I cannot tell you how much this aligns so perfectly of my life. As an ex muslim arab women who’s completely pitied by the west but with malice intentions of them not actually caring about women like me but rather use my pain to inflict it to spread their islamaphobic propaganda’s because they can’t comprehend and indifferent between arabs and muslims. And then there’s the eastern side, completely demonising women like me and using us as an example of what a good woman of faith should not turn out like. That I’m the product of brilliant western brain washing. Instead of simply acknowledging that women like me made the decision to not submit for the most practiced religion that’s within our communities, that’s actually manufactured from it. Which comes at the consequence of being completely exiled by your own community, and the only ones left for you are your opponents.
I am so so tired of people who claim to be advocating for the rights of women, whilst they are actually just lacking a basic understanding of the cultural and political issues women r already fighting for and HAVE already fought for years prior to Western feminism!!! It is MUCH more harmful to promote these disgusting stereotypes that Islamic women lack personal expression, when so many women have already been trying to end that kind of systemic abuse with little to no recognition or respect as their white counterparts will receive daily by the media.
It’s a frighteningly similar situation to the dehumanization of Black and African women. Where we are considered ghetto, ratchet, wild, & savage creatures when embracing our cultural heritage; but then ignored and disregarded when we speak up about being fetishized and discriminated against in an educated context.
The Western world LOVES condemning differing cultures that don’t adapt to modern western standards. Yet while they complain about oppression, they also sit back and fail to provide protection or support to the communities that are always reaching out for help. People also tend to forget that most modern oppression (in any and every country) was originally caused by European colonization. Like they literally created all this conflict in the first place and then dipped when things got too complicated.
Im sorry im writing so much this issue makes me heated lol. But I genuinely loved reading ur essay and seeing you eloquently put into words what i’ve been noticing my whole life.
"no matter what they do, a women must uphold societal and cultural values." thank you someone finally said it!! That is like one of the things that always has bothered me about the Muslim societies we come from (im south asian btw) and its like a man can do whatever he wants, break expectations and responsibilities, have no job, he will be praised for having bought an apartment (with his moms money) but if I say I want to go study abroad that's a huge problem because how dare I suggest wanting to separate from my family, how dare I suggest I have an ounce of experience in the world without my parents chaperoning me?!?!
I feel like we see this on social media all the damn time too!! and im tired of noticing it, but even if it is a meme it is responded to differently if a dude made it and so much more policed if a woman made the same joke because she is always expected to be 'the perfect Muslim' and a 'good girl', like istg I am far from that and me trying to better at religion and all is only in the knowledge of God, only for him, I'm not doing any of this for you so please stfu and leave us alone for a minuet!!!
Thank you so much for posting this, I have been thinking about this myself a lot, but I am not quite yet at a point where I can formulate coherent questions on the topic.
What you talk about - being judged by both western and eastern Standards - reminds me quite a lot of the idea of "double colonization" described in african feminist works. Maybe that's sth interesting to you too!
It remind me of an exposition that I saw years ago about Orientalism, nothing has changed since this period, Arab women are still seen as object of desire, perfect luxury item and not as human being
Waiting for them to be seen and not heard
It is so important to say your truth !! fuck France btw 🫠🫠
The west has managed to convince us that it’s the pinnacle of democracy and liberalism where freedom of speech is a right this idea of the american dream has been shoved down everyone’s throats for so long but i think the illusion has started to deteriorate i won’t say arab ideals are the most liberal but i do believe that the more we try to emulate the west the more oppressed we will be i’ve seen an insane rise of sexism in cairo these days at an alarming rate
The mention of Huda sha’arawi here really stuck out to me here as she was one of the main leaders when it came to the revolution of 1919 and the founder of the Egyptian feminist union
She was able to push women’s education forward by allowing so many women out of their homes and talk about topics that they were otherwise not allowed to talk about under the british colony
I think what a lot of people tend to forget is that revolution was not born in Europe in fact most countries who had to fight for their independence had to fight against the west
As always so eloquently written! And also very interesting and eye opening for me to read as a non-Arab/Muslim woman, especially in relation to the SATC movie. I guess so much boils down to a patriarchal system, colonialism and people wanting to control others (which all of the above is about as well). Thank you for your writing. ❤️
Such a thorough, much needed, analysis!!! I loved that you included the oppression of Algerian women under France's rule. As a woman of algerian descent living in France, this whole pan of history is too often forgotten
Looks like once more all evil stems from men fighting over access to women, because it seems that is what it always boils down to.
I cannot tell you how much this aligns so perfectly of my life. As an ex muslim arab women who’s completely pitied by the west but with malice intentions of them not actually caring about women like me but rather use my pain to inflict it to spread their islamaphobic propaganda’s because they can’t comprehend and indifferent between arabs and muslims. And then there’s the eastern side, completely demonising women like me and using us as an example of what a good woman of faith should not turn out like. That I’m the product of brilliant western brain washing. Instead of simply acknowledging that women like me made the decision to not submit for the most practiced religion that’s within our communities, that’s actually manufactured from it. Which comes at the consequence of being completely exiled by your own community, and the only ones left for you are your opponents.
I am so so tired of people who claim to be advocating for the rights of women, whilst they are actually just lacking a basic understanding of the cultural and political issues women r already fighting for and HAVE already fought for years prior to Western feminism!!! It is MUCH more harmful to promote these disgusting stereotypes that Islamic women lack personal expression, when so many women have already been trying to end that kind of systemic abuse with little to no recognition or respect as their white counterparts will receive daily by the media.
It’s a frighteningly similar situation to the dehumanization of Black and African women. Where we are considered ghetto, ratchet, wild, & savage creatures when embracing our cultural heritage; but then ignored and disregarded when we speak up about being fetishized and discriminated against in an educated context.
The Western world LOVES condemning differing cultures that don’t adapt to modern western standards. Yet while they complain about oppression, they also sit back and fail to provide protection or support to the communities that are always reaching out for help. People also tend to forget that most modern oppression (in any and every country) was originally caused by European colonization. Like they literally created all this conflict in the first place and then dipped when things got too complicated.
Im sorry im writing so much this issue makes me heated lol. But I genuinely loved reading ur essay and seeing you eloquently put into words what i’ve been noticing my whole life.
"no matter what they do, a women must uphold societal and cultural values." thank you someone finally said it!! That is like one of the things that always has bothered me about the Muslim societies we come from (im south asian btw) and its like a man can do whatever he wants, break expectations and responsibilities, have no job, he will be praised for having bought an apartment (with his moms money) but if I say I want to go study abroad that's a huge problem because how dare I suggest wanting to separate from my family, how dare I suggest I have an ounce of experience in the world without my parents chaperoning me?!?!
I feel like we see this on social media all the damn time too!! and im tired of noticing it, but even if it is a meme it is responded to differently if a dude made it and so much more policed if a woman made the same joke because she is always expected to be 'the perfect Muslim' and a 'good girl', like istg I am far from that and me trying to better at religion and all is only in the knowledge of God, only for him, I'm not doing any of this for you so please stfu and leave us alone for a minuet!!!
Thank you so much for posting this, I have been thinking about this myself a lot, but I am not quite yet at a point where I can formulate coherent questions on the topic.
What you talk about - being judged by both western and eastern Standards - reminds me quite a lot of the idea of "double colonization" described in african feminist works. Maybe that's sth interesting to you too!
It remind me of an exposition that I saw years ago about Orientalism, nothing has changed since this period, Arab women are still seen as object of desire, perfect luxury item and not as human being
Waiting for them to be seen and not heard
It is so important to say your truth !! fuck France btw 🫠🫠
you really hit the nail on the head with this one—so good
The west has managed to convince us that it’s the pinnacle of democracy and liberalism where freedom of speech is a right this idea of the american dream has been shoved down everyone’s throats for so long but i think the illusion has started to deteriorate i won’t say arab ideals are the most liberal but i do believe that the more we try to emulate the west the more oppressed we will be i’ve seen an insane rise of sexism in cairo these days at an alarming rate
The mention of Huda sha’arawi here really stuck out to me here as she was one of the main leaders when it came to the revolution of 1919 and the founder of the Egyptian feminist union
She was able to push women’s education forward by allowing so many women out of their homes and talk about topics that they were otherwise not allowed to talk about under the british colony
I think what a lot of people tend to forget is that revolution was not born in Europe in fact most countries who had to fight for their independence had to fight against the west
As always so eloquently written! And also very interesting and eye opening for me to read as a non-Arab/Muslim woman, especially in relation to the SATC movie. I guess so much boils down to a patriarchal system, colonialism and people wanting to control others (which all of the above is about as well). Thank you for your writing. ❤️
Such a thorough, much needed, analysis!!! I loved that you included the oppression of Algerian women under France's rule. As a woman of algerian descent living in France, this whole pan of history is too often forgotten
incredible read. thank you for posting 🤍