Yesterday, I quickly threw up a post about how Saudi Arabi is trying to pass a law that women in Saudi to cover their eyes….Check it out on The Daily Beast.
My thoughts about this are endless — I find my self in a tizzy about the idea of extremes. In other words, I don’t think we can dictate what other cultures perceive as empowerment. Shrouding – wearing a hijab – may be understood by the Western Feminist as oppression, but it is not always understood by the wearer a source oppression. Let me give you two popular culture references to the opposing opinion. First, an old episode of Jack and Bobbie, which btw was a really good show – you should check it out. In this episode Christine Lahti’s character tears into a Muslim girl’s identity and belief in God as unevolved, uneducated and oppressed. The girl, Hebba responds that wearing a Hijab is part of her ‘liberation’ – fast forward to the second minute to see Hebba’s argument:
Secondly, look at this cartoon:
Clearly – this cartoon about the western feminist perspective’s failure to understand a Muslim woman’s desire to wear a hijab. So, my point is – I get the complexity here – the idea that there are women who wear a hijab and still maintain a sense of empowerment and who am I to tell them that they are wrong – that my kind of empowerment is the only kind? And furthermore, I tend to think that we have to – absolutely must – allow for “choice.”
… but I also recognize extremes – which often result from choices that are made in an uneducated, abusive or oppressed context – I think that porn stars often fall into this category and so can women who are illiterate or uneducated and completely shrouded -or women who are subjected to female castration without a genuine understanding of the consequences. In my gut I feel that this cannot be a state of empowerment because it represents a fanatic extreme that is based on a patriarchal of kyriarchal state. Does it look like empowerment to you?
Still – it’s complicated right — more complicated than we originally think. It is so easy to fall into the trap of seeing your perspective as the right one – but this of course is the flaw of colonialism and conversion – which if you ask me have been at the root of most major atrocities. And yet — I find myself asking once again…
WTF – What constitutes tempting eyes?
I myself am a Muslim woman living in the Middle East, I wear the Hijab and am proud of it. I personally don’t know any Hijab wearing lady that was oppressed into wearing the Hijab. In the Middle East many of my Hijab wearing friends are highly educated even more than their brothers. We can work if we want, but our husbands are obliged to provide for us and our children, he’s not allowed in Islam to take any sum out of our salaries, and we aren’t obligated to provide any of our personal income to our households whatsoever. We are also provide with an allowance, even if we work, and clothes and all of our other needs. I think the west is given the wrong impression about Muslim women, Of course there are always a minority that aren’t following Islamic rulings towards women due to them being uneducated and not practicing Muslims.
Thanks Selma for voicing your views – I would love to hear more – like do you and your friends have jobs and if so what kinds of jobs? Also, do you view the hajib as empowering and how do you frame it that way?
I am sure the West’s story with regards to Muslim women is not the whole story because that is often the pattern – a tendency to normalize that which is familiar and critique the unfamiliar. Does your culture do this? Criticize western women and men?
It’s hard to see shrouded eyes as empowering, whether a law forces it or whether women accept it because they believe they must (God wants it, I have no other choice, or whatever). I wonder how often something is truly ok verses how often it is claimed to be because a woman has no other choice. (Really, I don’t want to vote, drive or see clearly. Yet not voting or driving or seeing clearly are clearly disempowering.)
Thanks for this thoughtful and thought-provoking post.