[Reader-list] Brouhaha Over the Veil

[Anjalika Sagar]

The permission that men give themselves to gaze ... hmmm. Doesn't  it depend on who is doing the gazing and how one gazes. Womankind should gaze back is what I say if u like what u see, whoever said that it was rude to stare. Personally  I like being gazed at by men who know how to  look. In the UK men do not look at women - many many British women friends complain about this sad condtion and love the attention bestowed upon them in southern Europe for example or in southern America, where men know how to look at women in a way that to me does not only feel lecherous but curious - I   am in Greece right now, and having been here many times before I always register how men do not just look at women up and down  but they ( well women also) look into your eyes, it is bizarre how people acknowledge eachothers presence or beauty, even in fleeting moments such as in traffic for example, a glance will be offered for acknowledgement.

Also there are many nudists on beaches in Greece, with 2000 islands and the heat people do tend to strip - but again I have noticed that men look but do not stare in any kind of oppressive manner. I have experienced the same kind of sense of ease with the body in Germany also in public saunas and by lakes where people just give eachother space.

Being skantilty dressed does not neceessarily mean one is up for it ... right ? Male or female ...

So it is cultural ... but my point here rests with the undeniable fact that Muslim men seems to have issues with women's bodies being revealed, it is them, then surely who have problems when they constantly see womens bodies as sexualized. The whole argument about a Muslim womans' right to cover up seems to be about women saying to themselves.. ' these men, they cant help themselves so I had better cover up '. Men are not animals and should be expected to gaze upon women with more respect and self respect.


Anyway these are my fleeting thoughts - it is so hot here and a girls gotta swim.

Anjali




anjana menon wrote:
> "Personally, I find women dressed in the demure Muslim gown more
> dignified than skimpily-dressed ones who blindly follow every Western
> fashion and consider their own cultural traditions as 'primitive'. "
>
> it is surprising that we have come to blame the Western fashions for 
> being everything but modest. as for the 'richness' of the indian 
> cultural tradition that we refer to every once in a while.... with 
> respect to the dressing of the indians- have we forgotten that the 
> saree bares much more than a simple pair of jeans and a t shirt? in my 
> opinion, the garb can be chosen to reveal much more than conceal. i 
> personally would not have preferred to wear the traditional costume of 
> adolescent girls in my home state, for in its fitting, i feel it is 
> far more suggestive than the most part of my wardrobe otherwise. here 
> i do not look at running away from my 'cultural traditions' but am 
> glad for globalization for opening up more options for the comfort of 
> my dressing.
>
> which brings me to the next point:
> "...protecting women from the oppressive male gaze."
>
> how did society decide that the male gaze (whether it is harmless or 
> lecherous), is right.. and a woman's freedom of choosing what to wear 
> (or what not!) is wrong? is it that it is right for a man to express 
> his 'virility' while a woman be expected to play down her sexuality?
>
> --------
> there is hardly any end to this argument. we are just running around 
> in bigger and bigger circles.
>
>
> On 7/23/07, *Yogi Sikand* < ysikand at gmail.com 
> <mailto:ysikand at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     Brouhaha Over the Veil
>
>
>
>     Yoginder Sikand
>
>
>
>
>
>     The controversy surrounding recently-nominated President Pratibha
>     Patil's hotly contested statement on Muslims and the veil clearly
>     illustrates how Muslim women's dress has become a central trope in
>     contemporary discourses about Islam. Critics see the veil as
>     'obscurantist' and 'patriarchal', while its defenders regard it as
>     protecting women from the oppressive male gaze. In this brouhaha over
>     the veil, the fact that there is no single definition of it, that it
>     has different meanings for different people and that what is
>     considered to be normative Islamic women's attire varies across
>     different Muslim ethnic groups and social classes is completely lost
>     sight of. Further, the important distinctions between the veil, the
>     burqa, the naqab and the hijab, all different forms of Muslim women's
>     dress, are overlooked.
>
>
>
>     Interestingly, the Quran does not lay down any particular form of
>     clothing for men or indeed for women. It does not require Muslim women
>     to cover their faces completely and remain confined at home, this
>     being a custom that Muslims later took over from the Byzantine
>     Christians. Instead, it talks about the need for both men and
>     women to
>     dress modestly. Modest appearance means that erogenous parts of the
>     body should be covered suitably. This modest dress, or hijab, meant
>     both for men and women, has been historically understood in diverse
>     ways in different Muslim communities.
>
>
>
>     In medieval India, it was the general practice of Muslim elites, like
>     their Hindu counterparts, to veil their women and keep them concealed
>     behind the four walls of their homes. But, then, as now, this was not
>     the custom among the poorer classes, whose womenfolk were forced, by
>     sheer economic compulsion, to work outside. They donned different
>     forms of 'modest' Islamic dress other than the veil and did not
>     observe strict purdah. In large parts of rural India, for instance,
>     Muslim women wear the shalwar kameez and dupatta, which serves the
>     same function of 'modest' dress as the veil, at the same time as it
>     allows them to work in the fields.
>
>
>
>     A few decades ago, shuttle-cock like veils were a common sight in
>     India, covering women from head to toe like billowing tents. This,
>     however, is rare now. Instead, new forms of the hijab have emerged,
>     often influenced by fashions elsewhere in the Muslim world. Far from
>     necessarily constraining Muslim women, they often facilitate them to
>     enter the public space and to go in for higher education and careers
>     that their mothers would never have considered. Many Muslim parents
>     feel comfortable letting their daughters go outside their homes to
>     study or work if they wear loose gowns that do not necessarily cover
>     their faces. Many Muslim women would feel more comfortable dressed
>     that way, regarding this sort of attire as protecting them from
>     unwanted male attention. This way of dressing is also a social
>     leveler, erasing class differences to a great extent, in terms of
>     external appearance. As many young Muslim women who voluntarily choose
>     to don this form of hijab see it, it saves them the trauma that many
>     other women have to suffer when they feel compelled to 'look good' in
>     public, thanks to the overbearing and relentless assault of the media
>     that projects Western women's clothing styles and the accompanying
>     add-ons—cosmetics, hair-styles, hair colours and so on—as defining
>     the
>     parameters of feminine beauty.
>
>
>
>     Although some Muslim clerics consider the face-covering burkha as
>     normative for Muslim women and insist that they should stay cloistered
>     in their homes, many others differ. These new perceptions are
>     reflected in the writings not only of Muslim 'modernists' but also of
>     a significant section of the madrasa-trained ulema, a number of who
>     have even started schools for Muslim girls. And it is not that all
>     the
>     ulema would insist that Muslim women should necessarily dress in plain
>     black gowns. Interesting innovations are now being made with this
>     simple dress in terms of colours, shapes and styles, catering to a
>     clientele that seeks an Islamic approach to modernity.
>
>
>
>     Personally, I find women dressed in the demure Muslim gown more
>     dignified than skimpily-dressed ones who blindly follow every Western
>     fashion and consider their own cultural traditions as 'primitive'.
>     Far
>     from being regarded as shackling, many Muslim women who choose to
>     dress the Islamic way see their attire as liberating, allowing them to
>     preserve their modesty, as prescribed by Islam, as well as affording
>     them mobility outside their homes. However, in the heated debate
>     about
>     Muslim women's dress it is often forgotten that the Quran also insists
>     on suitably modest dress for men. It is an indication of the
>     patriarchal nature of the debate that this crucial aspect is almost
>     forgotten, as Muslim women come to be seen as bearers of Muslim
>     cultural authenticity by critics as well as defenders of the veil.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>     The author works with the Centre for Jawaharlal Nehru Studies, Jamia
>     Millia Islamia, New Delhi.
>
>     --
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>
>
> -- 
> "A man may be a pessimistic determinist before lunch and an optimistic 
> believer in the will's freedom after it."- Aldous Huxley.
>
> Yours Truly,
> Menon
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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