Bird's thoughts on the "oppressed Muslim/Middle Eastern woman" stereotype...
Subtitle: and how well-meaning, but misguided Westerners hurt us in their attempts to help us.
Or, if I'm going to be all Arab about it, "jou yukahilluha 'ammouha" (they came to adorn her eyes with kohl, but blinded her instead.)
So, a while back, Tsa asked me a question when I was doing an "is there anything you wonder about me?" meme. She asked what my thoughts and opinions are on the Western stereotype of Muslim and Middle Eastern women being oppressed.
If you don't want to deal with plurk's layout (it's okay, I found it horribly confusing when I first started using the site too ^^;) or its broken-up microblogging nature, you can read my thoughts right here! Please note that this is my personal opinion and it's a topic I feel strongly about it. Don't take this as a reason to feel all offended or like I'm some sort of ingrate. I recognize the problems with my country (I live here!), but my feelings and opinions are my own and shared by many others who call for change.
Now, onto my answer!
I despise this stupid stereotype with all my heart and soul. <3
It really needs to go die in a fire because things are a lot better here than in the U.S. for us in a lot of different ways.
We have our own unique issues, but as a whole, I'd like to think we're fine and we can work through our own problems, thanks, we're not children to be coddled and rescued. We don't need the West's interference.
Even the ones who call for change want to make their own change.
I'm sick of having to shut up and pretend to be oppressed so that white people can look good and feel better about how much better they have it.
Abortion's not under any fire here. If the baby won't make it or the mother won't, then abortion's lawful. If childbirth threatens the mother's mental or physical heatlh, abortion is lawful in the eyes of Islam AND Saudi law. There's no controversy, probably because Islam does not deem a fetus to have a soul until by the end of the first trimester.
Soooo, yeah~ contraception is also legal and practiced since the early days of Islam.
Women have been given the right to vote by Islam 1400 years ago.
If we're denied those basic rights, it's the fault of the government, NOT Islam. And if it's our government, we can fight it on our own. We don't need to be rescued from our oppreshun by the mighty whitey femuhnists. This is why I can barely identify myself as a feminist. ;^; All the weird ones ruin our rep.
So, yeah, GOOD QUESTION. ^_^
And to clarify: the attitude I hate so much is about how the West tends to believe their way is the only right way. Like liberation can NEVER come in the form of religion. That liberation only comes in the form of consumerism and capitalism, "sexual liberation", and a secular government.
his is why even the ones calling for reform in countries such as mine hate how the West hurts our arguments and stunts our progress. If we try to call for anything and the West tries to act like it's some ally to us, it ruins our reputation and image and makes us out to be the same as them, even if we want to PRESERVE our religion, want nothing to do with the sexually-saturated Western pop-culture, and simply wish to earn back our God-given rights.
Rant over! ^^
And that was my answer from plurk.
For further clarification: whenever outsiders try to interfere, even with the best intentions, it ruins our image and weakens our cause, because then other Saudis will think we've been brainwshed by the West or, worse, that it's something artificial or that "the West was trying to plant seeds of discord to break up our unity" or other silly things people with a penchant for "ghazu fikri" conspiracy theories might think up. So, outside help can be really damaging and make it less likely for higher-ups to listen to us when they think it's really coming from the outside.
Or, if I'm going to be all Arab about it, "jou yukahilluha 'ammouha" (they came to adorn her eyes with kohl, but blinded her instead.)
So, a while back, Tsa asked me a question when I was doing an "is there anything you wonder about me?" meme. She asked what my thoughts and opinions are on the Western stereotype of Muslim and Middle Eastern women being oppressed.
If you don't want to deal with plurk's layout (it's okay, I found it horribly confusing when I first started using the site too ^^;) or its broken-up microblogging nature, you can read my thoughts right here! Please note that this is my personal opinion and it's a topic I feel strongly about it. Don't take this as a reason to feel all offended or like I'm some sort of ingrate. I recognize the problems with my country (I live here!), but my feelings and opinions are my own and shared by many others who call for change.
Now, onto my answer!
I despise this stupid stereotype with all my heart and soul. <3
It really needs to go die in a fire because things are a lot better here than in the U.S. for us in a lot of different ways.
We have our own unique issues, but as a whole, I'd like to think we're fine and we can work through our own problems, thanks, we're not children to be coddled and rescued. We don't need the West's interference.
Even the ones who call for change want to make their own change.
I'm sick of having to shut up and pretend to be oppressed so that white people can look good and feel better about how much better they have it.
Abortion's not under any fire here. If the baby won't make it or the mother won't, then abortion's lawful. If childbirth threatens the mother's mental or physical heatlh, abortion is lawful in the eyes of Islam AND Saudi law. There's no controversy, probably because Islam does not deem a fetus to have a soul until by the end of the first trimester.
Soooo, yeah~ contraception is also legal and practiced since the early days of Islam.
Women have been given the right to vote by Islam 1400 years ago.
If we're denied those basic rights, it's the fault of the government, NOT Islam. And if it's our government, we can fight it on our own. We don't need to be rescued from our oppreshun by the mighty whitey femuhnists. This is why I can barely identify myself as a feminist. ;^; All the weird ones ruin our rep.
So, yeah, GOOD QUESTION. ^_^
And to clarify: the attitude I hate so much is about how the West tends to believe their way is the only right way. Like liberation can NEVER come in the form of religion. That liberation only comes in the form of consumerism and capitalism, "sexual liberation", and a secular government.
his is why even the ones calling for reform in countries such as mine hate how the West hurts our arguments and stunts our progress. If we try to call for anything and the West tries to act like it's some ally to us, it ruins our reputation and image and makes us out to be the same as them, even if we want to PRESERVE our religion, want nothing to do with the sexually-saturated Western pop-culture, and simply wish to earn back our God-given rights.
Rant over! ^^
And that was my answer from plurk.
For further clarification: whenever outsiders try to interfere, even with the best intentions, it ruins our image and weakens our cause, because then other Saudis will think we've been brainwshed by the West or, worse, that it's something artificial or that "the West was trying to plant seeds of discord to break up our unity" or other silly things people with a penchant for "ghazu fikri" conspiracy theories might think up. So, outside help can be really damaging and make it less likely for higher-ups to listen to us when they think it's really coming from the outside.