区分。然而，由于穆斯林的做法和性别隔离与占主导地位的西方模式不同，这便成了一个问题。那些改革派和伊斯兰教的批评者们不是仅仅承认穆斯林的做法有所不同，而是让人觉得伊斯兰教是唯一一种促成性别隔离的宗教和世界观，因而将其视为落后和野蛮的。

Muslims simply operationalize gender somewhat differently. But since Muslim practices and gender separation differ from the dominant, Western model, that is a problem. Rather than just acknowledge that Muslims do it differently, these reformists and critics of Islam make it seem like Islam is the only religion and worldview that facilitates gender separation and is therefore backwards and barbaric.