What’s the point of the hijab? A common explanation is that the headscarf is there to protect women from being pestered by men. Try telling that to any woman who lives in Tehran. To walk down the street alone in the Iranian capital as a female is to be subjected to a near constant barrage of whistles, hisses, and aggressive ogling, regardless of dress. A full-length chador makes little difference: men still pester and abuse them on a daily basis. And Iran’s moral police – who make such a big deal of their duty to “protect women’s bodies” and enforce suitably modest attire – do absolutely nothing about it. There is, in fact, only one way for women to ward off unwanted male attention, and that’s to be escorted by another man: only then do you become invisible. The idea that Islamic dress laws protect and liberate women is a pernicious myth. (An anonymous Tehran Bureau correspondent of The Guardian).
Epicurus treated women as equals, welcoming them into his garden. By now, after over two thousand years, we should all be feminists. Why is it that some parts of the world are so culturally backward in this respect?
I totally agree. Women are not given enough respect. They should be able to dress as they wish, and all men are capable of controlling themselves. A common defence of the hijab is that it is the woman’s responsibility to dress in a way that will not arouse men’s desires. The opposite is the case: men have full responsibility not to act inappropriately. We expect women not to pester men if men dress sexily- therefore we should expect the reverse.
In addition to this, Islamic dress codes only exacerbate men’s desires, by concealing what ought to be commonplace, thus sexualising the otherwise unsexual. Similarly, in the West, countries like America where boobs are nearly always concealed, see them in a more sexual light than European countries do.
Finally, in answer to your question, why is it that some parts of the world are so cultually backward in this respect, I would say this: cultural backwardness is the default human condition. I would want to be a woman in the vast majority of countries. What we regard as liberal is unfortunately the exception, not the norm. A fairer question would be, why are we so advanced in this respect? To answer that, I would say that: firstly, we are not advanced enough yet- women in the West still get overly-sexualised and harassed for their perceived attractiveness. Secondly, people in the West receive a far more comprehensive education than others around the world. Moreover, the education tends to based on Enlightenment liberal values, rather than the religious orthodoxy most of the world is still in hoc do. Thirdly, and most importantly, feminism is primarily western phenomenon- almost all feminist intellectuals are from the West. We have a tradition of egalitarianism, be it economic (Marx was German), gender, or sexual (the LGBT rights movement is far bigger in the West.) Regrettably, institutional inequality is advocated in most of the world.
Posted by Jane Dean
“0wen is so right when he suggests that to cover a woman to the extent that some Muslim women are covered , only exacerbates the problem of sexual harassment. Some time ago, I heard the story of a tribe of people discovered in the early 20th century. They were naked when found by
missionaries who insisted they be covered. Rape, unknown amongst them until then, then became common.
Sent from my iPad