I disagree with Lila
Abu-Lughod’s theory that Afghan women would rather be oppressed than to endure
the hardship of war. The mandate that
forces them to wear burqas is not righteous, and I believe that they do indeed
need to be saved from a culture that supports men’s superiority. I think that women should wear and do what
they want, and the only way to do this is to convince the men in charge to
change the ruling. The Taliban are
resisting this transformation, so I believe that war is necessary. The author argues that war is hurting the
Afghan women more than the clothing, but the fighting is necessary to make the
change. Freedom is earned through blood
and sweat, and nothing is gained without some kind of loss. I think that Laura Bush and American
feminists are righteous in their quest for the “saving” of women, as women
deserve equal freedom as do men. This
stance is construed as “enthnocentric” in the reading, but I believe it’s a God-given
right and must be fought for. To justify
this tyrannous rule as simply a cultural difference is simply the alleviation of
our responsibility to assist other humans in their right to freedom.
I agree with most of what you are saying, but you should remember that for some of these women, it is a choice. They are only forced to wear it in religious places, and that they are not necessarily forced to wear it everywhere. It is also a status symbol, and to some, important.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you in the fact that these women deserve freedom and the war is righteous. However, as Taylor mentioned in the above comment, a lot of these women choose to wear the bruqas as part of their religion. I do agree that the war is necessary, however, to allow them to choose NOT to wear the burqa, because as of now , even if they are choosing to wear it they cannot choose not to.
ReplyDeleteI think you make an interesting point about how one of the goals of this war was to provide freedom to the people under the Taliban. However, I think the author of this article was trying to point out that it doesn't really seem like the US actually wanted to provide freedom to these women, it's more like that rhetoric helped justify us going to war. I think the fact that the burqa was worn by many women before the Taliban supports the author's argument. While in America it would seem crazy for women to cover themselves from head to toe, in parts of the Middle East it is the norm. In my opinion, it is important to draw a distinction between what freedom, including freedom of dress, means for these women, and what that same freedom means to us in the United States.
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