Thoughts on intersectionality

Exactly. Feminist from a Muslim background here. I for one am far less pc than many and have no interest in cajoling sexists from any culture.

Having said that, I also get annoyed by the islamophobia in this and other feminist forums, and especially by the pseudo-caring for women's rights when it serves a racist agenda by men who normally do not give a second thought to the rampant sexism in their own societies.

I don't think that rape or any violence and discrimination should be excused, whether committed by Muslims, men of the global south, men of color, or anyone else, but I do think it is very important to recognize how these issues are selectively used and blown up to support racist narratives.

Muslims are an extremely diverse group of people, with differences based on culture, urbanity/rurality, class, etc. Furthermore, ideas don't always cluster in the same way throughout all cultures. For example, my dad is very conservative. No boyfriends, no male friends even, no miniskirts, etc. But precisely because of this mentality, he thinks it is extremely important for his daughters to study and be successful in their careers, so that they can maintain their dignity and not be dependent on any man. This is evidently super different from people from other cultures who also value things like virginity, but think that girls shouldn't go to school or have jobs. My point is, it's not just that muslims are at different places on a spectrum of conservatism and sexism, but rather that the spectrum itself is not linear at all, there are not only quantitative but also qualitative differences within it.

I've traveled to many countries, and a lot of what's reported about Muslims holds true in countries that are of other religions: Peru, India, southern Africa, etc. Understanding then why the media just focuses on some of these people is very important.

Furthermore, I do think that while we fight for change - not accepting cultural relativism, we also should be humble and recognize the complexity and beauty of other people along with the things we work to change. Being to obsessed with one's issue can put blinders on as to who people are, what their world is, and seeing that battle mode is not always the best mode. Cultural obtuseness is not conducive to effective communication. Around the world, people have grown up with patriarchy as something as normal as the air they breathe. To not buy into it does entail some privilege. So for a villager in Peru for example to assume that there should be a strict division of labor and that his wife should not travel freely or have any interest in sexual gratification, does not mean that there aren't some wonderful things about that person, or that he is fundamentally worse than westerners. Western culture has been (and continues to be) sexist, but our privileged conditions, which have come at the expense of other societies, have allowed us to work towards changing social norms.

/r/GenderCritical Thread Parent