On which woman is less oppressed: bikini lady or abaya lady
Both are thinking a male-dominated culture has harmed the other, but one of these assessments is far more accurate than the other.
Is it really true that the women in this cartoon are both equally suffering in a male-dominated culture? Actually, it's FAR from true: if the bikini woman takes off her bikini and puts on regular clothes, no one in her secular nation beats her. In contrast, if the abaya woman takes off her abaya and puts on regular clothes, the religious police (known as the muttawwa) in her Muslim nation may beat her. So, the bikini woman is far, far better off. Again, since the bikini woman has far more liberty as a citizen, she is easily in the better position to mange whatever male domination may be present.
I imagine some would object that the bikini woman is actually more oppressed, since she doesn't know how much she's being dominated, something along the lines like-unto when children don't know when or how much they are being dominated. However, in reply, (i) children cannot reason well and are rightly seen as not understanding when they are oppressed. But adult women, especially adult women with a basic education and with equal voting opportunities in their culture, are able understand better when they are oppressed. So, the bikini woman likely understands her situation better than the abaya woman. Also, (ii) many women in abaya-enforced cultures are not given basic education. Thus, the abaya woman, not the bikini woman, is actually the more oppressed of the two. Therefore, and yet again, the bikini woman is easily in the better position to manage any male domination situations in life.
O.
Labels: Fashion, Islam, Male Chauvinism, Philosophy, women, Women's rights, World culture
posted by Brint Montgomery @ 1:16 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Interesting....it sounds like you're saying that the oppression is better measured at the level of education one is allowed to have, rather than the level clothing being worn--which I think is a much more serious part of oppression.
Anonymous:
I think it is better "measured" that way, but even if all such Muslim women had graduate degrees, were special police still enforcing the the full-covering bruka code, as opposed to the women choosing themselves, you still would have serious oppression.
Hi, I'd like to say coming across your cartoon, I thought you were a highly intelligent man, to be able to think from both sides, but reading your comment, I feel you are being hypocritical in your cartoon. And I feel compelled to tell you that you are SO wrong. I am a woman who 'chose' to wear the abaya, and I have never felt this free. No one is judging me by my looks, my appearance, or clothes. They only way I make people look up & listen is by the words I choose & the way I take myself around. Not by my flawless skin, long legs, huge breasts. You tell me if a fat woman was to walk around in a bikini, would she be looked at the same way as a thin woman? Or a woman with freckles or stretch marks, be considered as beautiful as the one who has flawless skin??
And about your saying, the so called motawwaas beating up a woman without abaya, is a cultural thing, not an abaya thing. The same motawwaas would beat up a man if they saw him drinking alcohol. And just for your information there are about 1 million Muslim women in America, and many of them have have opted for an abaya. If they took it off, will they be beaten up by motawwaas living in America??
Anonymous:
I could not imagine a response which makes my whole case better than yours. I will make a few comments on your post since you were kind enough to make a response at all.
1. The reason the motawwaas would not beat a woman (or a man) in the U.S. is because the secular state (rightly) precludes there being such an independent religio-cultural police force to begin with.
2. That less attractive women are looked at differently than attractive women has nothing to do with the abaya issue at hand.
3. You are fooling yourself if you think people do not judge people by their clothing. They may do so wrongly, but the abaya does not help a women function as equals to men in any society; in fact, it subverts such equality, the very point of my post.
Does the woman wear the bikini (or any very revealing clothing) because she wants to, or because she feels it's the only way she can get attention from men who may otherwise ignore or dismiss her?
I'm in complete support of all those women who went on the Slut Walk, however it does raise a lot of questions as to how we found ourselves in a society in which children follow the fashions of teens - which is to wear as little as possible and potentially look as seductive as possible. A society where sex not only sells, but seems to be the only marketing campaign going.
Why do women have to wear next to nothing for a night out? It seems theres an unending arms race to get as much attention as possible purely with looks and lust, rather than intellect or substance.
There is also the issue of going on to ban the wearing of face vails in public, which simply swaps one oppresser for another.
I have to admit this post of yours is very Interesting and I may say thought provoking . But i do not quite agree with you , So here’s my take on this issue.
I am not sure if wearing an abaya or bikini has any thing to do with being oppressed or liberated. I agree , Some countries force women to wear abaya, At the same time some “secular “countries so called torch bearers of freedom, do not allow women ( educated with equal voting rights ) to wear abaya even if they want too. Whats the difference ?
Lets face it every society practices oppression in one form or other. Some are very subtle and some very obvious. As far as dressing sense goes it has more to do with regional cultural and social acceptability than oppression , A nudist may love to go to work or grocery baring it all ..but can they ? I would assume in most places they will have to face legal consequences ,If so, will it be described as oppression too?
Simple logic being we all follow or are forced to follow what is acceptable to the society we live in.
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