One of the most bizarre manifestations of leftist cognitive dissonance occurs when hardcore feminists like Naomi Wolf abandon all their principles and twist themselves into philosophical knots, in order to make excuses for one of the most misogynistic belief systems on Earth: Behind the veil lives a thriving Muslim sexuality.
Ideological battles are often waged with women’s bodies as their emblems, and Western Islamophobia is no exception. When France banned headscarves in schools, it used the hijab as a proxy for Western values in general, including the appropriate status of women. When Americans were being prepared for the invasion of Afghanistan, the Taliban were demonised for denying cosmetics and hair colour to women; when the Taliban were overthrown, Western writers often noted that women had taken off their scarves.
But are we in the West radically misinterpreting Muslim sexual mores, particularly the meaning to many Muslim women of being veiled or wearing the chador? And are we blind to our own markers of the oppression and control of women?
The West interprets veiling as repression of women and suppression of their sexuality. But when I travelled in Muslim countries and was invited to join a discussion in women-only settings within Muslim homes, I learned that Muslim attitudes toward women’s appearance and sexuality are not rooted in repression, but in a strong sense of public versus private, of what is due to God and what is due to one’s husband. It is not that Islam suppresses sexuality, but that it embodies a strongly developed sense of its appropriate channelling – toward marriage, the bonds that sustain family life, and the attachment that secures a home.
(Hat tip: Nancy@LGF our #1 contributor)
Tags: excuses, Feminism, Leftist-Islamic Alliance, Misogyny, Naomi Wolf, News, Politics, Veil
shit, I almost posted that. haha
Well Savage, I give U the honor of the next poster
“Iranian women are the free-est women in the world!” – President Fonzie from Iran.
I just posted one, rodan
For a while, I thought I was the only one who thought her article was crap. Naomi Wolf’s feminist credentials made me all confused.
“But are we in the West radically misinterpreting Muslim sexual mores, particularly the meaning to many Muslim women of being veiled or wearing the chador?”
No Naomi. We are not misinterpreting anything.
Wolf doesn’t think too well. Women’s sexuality has NEVER been repressed, ever, anywhere – in that men love women and sex. What HAS been repressed, often, all over the place, is women’s _choice_ over where to “channel” that sexuality. Men owning the sexuality of sexy women is hardly a new idea, and hardly a feminist one.