26 June 2009

MISOGYNY, RACISM, AND THE BURQA

Further thoughts on the subject:

The "when in Rome, do as the Romans do" axiom comes to mind here. I understand wanting to be respectful of the culture and wearing a scarf if it is a custom when traveling to foreign countries, but one is not required by fear of punishment by the state to do so. If a woman is traveling to Afghanistan, she is not required by the state to dress in a certain way, but it becomes a matter of personal safety as she would be punished by warlords for not wearing a burqa, which is oppressive and denies freedom.

My original comment comes from a feminist perspective. A historical misogyny in the form of male-dominated government control of women's bodies in the Arab world is merely being shifted to another end of the moral spectrum where women's bodies are once again being controlled by the state, but this time in the Western world with France's decision. I am talking about women's bodies and how women are pawns in a game of dueling moralities. Do any of these laws affect men?

A government telling women what to wear is not freedom, in France or Afghanistan. No, we cannot be nude on the street in France, but the particular case of the burqa is different and has political, cultural, and historical considerations that must be taken into account. This desire on the part of France to rule on Muslim women's dress is not only misogynist, it is the cultural anti-Arab/anti-Muslim sentiment of the French people rooted in colonialism, which always employs racism in order to function. That racist, colonial legacy is being played out today in this contemporary situation and the female body and the behavior expected of women as "le deuxieme sexe" is the battlefield.

I want Muslim women to be able to choose to wear the burqa as an individual liberty. I doubt this would be a personal choice - I don't know. I would rather the state not be involved in this. The punishment of a woman for not being covered enough is the same as the punishment of a woman for being covered too much.
OCH

24 June 2009

LEAVING TEHRAN

By JASON REZAIAN in Dubai | 24 June 2009

[TEHRAN BUREAU] I decided to leave Iran a couple of days ago for several reasons. First of all, it was beginning to feel as though I could be of little use to anyone by being there. Choked off from most telecommunication, barred from reporting and holding both Iranian and American citizenship, my presence in Iran during this crisis had devolved into being little more than one more thing for my friends in Tehran to worry about.
[more]Leaving Tehran – Tehran Bureau

22 June 2009

Sarkozy: No place for 'burqa' in France

Women and their bodies are once again finding themselves the pawns on the battlefield for male abuses of power. In the case of Sarkozy's statement condemning use of the burqa, women are being just as subjugated as they are in the middle east as to how they are and are not permitted to dress. I find this HIGHLY OFFENSIVE and were I in France today, I would wear a burqa to show my solidarity with people who CHOOSE to wear whatever they want.

I think it is a huge mistake, as was the banning of head scarves some years ago in France. It is a violation to dictate cultural signifiers and suppression of free will. It should be a person's choice to wear a burqa and it should be a person's choice to leave France. "Do these women have that choice?" is the question, but it is not the state's responsibility to answer it for them, either.

Moral imposition is highly questionable, as are fluctuating conceptions of freedom, or in this case: liberté, égalité, fraternité.
OCH


Sarkozy: No place for 'burqa' in France