I agree: just because something is cultural and religious doesn’t make it morally correct. But it also isn’t morally correct for you to judge an entire person’s life and belief system on a single outward appearance.
Do you think that this woman thinks our society is morally correct, letting women walk around in booty shorts and crop tops? For her, she’s probably looking at the majority of Western women and thinking the exact thing you are: “wow, what a misogynistic society those women must live in, look how oppressed they are, objectifying and hypersexualizing their bodies”.
When you get down to it, the problem here is that there is a divide in cultural understanding. For this woman, she most likely either A) doesn’t see a burka as misogynistic, B) doesn’t mind living in a misogynistic society, or C) wouldn’t be wearing a burka in the first place. Which are all valid options that you should be supporting, if you’re going to call yourself a feminist.
Again, there are women who have chosen not to wear a burka because they do see it as misogynistic, but that’s their individual belief and opinion. Just like their beliefs should be respected, so should this woman’s. If she doesn’t see a burka as a misogynistic statement or if she doesn’t mind it being a misogynistic statement, then regardless of how much you disagree, her beliefs are still valid and should be respected and fought for if you’re going to call yourself a supporter of the rights of women.
I could ask you the same question that you ask me: why don’t you give me some statistics or tell me why your assumption is more likely than mine? I’ve given you my reasoning and I’d like to hear yours.
Once again you attribute things to me that I haven’t mentioned. I didn’t call myself a feminist, nor am I one. In fact, I’m not a ______ist of any kind and I don’t subscribe to any ______isms. Someone who preaches any idealogy is tyrannical because they assume that what they believe in is what’s best for everyone. I only claim to know what’s best for me, and I’m likely wrong in that most of the time.
Is it morally wrong to judge a person based on their appearance? I don’t think so. This is how everyone make most of their initial judgments. It’s only wrong if you stop right there and lock your beliefs on a person based on that initial judgment.
And anyway, I did not judge this single person’s life. I’m making a judgment on burka culture.
Moving on, you’re saying that this woman may have chosen to wear a burka because she doesn’t think it’s misogynistic, and in fact, may think our booty shorts culture is the morally reprehensible one. I’m fine with this if this is the case: that she is totally aware and freely capable of making this choice. I know you are because you were raised in a culture that allows free flow of information and education and equal rights to women. But was she?
Neither of us have statistics, but based on what I read about on burkas, Islam, and Arabs, women in this culture still do not have access to the same equal rights and education as men. This is the reality they live in. So I think that there is a very high possibility that for this woman, her choice to wear a burka is, in fact, no choice at all. She “chooses” to but not in the same way that you would choose to. Yes, she doesn’t think that burkas are misogynistic or that she doesn’t mind living in a misogynistic society because possibly, she’s unaware that it is. She’s unaware that there’s a different way of life.
Now, there may be women who are completely aware of these and still freely choose to wear a burka. That’s fine and good for them, and that choice I absolutely respect and support. But I think this is more the exception to the rule. Women asserting their rights in Arab countries make the news precisely because it’s uncommon in their country. So that’s why I think my judgment is more likely than yours.
Source: mikonawa