'ISLAMIC WOMEN' AND 'WESTERN WOMEN' - IS THERE MUCH SUBSTANCE IN THE STEREO-TYPES?

A symbol can be seen from different perspectives, but the motive can be the same

The generalised or stereotypical view that conservative and orthodox Muslims seem to have about 'western women' is that they are, let us say, 'unwomenly.' This conservative and orthodoxical view sees 'western women' as being unworthy of respect and adoration, and cites the way they dress, conduct themselves in public and their interaction with men as anathema.  From this world view, the orthodox and conservative Muslim projects a feeling of disrespect and fear towards 'western women', who is seem as posing a risk of contamination of the supposed 'virtuous' and 'pure' orthodox Muslim women. And so the stereotype and idealised myth persist and replaces the reality of what it really is to be a orthodox Muslim and a western woman.

And what is the stereotypical western view of the Muslim woman? That she is someone who is being denied her right to express her femininety, by being made to be seen as a shape without an individualised female form. That she is not allowed to exercise personal autonomy, that she exist only for the convenience of her husband, her family and her ascribed duty to Islam. That she cannot be trusted not to beguile Muslim men by her beauty and comeliness, and must therefore fully cover her body and not expose any of it to men, in case it 'invites' them to lose their already tenuous control over their lustful desires and attack them. 

We can compare this paradigm with how western society used to think of their women when the mini skirts and hot pants were in vogue in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. The initial response of conservative western society was that women dressing in mini skirts and hot pants, would be seen as them inviting attacks from men, and that they 'would be asking for trouble', for daring to dress like that. 

That view, of course, sought to deny men the responsibility they had and have for their own actions, instead of using the 'demonisation of women' - much the same way as orthodox Islamic views, as entailed by the Taliban, Isis, et al are doing to any woman who by design or chance, infringes their anachronistic dogmas about how they should or should not behave - as an excuse for any violent or other attacks they might perpetrate on those women.  It is also this mind-set which is partly responsible for some Muslim men carrying out crimes against 'western women' in Europe, including Britain, probably by rationalising their crimes on the premis that these women are, in their perverted view, 'worthless.'

The conservative Muslim view of women is, it seems, is predicated on the pre,is that they cannot be trusted to behave with decorum amongst men, and that the desires of the men are such that they, the women, need to be protected from temptations which the women are perceived to present. 

So, what is at the centre of this differential Muslim and western world views about women? Is there a genuine altruistic desire by both to protect their women, and, if so, who is it really meant to protect; is it the women or the men who are the main beneficiaries?

To be continued.

OWOHROD