MUSLIM WRITER AND FEMINIST Fatemeh Fakhraie has opened up an interesting conversation on altmuslimah.com in which she gives some helpful bullet points to keep in mind when defending the rights of Muslim women.
In an age where the term “feminist” embodies as many perspectives as there are women, I think it’s especially important for women to connect with one another by honoring differences (and limitations in our own outlooks). Fatimeh lays out some great tips to keep us non-Muslim feminists self-aware and compassionate. (One of the points she makes is to “let Muslim women define liberation for themselves” without unnecessary pity.) So, have a look, and tell me: what do you think about Muslim and non-Muslim women’s struggle to become allies?
(Photo via Friends for Peace)
No related posts.
First time here? Here's the idea: 
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Glad to see this post. We talked a lot about this in some different courses I’ve taken, about how often white middle class women from western countries define feminism for the rest of the world. It’s important to be mindful of the potential negative impacts of well-intentioned work, and it seems like this post is part of pushing us in the right direction.
Thank you so much for sharing that article – and many thanks to Fatemeh Fakhraie for writing it.
This discussion is long overdue and she rightly points out the ethnocentrism of many western feminists “demonizing my religion or culture in order to paint me as a victim that must be released from both of these things, no matter how much I love them or how they have positively shaped me.”
I myself have become increasingly uncomfortable with the self-righteous and presumptuous rhetoric of westerners bemoaning the ‘victimization’ of Muslim women simply because they themselves would be offended at having to dress modestly or wear a veil.
Even worse are the insulting comments suggesting that Muslim woman are benighted – enduring these things out of ignorance or brainwashing – and apparently never once considering that these women may consciously choose their lifestyle and value it.
The recent move by Nicolas Sarkozy to ban the burka in France http://xrl.in/2pzx, is further demonstration of this cultural insensitivity.
Has it occurred to him the harm this might inflict on women who desire to wear it, yet are denied that right because it supposedly offends him? A man?
This is really outrageous – his arrogance offends me!
It is obviously inappropriate for western men or women who do not have adequate religious understanding or cultural context to pass these kind of judgments.
This brings up an even broader issue of women in the western feminist movement presuming to define liberation and feminism for all women.
I am married, with children, and I do not work.
Am I then to be judged as ignorant, brainwashed, misguided, or a victim of some kind?
I chose this life because of my values and beliefs, and have never once regretted it.
Forcing me to put my children in public schools and go get a job would not be liberation for me – it would be oppression.
Western feminists who deride these lifestyle choices are robbing Muslim women of their own voices and their own definition of freedom, just as they rob women like me of ours.
I think it is high time that the very concept of feminism, especially in its radical forms, evolve into the concept of Sisterhood, which this site promotes.
As sisters we seek to understand, to respect, to share and to support one another.
We need to all be allowed our own voice and feel that it is received with the tolerance and compassion that sisters can extend to to each other.
What else are sisters for?
right on!
Maluvia, your response is thoughtful and so well said! Thank you for contributing to this very important discussion on the state of contemporary feminism and its relationship to sisterhood.
I, too, have been very troubled by the news that Sarkozy has moved to ban the burka in France. It’s a very disturbing example of a cultural misinterpretation that will bring much discrimination to women’s lives under the guise of help.
And I also think it’s important to bring this discussion back to examples that are closer to home for Western women. Parallels can certainly be drawn to stigmatized women who choose to be full-time mothers. Even 25 years ago, women were thought to be buying into their own oppression by breastfeeding!
One foot at a time, I’m glad we’re making strides to a more tolerant sisterhood, but I know the struggle won’t be easy!
And E – this discussion also reminds me of a quotation that you told me from Lila Watson.
“If you have come here to help me, then you are wasting your time… But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”
Doesn’t that integrate sisterhood and the struggle for women to become cross-cultural, cross-racial allies beautifully?
Absolutely! I’m glad you mentioned it, the quote fits very well.