Muslim Women Shockingly Not Grateful for Topless European Ladies Trying To 'Save' Them

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Muslim Women Shockingly Not Grateful for Topless European Ladies Trying To 'Save' Them

FEMEN, the "sextremist" feminist group known for staging topless protests, declared yesterday "International Topless Jihad Day" in solidarity with Amina Tyler, a 19 year old Tunisian activist who had received death threats after posting topless pictures of herself to Femen's Tunisian Facebook page. She had written "F**k your morals" and "My body belongs to me is not the source of anyone's honor" in Arabic on her chest, causing religious officials to call for her to be punished by 80 to 100 lashes or even, horrifyingly, by being stoned to death. Following reports that Amina had been admitted to a mental hospital, FEMEN called upon its supporters to protest the "lethal hatred of Islamists – inhuman beasts for whom killing a woman is more natural than recognising her right to do as she pleases with her own body" at Tunisian embassies around the world. Protests occurred in Sweden, Italy, Ukraine, France, and Belgium.

While it is unquestionably necessary, brave, and noble to stand with Amina (who is reportedly not free to move or speak safely), the protests were distressingly and distractingly Islamophobic. A photo from one of shows a white woman with crescent moons covering her nipples, wearing a fake beard, a unibrow penciled in with eyeliner, and a bath towel on her head. Another photo, highlighted on FEMEN's Facebook page is of a topless woman protesting at a mosque in San Francisco (because, when you're fighting the good fight of "T*TS AGAINST ISLAMISM," standing topless in front of any mosque anywhere will do) with the following caption:

TODAY IS AMINA TOPLESS JIHAD DAY. I was at the Islamic Mosque in San Francisco. Some Arab guy tried to grab my sign and pushed me in a violent way. My friend stopped him. MY BODY IS MY TEMPLE.

Further down is a cartoon of a woman crawling out from under her burqa to light on fire the beard of a caricature of a Muslim man (or should I say "some Arab guy"?). In the comments, a woman posted a link to an Al Jazeera article about Muslim women counter-protesting the protest, as they rightfully feel that it was condescending and imperialistic in both tone and intent. FEMEN fans responded to her link in the following ways:

"Stupid muslim women. Made brainless by Quran."

"Stupid slaves!"

You know that there's something wrong with your protest when its ardent supporters find it appropriate to repeatedly call the women they are "saving" stupid and to affirm that they have no capacity for making decisions of their own.

The counter-protest, Muslimah Pride Day, calls for women to speak out for themselves on social media:

[P]lease post pictures of your beautiful selves, whether you wear hijaab, nikaab or not. This is an opportunity for Muslim women to get a say and show people that we have a voice too, that we come in many different shapes and sizes that we object to the way we are depicted in the west, we object to the way we are lumped in to one homogenous group without a voice of agency of our own.

FEMEN needs to recognize that Muslim women do in fact have agency, and the idea that Muslim women are helpless, passively indoctrinated by the alleged evils of Islam, and desperately need of Western feminist help is oppressive and orientalist. Patriarchy is not specific to Islam — although there are inarguably extreme and truly saddening examples of misogyny in the Muslim community, patriarchy is a global issue. Furthermore, feminism is not only a Western institution — to assume that Muslim women need someone to "speak for" them is insulting to all the grassroots political organizing and activism that Muslim feminists have done. It's disturbing how a the rhetoric of "women's liberation" has been co-opted to justify aggression, violence, and prejudice against Muslim communities. In what way is it appropriate to "rescue" women by indulging in and re-circulating essentializing, stereotyped, and offensive depictions of their culture?

http://jezebel.com/5993775/muslim-women-shockingly-not-grateful-for-topless-european-ladies-trying-to-save-them

More on the counter protests at al Jazeera (absolutely safe for work and families and children too - no "bumpy bits" on display)

http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/201304050033-0022659

[ready4ONE 5,400]

I appreciated the topless protests and in the end isn't that really all that matters?

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

I appreciated the topless protests and in the end isn't that really all that matters?

For you, I guess. At least somebody got some benefit out of it, 'cause Muslim women sure didn't

[sara..... 371]

as a Muslim women i get frustrated over all this #######......i enjoy being treated like a precious jewel...i also enjoy not being whistled at like a common dog i love the respect that im shown.....and people just dont get it they dont understand that im not repressed......no one in my family would beat me to death or refuse me anything if i made the choice not to wear hijab......its a personal choice between me and my God.......protest with naked women are not giving any of us Muslim women comfort or encouragement .........in the USA women have the right to walk around with few cloths on so why dont we as Muslim women have the right to cover with out a lot of flack? i guess i just dont understand the double standard.

just my opinion

sara

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

as a Muslim women i get frustrated over all this #######......i enjoy being treated like a precious jewel...i also enjoy not being whistled at like a common dog i love the respect that im shown.....and people just dont get it they dont understand that im not repressed......no one in my family would beat me to death or refuse me anything if i made the choice not to wear hijab......its a personal choice between me and my God.......protest with naked women are not giving any of us Muslim women comfort or encouragement .........in the USA women have the right to walk around with few cloths on so why dont we as Muslim women have the right to cover with out a lot of flack? i guess i just dont understand the double standard.

just my opinion

sara

Well put. I agree that you have the right to dress however you wish and I respect that to the ninth degree.

Do women in Oppressive countries like Saudi have the right to wear what ever they want. ? Maybe the protest was aimed at the radical countries that oppress women

[sara..... 371]

Well put. I agree that you have the right to dress however you wish and I respect that to the ninth degree.

Do women in Oppressive countries like Saudi have the right to wear what ever they want. ? Maybe the protest was aimed at the radical countries that oppress women

who are we to say they are oppressed? I know a lot of women that are saudi....the husband is allowed to look like he is boss out side the home but you have no idea how much he is NOT the boss in the home

Edited April 13, 2013 by sara.....

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

who are we to say they are repressed? I know a lot of women that are saudi....the husband is allowed to look like he is boss out side the home but you have no idea how much he is NOT the boss in the home

This is such an important part of the discussion that many people in the West do not understand. Muslim women themselves are the ones to decide what they feel is repression or unfair in their societies. And most Muslim women don't see the so-called "right" to prance around naked or half-naked in public as "liberation."

[sara..... 371]

This is such an important part of the discussion that many people in the West do not understand. Muslim women themselves are the ones to decide what they feel is repression or unfair in their societies. And most Muslim women don't see the so-called "right" to prance around naked or half-naked in public as "liberation."

very true!!!! another thing that people do not understand is we are very proud that our husbands know that no other man has looked or felt what is his.....i also think that most people feel that under our cover dresses is the same basic black that they see us covered in......

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

very true!!!! another thing that people do not understand is we are very proud that our husbands know that no other man has looked or felt what is his.....i also think that most people feel that under our cover dresses is the same basic black that they see us covered in......

They would be amazed at the gorgeous clothes and impeccable hair and makeup under the abaya.

I think some Western men have developed a kind of fetish/fantasy over women in hijab because they're so used to seeing so much of a woman's body exposed all the time - it kind of throws them off base when they can't instantly assess a woman by her physical attributes. This negative and even antagonistic reaction to women wearing hijab makes it almost seem like some men feel their rights to perv on women are being repressed.

Edited April 13, 2013 by wife_of_mahmoud

[sara..... 371]

They would be amazed at the gorgeous clothes and impeccable hair and makeup under the abaya.

I think some Western men have developed a kind of fetish/fantasy over women in hijab because they're so used to seeing so much of a woman's body exposed all the time - it kind of throws them off base when they can't instantly assess a woman by her physical attributes. This negative and even antagonistic reaction to women wearing hijab makes it almost seem like some men feel their rights to perv on women are being repressed.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

(no areola - all naughty bits bowdlerized/digitized at link)

Following the link provided in the OP, one is only two clicks away from areola.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Following the link provided in the OP, one is only two clicks away from areola.

Someone is happy now

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Someone is happy now

Just wanted to point out that even Aljazeera links to areola.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Just wanted to point out that even Aljazeera links to areola.

Respectable, responsible and honest journalists always include links to the sources of what they're quoting and reporting on. Der Spiegel included.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Respectable, responsible and honest journalists always include links to the sources of what they're quoting and reporting on. Der Spiegel included.

Right. So there's really nothing wrong with that. Except, of course, on VJ. There you can't link to sources if, God forbid, there's "areola or more".