In our current frame of mind regarding Islam, meaningful debate about the status of women in Islam is difficult.
It's a Catch 22 situation- the Reactionary lobby are most confused.
Stand up for Muslim women, when they don't stand up for our own?
But the Islamophobes have no problem with claiming a Feminism they don't at heart believe to serve their own ends.
I was recently sent this piece by Kizzie, showing it from the perspective of a Muslim woman.
Muslim women, after all, know the reality.
Muslim Woman
I'm passive, weak, uneducated
Veiled from head to toe
One of his four wives
Work in the kitchen all day
And spread my legs wide at night
That's what you think, right?
Funny how the devil spreads ignorance amongst a "civilized people"
The Orientalist whispers in so many ears
To him, I'm the mistress of the harem
Black-hair, olive skin, eyes that glow, hips that don't lie
Hold up
Sexual exploitation- there's nothing exotic about that
Or
I'm poor, cracked feet that never touched soft designer shoes
Dirty, hungry, cold, alone
I'm calling out for help, America save me from my fathers, my brothers, my backward culture, America- save me from my myself
Let me tell you something
You don't have to be a woman to hear my stories
But you have to be a woman to understand them
The blood that boils in my veins is the same as yours
My story is a testament of my struggle
My struggle is a testament of my faith
I am a Muslim woman
Muslim woman
I made prophets weak in the knees,
Fought alongside my man in war
Then went home to nurture my baby
Does that surprise you?
You say I need liberation
What do you call it?
Oh yeah…..furthering women's rights in the Middle East
I have one thing to say to you
My liberation won't come from the one who has oppressed me
Brining me democracy
You think you're really gonna send me Condi
To tell me how to be free
But wait, I'm not here to play the blame game
Let's make this more real
Not only do I take this hate from you
But I take it internally from the close-minded bigots of my own society
So my Muslim father tells me how to dress, but so does Gucci
So my Muslim brothers tell me how to act, but so does MTV
Yea…so it's this double bind I face
When I realize that if do what I want.
I won't make anyone happy
Too good to be bad, too bad to be good
But wait, why this dichotomy
Since when did my identity become a zero sum game
Why do you insist on labeling me?
Putting me in boxes simple and easy only for you to understand
Countless books and movies dedicated to uncovering me instead of just
Letting me be
What's in free will when my spiritual will isn't allowed to be free
Just look at France and Turkey
"Unveiling the Muslim woman"
Why don't I unveil your sexist patriarchal ideology?
Remember the golden rule- treat others how you'd like to be treated, if you're
So keen to educate then please be educated,
Enslaving not our bodies now but our minds,
Eating disorders and depression, no love and not much attention
This equality talk is cheap and the price expensive
Using my body to sell everything from cigarettes to automotives,
Confusing my flesh from my spirit
Confusing my humanity as weakness
When I say something in protest
Standing against trafficking, hunger, poverty, violence, you know "women's issues,
They brush it aside to…oh, she's just a Femi-NAZI
So don't confuse my silence as submission
Nor my covering as oppression
Don't confuse my peaceful battle as lack of conviction
When you ask what sustains me
I say: not man, not America, But God, our God
Am I American, Kashmiri, or an American Born Confused Desi,
On applications, I check none of the above, all of the above, some of the above
But ultimately
I am a Muslim woman.
Nothing for me to add to that.
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17 comments:
Gucci tells no one how to dress; throwing back meaningless comparisons to muddy the waters.
This is mostly all an ad hominem attack as I see it.
I have to agree with City Unslicker.
Islamic fundamentalist misogyny in general remains, well, total.
Fundamentalists always claim that the sequestration and covering of women serves to "protect" the weaker, more rape-prone "pathetic" sex. One might also recall recall 9/11 terrorist Mohamed Atta's specification, in his will, that no woman handle his corpse or approach his grave.I'm not sure many "reactionaries" in the West would support such a position. Women will continue to be marginalised under fundamentalist Islam because by definition it seeks a return to an anti-modern set of gender relations based upon the subjugation of women to nothing other than being "good wives and mothers". Again, not too many of even the most militant anti-feminists in the West are seeking such an objective. Fundamentalist Islam also seeks to silence resistance through death. There are plenty of dead feminists and womens rights activists across the Islamic world to prove that point. I don't think many western reactionaries happen to share such an approach.
I remember the Taliban enforcing their laws with an "iron fist." They insisted, and still insist, that all women, when in public (including physicians, nurses and patients), wore veils completely covering their head, face, wrists and ankles to "preserve their modesty." If they did not, they risked arrest.The Taliban still say there's really no point in educating a girl after age 8
I don't think many "western anti-feminists" are thinking along those lines... And it's not just the Taliban. Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, a vast array of limitations have been put in place in all aspects of women’s lives in Iran. And who is exactly "unveiling the Muslim woman in Turkey"? The wives of the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and just about every other member of the Turkish Cabinet are all veiled. Turkey will have a veiled
First Lady on Tuesday following presidential elections for the first time.
Thus spake Zarathustra: Rather know nothing than half know much.
What is the difference between trying to liberate faithful Muslim women, and liberating you by taking away your right to pray?
"Thus spake Zarathustra: Rather know nothing than half know much."
To whom are you referring? Invest in the use of some pronouns if its not too much trouble.If this is directed at me, say so.
If Nietzsche had been introduced to Islam I'm sure he would have converted without any hesitation BTW.
Interesting but not really convincing.
When I was ranting to a friend recently about the treatment of Muslim women in a book I was reading she stopped me in my tracks by saying this. "You know, think of it as them being where Christian women were a few hundred years ago." Well obviously apart from the dress issues and female circumcision, etc. An interesting perspective.
What happened to Nature and Nurture. Is it coming back or second thoughts? It's out there on bloglines where I saw it.
CityUn- I think comparisons are fair enough, I can't see it being an ad hominem attack as such.
I think the point being made is that only Muslim Women can see which parts of their lives they want to change, and which are the bits WE think they should.
Stan- The Koran actually has a far less oppressive code than that to be found in Leviticus.
I actually just thumbed through Sura 4, and can't see anything there to match the stereotype of Muslim misogyny.
Fundamentalist islam is a political phenomoenon.
In much the same way Ian Paisley does NOT respresent, in my view, anything like Christs teaching.
I think the issue here isn't what fundamentalists do, but the actual issue which affects Muslim women, living a life that is free from oppression, yet devout as well.
Nothing in the Koran to stand against that, anymore than there is in the Bible. (Note how I phrase that, I'm not disputing passages exist in both which can be used the wrong way)
Sean- In a sense, I would agree on that principle, a little knowledge can be dangerous, it leads to the skewed perspectives we see all around us.
Problem is, the road to knowledge inevitably passes through a half knowledge stage.
This is called Human History.
Phish- I think you have hit on the point in question. There is a tendancy to go around thinking people need liberating from what we think they should be liberating from.
It's worth noting that Crusades and jihads are founded on that principle.
Stan- I think Nietzche was more than aware of Islam. As he was an atheist, I can't see it really appealing to him, Islam is about obedience, not something Nietzche much cared for.
jmb- You see, this is where we enter the real conundrum. Muslim women aren't in the same place that Christian women were a few hundred years ago, because they were never in Christendom.
The history of western women is subtly different.
The route to female equality in the Mualim world cannot just follow that of women in the West, there are different dynamics.
The headscarf issue is a prime example. We see that as a symbol of their oppression. Do they?
In some cases, I think the reverse is true, it is a symbol for them of their identity.
Nature and Nurture still exists in draft. I wrote it because I thought I was about to be the victim of a character assassination elsewhere, but pulled it on request now that danger seems to have receded.
It was one of my better posts, if you did read it, in a way It's a shame it had to go, but it probably did go too far into the darker aspects of my upbringing.
Stan, I did not refer to yours. It was just thought as an "emancipated" adding to what Cityunslicker and you had written before.
All: Let me try to explain. This very quotation was chosen with no relation to religion. It was a provocative reply to a provocative text.
Now is provocation a lovely thing, and when wouldn't be the best time to be provocative and impulsive but when being young, however: In my opinion it is not helpful to fight one prejudice with another, and when it comes to generalising it is even more dangerous.
Anyway, sorry for causing confusion and adrenalin rush. :)
"If Nietzsche had been introduced to Islam I'm sure he would have converted without any hesitation BTW."
Reading "The Antichrist", in chapter 60 you'd find Nietzsche praising the "culture of Islam".
He did not convert, though. :)
Well, as far as I know. Perhaps he practised taqiyya . . .
What's the point you're making here, Crushed?
Excellent piece.
"Fundamentalists always claim that the sequestration and covering of women serves to "protect" the weaker, more rape-prone "pathetic" sex."
We definitly have different views in this part of the world. It's not seen to protect the pathetic sex.
"One might also recall recall 9/11 terrorist Mohamed Atta's specification, in his will, that no woman handle his corpse or approach his grave."
well I'm sure many muslims,myself included found his request absurd.
"Women will continue to be marginalised under fundamentalist Islam because by definition it seeks a return to an anti-modern set of gender relations based upon the subjugation of women to nothing other than being "good wives and mothers".
I'm happy u didnt generalize and u used fundmentalists instead of saying muslims...Yes the fundmentalists want to enforce a horrible system of gender apartheid but many will not allow this to happen.
They will always be a minority in the Muslim world and they should not be given a chance to become leaders.
"There are plenty of dead feminists and womens rights activists across the Islamic world to prove that point"
such as....
I'm not a big fan of post-revolutionary Iran and the Taliban rule in Afghanistan.
I can't speak for the writer but as far as I know, only a specific type of veil was allowed in turkey in the 1980's and for the past 50 years or so, Turkish leaders discouraged the veil in an attempt to secularize Turkey. So the headscarf or veil is viewed as an impedient to societys modernization and a backward thing in turkey...its banned in universities and I read that the the European Court of Human Rights backed up this decision.
"Turkey will have a veiled
First Lady on Tuesday following presidential elections for the first time. "
Arent people worried about this candidate and his veiled wife? BBC said so:)
Sean- That's how I feel about the issue, fighting one discrimation with another.
By the same token, we could argue that Islam is bad for breweries.
Sir James- This post is (mercifully some would say) free of any points from me.
I cheated a bit and ran someone else's contribution, because I thought it had something to say.
I felt it changed my perspective reading it, so I thought it was worthwhile sharing.
Welshcakes- What I got out of it was how similar the issues we all relate to actully are.
Kizzie- Ataturk outlawed the Fez, I think.
I agree with most of what you say, well, I can't really disagree.
Maybe its fair to point out that western people don't support a lot of things their leaders do, and should not assume the same of the Islamic world either.
I don't think there is as huge a gulf as we are told.
Its like someone write down all the things I was thinking!
I'm so totally dropping by at Kizzie!
Thanx for sharing cbi!
"Maybe its fair to point out that western people don't support a lot of things their leaders do, and should not assume the same of the Islamic world either."
Thank you!
great point.
Cheers.
I get sick of how patronizing we can be as North Americans. It is grand for us to try to truly help those in need-- but why not ask them what they want, rather than just impose what we think they should want?
Thought-provoking.
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