Should We Be Having This Conversation? Sex and the City and Islamic Misogyny
May 30, 2010
by Henrietta
|The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.
Even before it’s opening date, the new Sex in the City movie is receiving some flack for setting part of the movie in Dubai and for having the chutzpah to recognize the oppression of women in this country.
Is Sex and the City 2 culturally insensitive? Xenophobic? Bigoted?
One reviewer seems to think so. Stephen Farber of The Hollywood Reporter accuses the film of going controversial by presenting a “scathing portrayal of Muslim society.” Forbert claims:
“SATC 2″ is at once proudly feminist and blatantly anti-Muslim, which means that it might confound liberal viewers.
Farber then tries to illustrate his point by recounting scenes from SATC2 which supposedly demonstrate anti-Muslim sentiments:
Indicative of the film’s contradictory stance is a scene in which the ladies perform a karaoke version of Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman” in an Abu Dhabi nightclub. An equally outrageous moment comes when the interlopers are rescued by a bunch of Muslim women who strip off their black robes to reveal the stylish Western outfits they are concealing beneath their discreet garb. These endearingly loopy scenes exhibit the tasteless humor that enlivened the TV series on its best nights.
This begs not one but two questions: First, is Islam misogynistic? And second, should western women be talking about this?
Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn tackle the first question (and much more) in their best selling book “Half the Sky”. The book sheds light on the lives of some of the most oppressed women in various countries and cultures. In fact, there is an entire chapter in the book that addresses this difficult-to-discuss and politically incorrect question: Is Islam misogynistic? WuDunn introduces the chapter acknowledging the touchiness of this subject but without parsing words:
A politically incorrect point must be noted here. Of the countries where women are held back and subjected to systematic abuses such as honor killings and genital cuttings, a very large proportion are predominantly Muslim. Most Muslims worldwide don’t believe in such practices, and some Christians do – but the fact remains that the countries where girls are cut, killed for honor, or kept out of school or the workplace typically have large Muslim populations.
Statistics are also sited that make serious claims to anti- woman sentiments in many Islamic countries and cultures:
To look at one broad gauge of well-being, of 128 countries rated by the World Economic Forum according to the status of women, 10 of the bottom 12 were majority Muslim. Yemen was in last place.
And:
“… opinion polls underscore that Muslims in some countries just don’t believe in equality. Only 25 percent of Egyptians believe that a woman should have the right to become president. More than 34 percent of Moroccans approve of polygamy. Some 54 percent of Afghan women say that women should wear the burka outside the house. Conservative Muslims often side with the top religious authority in Saudi Arabia, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulazis who declared in 2004: “Allowing women to mix with men is the root of every evil and catastrophe.”
To be sure, Kristof and WuDunn emphasize that it wasn’t always this way and that when Islam was first born in the seventh century it was, compared to Christianity, far more progressive toward women. Yet Christianity, they explain, has largely modernized it’s view of women and gender equality while much of Islam has remained stagnant and out of date.
So let’s return to the question: Is Islam misogynistic? As widely practiced today, Kristoff and WuDunn seem to think so and I would to agree. And then this takes us to the next question, which brings us to shakier ground. If Islam is misogynistic, should western women be talking about this?
Apparently, addressing the issue will have some western women labeled as a bigot, as the Sex in the City franchise recently learned from Farber’s accusatory review. And I have heard everyone from friends to Hollywood personalities appearing on CNN bemoan that western women should not talk about global women’s issues when we we have so much sexism to deal with here. Plus, we are culturally insensitive for doing so. Still others say the exact opposite and wonder how we dare to talk about women’s issues in the United States when so many women throughout the world have it much worse than we do.
It’s a catch -22 for American women, isn’t it? And a silencing technique, really.
By intimidating American women from speaking about issues that impact world women with the terrible threat of being called a bigot, a racist or a xenophobe we are explicitly telling American women to stop talking about issues that affect our gender. And I guess I’d call that anti-woman.
Great piece Henrietta.
This is perhaps why TNA was the ONLY women’s org that dared to speak out on female cutting on our borders. It’s the ole multicultural relativisism.
Good article. Misogynists shouldn’t be able to hide behind their religion. If it was part of a person’s religion to own slaves, we wouldn’t call someone critically insensitive for criticizing slavery. And yet, these Muslim countries are enslaving women and calling it religion. The only reason we’re considered culturally insensitive for criticizing that is because the world thinks its okay to enslave women. That being said, a real problem arises when Christians decide their religion is better for women than Islam. That really isn’t the case. All Abrahamic religions support traditional gender roles and conveniently empower heterosexual men. Islam is just the worst of them all. The gender roles for women espoused in Christianity are one of the main reasons why we still can’t elect a woman to be president in the US.
I would argue that capitalism, not Christianity, is the reason why the US has better conditions for women. Christianity has nothing to do with it. The free market structure is the best economic system for allowing talent to rise to the top. Capitalism needs the most talented people, thus it needs women. And, yes, we have had to fight men to get a chance to use our talents, but the market has rewarded us for it. Muslim countries have been so wealthy with their oil reserves that they haven’t had to advance their technology and tap their talent. As a result, since they haven’t had to compete economically with the rest of the world, they haven’t had the incentive to use their women in roles other than slaves. The solution to that: find an alternative energy to replace oil and make Muslim countries enter the competition of the global market.
Religious and/or cultural practices that hurt women and children, violate the geneva code on standards and rights for prisoners of war, and/or violate commonly held human decency standards are BULLSHIT and women and men across the world must stand up and say NO. One word says it all: NO. NO. NO. NO.
Burkhas, foot binding, female child killing, child rape and child selling, making women eat less, sleep less, work more, silencing women, making women second class citizens, women killing, cutting off women’s bodies parts, beating and raping women, stealing women’s children, denying education to women, denying the ability to work to women…these are all done for religious and cultural reasons. BULLSHIT. BULLSHIT. BULLSHIT.
God told me to tell you all that s/he has just about had enough of this and that we are all supposed to love one another and treat each other the way we want to be treated. And if you can’t do that then I will have to do what men do when they are threatened, raped, beaten, sold, and someone attempts to murder them–I WILL FIGHT BACK.
WAKE UP. ACT UP. SMARTEN UP. FIGHT.
great article. I agree with some of the commenters that religion whether islam or christian is often used as excuse for treating women as sub-humans. the only problem: so many secular circles don’t treat their women equal to men. the extremes honor killings, robbing women of their identities in public with forcing burqas on them as islamic extremes. we need to talk about them as we need to talk about misogeny, women hate in every other group of society.
it is interesting to see that Feminist Chemist sees hope in capitalism and it sounds logical. I just remember in my youth in west germany when talking about socialism it seemed that women in socialist countries had achieved so much more. they worked, they were in top jobs, they had entered engineering and all the male fields. still they earned less, their work was valued less and they had to do the typical womens’ work on top. I would be surprised if the real talent search including the female gender was more than lip service. capitalisms certainly sells their image better and to any group listening. we need to talk about misogeny everywhere. thanks henrietta
This is the predominant point of my break with America’s “Left.”
The more’ that it is OK to use “cultural sensitivity” as a silencing technique is beyond B.S. It sheds a clear light on the misogyny of the Left, itself.
Until I hear the leadership on the Left speak out against Sharia I cannot belong. And I’m simply *not* hearing it.
Even moderate Muslims recognize the phallicy that is being forced upon U.S. citizens:
http://muslimsagainstsharia.bl.....round.html
First in my opinion Sex and the City is a gay male movie not a women’s movie or series. I don’t know any women who watch the show only men. It is clearly an example of what men think is women’s programing.
Second All religions run by men use their religions to put down women. Political groups including Liberal Democrats use their religiously held political beliefs to put down women too. In fact any institution that men control uses a good deal of it’s energy to control and dominate women. Men can not be trusted with power. If they really believed in God they would be too afraid to violate the body or rights of Gods most numerous creation, Women. Misogyny is not acceptable here just because other societies encourage it, we have our own laws and they should apply to everyone within the boundary of our country equally.
Religions set themselves up as gatekeepers between people and God. This is crap, you don’t need to go through any religious institution to get to God.
Bes, I actually loved the series, and thought the first movie wasn’t half bad, except for the unnecessary length of it. I like the show because it afforded an opportunity for women to talk frankly about (admittedly heterosexual) sex and the interplay of sexuality between men and women. Yes, it’s dressed up in ridiculously cumbersome clothing and heels, but nothing is off the plate for their discussions. I actually used the TBS censored versions to casually spur discussions about sex and the treatment of women with my teen-aged daughter, discussions we would not have otherwise had.
Loved the article, Henrietta!
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