The Next Wave
Veiled Sexuality
Naomi Wolf
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NEW YORK –A woman swathed in black to her ankles, wearing a headscarf or a full chador , walks down a European or North American street, surrounded by other women in halter tops, miniskirts and short shorts. She passes under immense billboards on which other women swoon in sexual ecstasy, cavort in lingerie or simply stretch out languorously, almost fully naked. Could this image be any more iconic of the discomfort the West has with the social mores of Islam, and vice versa?
Ideological battles are often waged with women’s bodies as their emblems, and Western Islamophobia is no exception. When France banned headscarves in schools, it used the hijab as a proxy for Western values in general, including the appropriate status of women. When Americans were being prepared for the invasion of Afghanistan, the Taliban were demonized for denying cosmetics and hair color to women; when the Taliban were overthrown, Western writers often noted that women had taken off their scarves.
But are we in the West radically misinterpreting Muslim sexual mores, particularly the meaning to many Muslim women of being veiled or wearing the chador ? And are we blind to our own markers of the oppression and control of women?
The West interprets veiling as repression of women and suppression of their sexuality. But when I traveled in Muslim countries and was invited to join a discussion in women-only settings within Muslim homes, I learned that Muslim attitudes toward women’s appearance and sexuality are not rooted in repression, but in a strong sense of public versus private, of what is due to God and what is due to one’s husband. It is not that Islam suppresses sexuality, but that it embodies a strongly developed sense of its appropriate channeling – toward marriage, the bonds that sustain family life, and the attachment that secures a home.
Outside the walls of the typical Muslim households that I visited in Morocco, Jordan, and Egypt, all was demureness and propriety. But inside, women were as interested in allure, seduction, and pleasure as women anywhere in the world.
At home, in the context of marital intimacy, Victoria’s Secret, elegant fashion, and skin care lotions abounded. The bridal videos that I was shown, with the sensuous dancing that the bride learns as part of what makes her a wonderful wife, and which she proudly displays for her bridegroom, suggested that sensuality was not alien to Muslim women. Rather, pleasure and sexuality, both male and female, should not be displayed promiscuously – and possibly destructively – for all to see.
Indeed, many Muslim women I spoke with did not feel at all subjugated by the chador or the headscarf. On the contrary, they felt liberated from what they experienced as the intrusive, commodifying, basely sexualizing Western gaze. Many women said something like this: “When I wear Western clothes, men stare at me, objectify me, or I am always measuring myself against the standards of models in magazines, which are hard to live up to – and even harder as you get older, not to mention how tiring it can be to be on display all the time. When I wear my headscarf or chador , people relate to me as an individual, not an object; I feel respected.” This may not be expressed in a traditional Western feminist set of images, but it is a recognizably Western feminist set of feelings.
I experienced it myself. I put on a shalwar kameez and a headscarf in Morocco for a trip to the bazaar. Yes, some of the warmth I encountered was probably from the novelty of seeing a Westerner so clothed; but, as I moved about the market – the curve of my breasts covered, the shape of my legs obscured, my long hair not flying about me – I felt a novel sense of calm and serenity. I felt, yes, in certain ways, free.
Nor are Muslim women alone. The Western Christian tradition portrays all sexuality, even married sexuality, as sinful. Islam and Judaism never had that same kind of mind-body split. So, in both cultures, sexuality channeled into marriage and family life is seen as a source of great blessing, sanctioned by God.
This may explain why both Muslim and orthodox Jewish women not only describe a sense of being liberated by their modest clothing and covered hair, but also express much higher levels of sensual joy in their married lives than is common in the West. When sexuality is kept private and directed in ways seen as sacred – and when one’s husband isn’t seeing his wife (or other women) half-naked all day long – one can feel great power and intensity when the headscarf or the chador comes off in the sanctity of the home.
Among healthy young men in the West, who grow up on pornography and sexual imagery on every street corner, reduced libido is a growing epidemic, so it is easy to imagine the power that sexuality can still carry in a more modest culture. And it is worth understanding the positive experiences that women – and men – can have in cultures where sexuality is more conservatively directed.
I do not mean to dismiss the many women leaders in the Muslim world who regard veiling as a means of controlling women. Choice is everything. But Westerners should recognize that when a woman in France or Britain chooses a veil, it is not necessarily a sign of her repression. And, more importantly, when you choose your own miniskirt and halter top – in a Western culture in which women are not so free to age, to be respected as mothers, workers or spiritual beings, and to disregard Madison Avenue – it’s worth thinking in a more nuanced way about what female freedom really means.
Naomi Wolf, the author, most recently, of The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot and the forthcoming Give me Liberty: How to Become an American Revolutionary, is co-founder of the American Freedom Campaign, a US democracy movement.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2008.
www.project-syndicate.org
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nribeiro 05:55 09 Sep 08
Ms. Wolf's argument is very compelling. Coming from a Brasilian family and having lived in Brasil, it is very interesting to see a case for both extremes. I understand the comment that there is indeed a very real sense of what is public and what is private, but I think that even in a society such as Brasil, which arguably pushes the limit on sexuality in public, there is still an inherent understanding of the importance of family and fidelity in the context of the article above. There is a consensus I would think, that the increasing power and influence of secular marketing techniques is where we will continue to see much debate over the "freedom" of womens sexuality. Much of the time, and in a way, to take the opposite side of Ms. Wolf's comment while in the bazaar, "I felt a novel sense of calm and serenity. I felt, yes, in certain ways, free" - I think that western women 'perceive' themselves to be free, but in reality, they may actually be more confined to conforming to endless wants that western advertising imbibes in its female consumers.
As an aside, I wonder what reactions/responses the purchasing of such personal care items in the presence of male shoppers would elicit in such mentioned bazaar atmospheres...
harvross 12:11 10 Sep 08
The article is excellent in just about every respect. Indeed, those with a propensity to studying ideological effects in critical discourse analysis would argue as follows: The very fact that women purport to feel 'free' when they wear headscarves and the like is in itself evidence of them being subject to a particular ideology (in the negative, critical conception of the word). However, I have difficulty with the method as it seems awfully predetermined.
Secondly, choice is important. It is not everything, but it is nonetheless an important indicator of levels of oppression. We in the west must be careful, though, of saying that because something is institutionalised it is necessarily forced. Also, dress itself must not be viewed as a strong signal of freedom of choice. What the west considers to be freedom (promiscuity and pornography abounding) is really not freedom at all. What it amounts to is slavery, lack of libido and unsatisfying escapades of lust that destroy families. In all this, the author is accurate.
Finally, however, I take serious exception to the ignorance (with all due respect) with which miss Wolf makes claims about the Christian tradition. It is true (very unfortunately) that at a particular time in church history sexuality has been displayed as undesirable both inside and outside of marriage. That is NOT to say, however, that it has EVER been portrayed as sinful inside marriage. The Scriptures do not support any such view. Even 1 Corinthians 7 that is couched in the language of advocating against marriage (on account of the contextual distress that the church was suffering) advocates pleasurable, sensual sexual fulfillment within the context of sanctified marriage. Additionally, the Song of Solomon is one of the most beautiful pieces of Scripture that Christians (and Jews) have as an indication of how sexual intimacy and fulfillment should be attained.
Therefore, even though the west is connotatively understood to represent the Christian tradition, its current delusion that pornography and indulgent sensual lusts are fruits of liberty, is nowhere close to the truth of Scripture that Christians believe in. What it thinks is freedom really is just slavery to sin (and sex within marriage is by no means sinful, it is wonderful and designed by God himself - see Genesis 2:24)...
Kind regards
Ross
good1 07:24 20 Oct 08
Ms Wolf found Feminine Sexuality. The beauty Myth, Promiscuities, Misconception etc
Ms Wolf found Jesus. No books
Ms Wolf found Patriotism. The End of America. http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/wolf2, Anti Republicans lectures. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjALf12PAWc
Ms Wolf now discovering Islam? Any Books?
viator 04:54 07 Sep 08
As a man I am always glad to see the sisterhood supporting the patriarchy. I always thought my wife's person, body and sexuality were my property. A also appreciate the permission of corporal punishment that comes along with these privileges. Now the sisterhood needs to push the envelope so I can get some more wives in case I tire of the first one.