“Gender Orientalism” and the condemnation of culture and neglect of war .. “Do Muslim women really need to be rescued?”

In her book Do Muslim Women Really Need Rescue?

Laila Abu-Lughod is reimagining Muslim women in the post-9/11 world.

The American Academy of Anthropology at Columbia University describes the reductive images that circulated on US television and broadcasters in the early days of the 2001 invasion of silent Afghan women unable to leave their homes unaccompanied by males and waiting to be liberated. But was this really the image?

Abu-Lughod argues in her 2013 book that the way Afghan women are portrayed in the Western media is far from complex realities on the ground, reduced to context-free stereotypes and seeks to blame culture or Islam, while ignoring the long history of foreign interference in Afghanistan that contributes to the current situation, from social disintegration during the Soviet occupation to sexual violence during the subsequent civil war and the rule of the Mujahideen.

Twenty years later, with the start of the rapid US withdrawal and the Taliban's entry into the capital, Kabul, women are once again at the center of the story. Over two decades.

A review of the book by the LSE website considers Abu-Lughod's motivation to write the book primarily because of her rich experience with a diverse group of Muslim women throughout her career.

Through the book, she wanted to analyze the salient features of Muslim women's life in the post-9/11 period, focusing on the most prominent "non-cultural" influences that shaped her character.

Abu-Lughod says that what she calls "gendered Orientalism" has taken "new paths and forms in the 21st century feminist", and the book includes a wide range of examples and evidence to support this view.

influential factors

According to the site's presentation, one of the book's main strengths is the symbolic importance of what the writer called the "moral crusades."

Abu-Lughod also sheds light on the impact of political factors locally and globally on the lives of Muslim women, and therefore what is often seen as “traditions” is considered a response to what is imposed by conflicts, wars, uncertainty, and economic and political turmoil.

For example, in the context of the debate about what happened in Afghanistan, there was a great emphasis on cultural practices as opposed to neglecting the effects of war and the militarization of social life on the status of women in the country, and against this geopolitical background, Abu-Lughod sees concepts such as “oppression” and “freedom of choice.” "It doesn't really express the mechanisms that shape the lives of Muslim women in that region.

In the context of analyzing the international discourse when talking about "oppressed Muslim women", Abu-Lughod asserts that there is a high degree of simplification and deception, where the focus is on issues such as the veil and honor killings as the most urgent, while pivotal issues that have a profound impact, such as the development of regimes, are ignored. oppression in the region.

Similarly, Abu-Lughod highlights the link between this discourse in the West and the policies of restricting immigration and xenophobia, warning of the dangers involved in such an approach that creates a state of polarization and reinforces the idea that feminism and even secularism are Western concepts that cannot be applied in the Islamic world.

strange paradox

In her book, Abu-Lughod focuses on the Arab world, specifically rural societies in Egypt, but her comprehensive analytical approach can easily be applied to any discussion of Muslim women anywhere in the world.

According to the site, the writer reveals an interesting paradox between the view of Muslim women and Islamophobia. The West views Muslim societies as patriarchal societies that oppress women, but Muslim women are the first victims of racism and discrimination against Muslims in Western countries.

It is clear that Abu-Lughod does not seek to exonerate the perpetrators of violence and marginalization in the Islamic world, but simply wants to see a world in which women do not suffer, whether from hunger, poverty, domestic violence, sexual exploitation, or other causes.

Therefore, Abu-Lughod's new book constitutes a different vision of trying to understand the Western contradiction by analyzing the populist discourse at the local and global levels, and trying to create a new awareness that contributes to saving Muslim women.

As with feminist writers in the postcolonial period, the Abu-Lughod approach is a useful analytical tool for exploring contemporary issues of Muslim and other women in all their complexities.