I’m not getting the whole “Burka is empowering” bit of ‘leftist’ cultural relativism; the burka is a pretty universal symbol of religious tyranny. Whether and to what extent Muslims internalize that tyranny is a bit of a different question, though related of course. I’ve heard lots of leftists claim the Burka is empowering, etc, if you say it’s not you’re an Islamophobe, etc. It’s not empowering, it’s a symbol of patriarchy and nothing more than an oppressive apparatus for patriarchal domination to manifest itself in the lives of the poor women and girls that have to wear it.
opposablethumbssays
The key is in the “can I take it off now”, isn’t it. I can just about stretch my head round the fact that there may be a few privileged women who actually do freely choose to wear this awful ambulatory prison (and who manage to willfully close their eyes to the air of legitimacy they are conferring on the communities that force women to wear it whether they want to or not). But their existence obscures the fact that the vast majority of women who wear this have absolutely no choice in the matter. “Yes” is meaningless unless you are also free to say “no” without any repercussions.
Consent. Un-coerced, un-bullied, un-threatened with punishments, from ostracism to murder. Or it isn’t consent.
You can’t be free to wear this unless you are also, equally, completely, free not to.
Oh, and I hate the equivocation that says the only alternative to being an imprisoned “pearl” belonging to one man is being trash belonging to all men. Fuck that. What about women “belonging” only to themselves, godsdammit.
aziraphalesays
Of course the pearl’s value can only be seen when it’s out of the shell.
Oh, and I hate the equivocation that says the only alternative to being an imprisoned “pearl” belonging to one man is being trash belonging to all men. Fuck that. What about women “belonging” only to themselves, godsdammit.
I’m not sure I see the difference between deliberately wearing a burka and wearing a swastika — although, if anything, wearing the burka to me is worse…it would be like a Jewish person wearing a swastika, to me.
I’m not getting the whole “Burka is empowering” bit of ‘leftist’ cultural relativism; the burka is a pretty universal symbol of religious tyranny. Whether and to what extent Muslims internalize that tyranny is a bit of a different question, though related of course. I’ve heard lots of leftists claim the Burka is empowering, etc, if you say it’s not you’re an Islamophobe, etc. It’s not empowering, it’s a symbol of patriarchy and nothing more than an oppressive apparatus for patriarchal domination to manifest itself in the lives of the poor women and girls that have to wear it.
The key is in the “can I take it off now”, isn’t it. I can just about stretch my head round the fact that there may be a few privileged women who actually do freely choose to wear this awful ambulatory prison (and who manage to willfully close their eyes to the air of legitimacy they are conferring on the communities that force women to wear it whether they want to or not). But their existence obscures the fact that the vast majority of women who wear this have absolutely no choice in the matter. “Yes” is meaningless unless you are also free to say “no” without any repercussions.
Consent. Un-coerced, un-bullied, un-threatened with punishments, from ostracism to murder. Or it isn’t consent.
You can’t be free to wear this unless you are also, equally, completely, free not to.
Oh, and I hate the equivocation that says the only alternative to being an imprisoned “pearl” belonging to one man is being trash belonging to all men. Fuck that. What about women “belonging” only to themselves, godsdammit.
Of course the pearl’s value can only be seen when it’s out of the shell.
Thanks so much for saying this! So true!
+ 1,000 opposable thumbs =~)
I’m not sure I see the difference between deliberately wearing a burka and wearing a swastika — although, if anything, wearing the burka to me is worse…it would be like a Jewish person wearing a swastika, to me.
You’re quite right. It is our moral responsibility to save these Muslim women!