Quote:
Originally Posted by Nat
A friend of mine had a recent facebook rant after running across a woman in a burqa. The burqa'd woman was walking with a woman wearing a khimar. My friend said she was surprised when they walked by that they were both speaking unaccented American English. While she didn't take issue with the khimar, she had a real problem with the obliteration of the burqa'd woman's face - she felt like the woman was being robbed of her humanity.
I think it's a lot easier to look at another culture and ascribe victim/oppressor meaning to different customs, and I even think there's a fair amount of projection in doing so. I imagine a woman can wear a burqa from a feminist, empowered place or from a very disempowered place or from a purely spiritual place, etc.
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Hi Nat, and thank you for starting this thread. I was thinking some of the same thoughts after reading about the move to outlaw wearing of the burqa in France, and wrestling a little bit with the whole idea.
I should start out by saying that I'm not Muslim, and I do consider myself a feminist...although my definition of that has sometimes not fit neatly with the definitions of others.
Your sentence that I highlighted in red is really what speaks to me. I get so tired of people telling others how to live, think or behave. A woman wearing a burqa may very well be forced to wear it and be hating it....or she may embrace it for reasons of her own and revel in it. We won't know unless we ask
her...and no doubt the reaction will vary from woman to woman. I don't believe it's our place to choose how she dresses any more than it would be for her to choose how we do.
For me, the essence of feminism is that women should be free to express themselves, however that looks...steel toed boots or 4 inch heels, work outside the home or inside it, dressed modestly or barely dressed at all.
When I was growing up my mother was an uber-feminist...and still is. For her, everything traditional was an instrument of oppression and would not be tolerated. I couldn't learn to type, couldn't own a Barbie doll, was forced into woodshop in school (which I despised) and was belittled for my dream of being either a hairdresser or a home economics teacher. Under her definition of feminism, women
had to be employed, preferably professionals, strident, unyielding, aggressive and probably not married or bearing children.
Fast forward four decades, and I have found a happy medium for myself. I have a good corporate job (but I'm a cog in the wheel, not a vp), an advanced degree, and I work from home...which allows me to be the kind of mom I want to be, and to indulge my own love of keeping a house, cooking and baking. I
like being home. Yes, I could make more money and be more "successful" (by her definition) if I was more aggressive, pushed harder, worked harder...and basically acted unlike myself. I choose not to. That's my brand of feminism.
So...back to the original topic (sorry... I'm wordy)....I can easily see how a woman would embrace the burqa. Perhaps for spiritual or religious reasons, perhaps for a feeling of personal safety, perhaps as a way to honor her own body or her partner...I can see many reasons why that would be the case. And all of them seem like valid and understandable reasons to me. In a world that objectifies women's bodies, a burqa would be a barrier against that kind of judgement...and a place to be free of that. I get tired of men looking at my breasts, my butt...and I often wish there was a way to just turn that off. I am inherently physically modest outside of my own intimate relationship with my partner. No...not a prude....but you won't see a pic of me showing cleavage, you won't even see me in a bikini at the beach. I just don't. My body is mine and my partner's...and not for public consumption.
While some feminists may decry the burqa and say it should be not be allowed (as France is trying to do), to me they are violating the most fundamental principle of feminism...
that women should be allowed to choose for themselves what they want and how they choose to live.