I just wanted to make a comment on the article about “Hindu Women’s Activism in India and the Questions it Raises” by Amrita Basu. Reading the article made me realized that every time I encounter a Muslim woman who is wearing a veil, I automatically have this idea that the person is being oppressed through her religion. I believe this is because within the Western society we’re taught that the Middle Eastern women are lacking certain freedom thus we (liberated, assertive Western woman with voices) must help them. I know a lot of Muslim women who don’t veil themselves so why is it that Americans associate Muslim women with veils so completely, and why does the media seem to pick out only these women? Is it because this is how we vision them??
Posted by Pang Xiong at December 11, 2005 03:42 PMI agree with the point you are maiking here. Sometimes I do find myself thinking the same way about Muslim women in association with their veils. But, I do not think it is only with Muslim women that "western thinking" people think of women being oppressed. The problem is that the "western" world seems to think it is better than any other. Think of it this way: "Westerners" go to war just so they can instill democracy (or what-have-you) just because "westerners" seem to think their way is the best way. The resoning that the "westerners" give is not that they want to instill democracy, but usually because there are women and children suffering. Therefore, it is not just women, but children as well.
Posted by: Gizelle Malarkey at December 11, 2005 08:25 PMI agree with Pang. Western Society has brainwashed us into thinking that all ME women are oppressed and veiled. I'm sure some may be, same goes for women with other religions and of different races, but we cant assume all are. Reading the Basu article made me realize that I need to analyze and interpret things for myself and not let society analyze and interpret things for me. I would not want outsiders or other races to assume incorrect things about me just because of my religion or race.
Posted by: Kiesha at December 11, 2005 08:37 PMHi. Greetings. In Islam, womens are obligated to cover some part of themselves. The covered part is called aurat (means shameness). It is instructed by God. Women and men have different aurat. The aim is to ensure harmony in our society. To me, Muslim women are not oppressing their religion. They just obey the God's word. The media is controlled so that it will give bad view to Muslim. Today it is important to know what's not inside the media, not just accept what it is delivered. I recommend you to understand Islam from inside.
Posted by: syafiq at November 22, 2006 01:11 AMMuslim culture is generally very oppressive towards women. It is the result of domination by religion and men. Having been brought up as a Christian during my childhood, I observed the same thing among Christian men, constantly complaining about the way women dressed and how it tempted them, and how evil women are, and how they should cover up and not tempt men. Same thing going on with Islam. It should not be stood for. We had the same type of s**t going on in our European cultures for a long time, we wouldn't accept it in our culture, and it shouldn't be accepted in any other culture if what you value is freedom, not just for yourself, but for others too.
By the way, this is coming from a guy.
If Muslim women has practices which are different to most people in the world, I think we just have to respect that. It is part of their religious practices and we have different religious beliefs with them that they also ought to respect. If we think that they are not as assertive as most of us, they could have their reasons.
Assertiveness of a person does not really mean that they are this and that. There are reasons of assertiveness. If that reason is somehow negative or maybe not part of any practices, then maybe that's when we should offer our help.
Posted by: Assertiveness at August 13, 2007 01:38 PM