Food for thought
Just ran across this post on the "oppression" of Muslim women from Boing Boing as part of their coverage of 30 mosques in thirty days. For the most part, I've been skimming over the articles without paying too much attention until today. I'd recently read an article from Stuff White People Do investigating the definition of "white culture". Essentially, the author concludes that perhaps there is no such things as true white, or American culture, and that, a large part of our so called "melting pot" has in the past forced immigrants to pair down or relinquish their own culture in order to fit in.
Perhaps then, when the media uses language implying that Muslim women must inherently be oppressed due to their clothing and culture, its more a ploy to undermine an Other culture. Their choice in clothing is a constant reminder that They are not like Us, and in reality, we could give a damn less whether or not their women are being oppressed, or if any woman is being oppressed really, as long as they conform to our standards of beauty and style. If, by their choice in clothing, they weren't so obviously Other, would we care, or is this just yet another of our methods to undermine and destroy cultural groups?
Perhaps then, when the media uses language implying that Muslim women must inherently be oppressed due to their clothing and culture, its more a ploy to undermine an Other culture. Their choice in clothing is a constant reminder that They are not like Us, and in reality, we could give a damn less whether or not their women are being oppressed, or if any woman is being oppressed really, as long as they conform to our standards of beauty and style. If, by their choice in clothing, they weren't so obviously Other, would we care, or is this just yet another of our methods to undermine and destroy cultural groups?